Solids group in use-it-or-lose-it alert over funding

Lichfield, UK - The UK government has finally woken up to the need to support the materials handling sector as a crucial element of the industrial engineering economy, believes Steve Clewley, chairman of the International Solids Handling Advisory Board (ISHAB) - an alliance of  MHEA (the Materials Handling Engineers Association) and SHAPA, (the Solids Handling & Processing Association) to promote and develop international trade for the sector.

"If we don’t make a success of this then the whole concept of ISHAB will dwindle and the Government will look elsewhere to spend its money. It would be a crying shame to allow this to happen. But ultimately it is up to you the members to decide if you wish to participate or not," , Clewley said at the recent SHAPA general meeting in Lichfield.

This year, ISHAB's activities are to be centred on the Bulk Europe 2008 conference in Prague, 11-12 Sept. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will provide "generous sponsorship" for the event to get UK suppliers in front of end users and provide them with mentoring from experienced players to help them secure orders, said Clewley.

"By commissioning Government-supported OMIS surveys we should be able to get you in touch with exactly the right people. We are also planning an industrial site visit – possibly a cement plant – again another opportunity to interface with clients," continued Clewley, who is also MD of Stock Redler Ltd and president of the MHEA. 

The Prague initiative follows the failure of a planned inward mission, which, said Clewley had failed "due to several very obvious reasons." The main, he said was that  “if you have something to tell a potential client – you have to go over and meet him on his own territory. This is exactly what we are planning this year using the BulkEurope 2008 conference in the Czech Republic as a springboard to a wider activity."