Membership voice, September - October 2004
In this issue's Membership Voice Bob John, the new chief executive, reviews how TWI can respond most effectively to the needs of its Industrial Members.
Industrial Membership has always provided the cornerstone for TWI. After thirteen years on the board I now look forward to leading the company and taking new opportunities to serve you, the Industrial Membership, better. We will continue our mission driven method of operation and I will reinforce the commitment of my predecessors that we should remain a non-profit distributing company governed by its Members through Council.
Our corporate plan is ambitious and challenging and as ever we have a great deal to do to achieve it. Rapid evolution rather than revolution is the order of the day.
Change includes learning how to bring benefit to our Members by establishing new regional technology centres in the UK and new overseas subsidiaries. I see continued expansion in this fashion driven by the development of new economies, the response of governments of developed economies in underpinning the presence of industrial companies in their countries by leveraging investment in R&D, and the impact of new technologies and innovations on our traditional business.
This year's corporate plan embraces penetrating a number of new geographical areas including the markets of Brazil, China and the Caspian Region adding to our position in Europe, North America, Japan and South East Asia. Our Industrial Membership network is unrivalled and provides the foundation for:-
'The most influential global network for stimulation and development of economic value and quality of life through Materials Joining Technologies'
Economic value for Members is generated by attention to speed-to-market, cost and risk reduction, whereas improvements to quality of life arise from setting the framework to avoid structural failure and support for new products and processes which improve the world in which we all live.
The total asset base that we build for our technology services supports our ability to fulfil this vision.
As well as the development of Granta Park and new facilities at the Cambridge hub, like the new H 2 S laboratory, the new fume laboratory and a smart new library, TWI has spread its wings within the UK.
In Yorkshire, a centre concentrating on laser and friction technologies will shortly move to bigger premises on the Waverley advanced manufacturing park.
In Wales a new TWI non destructive testing centre has been established and I can also announce that TWI has been asked by the DTI, Welsh Development Agency and Members such as Rolls Royce to form an independent NDT validation centre. This new initiative will support companies and regulators in their evaluation of automated NDT techniques emerging from the R&D community. The investment provides a valuable proving ground for the safe operation of our Members' products in the context of structural integrity and in service cost management.
These resources complement those of Great Abington in Cambridgeshire and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and will make it easier for Industrial Members to benefit from what the worldwide TWI network has to offer. Underpinning all this is TWI's website which, according to Members' feedback, passes from strength to strength.
Bob John joined TWI in 1991 after leaving The ESAB Group as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Company Integration, to take over the position of TWI's Director, Business Development. He became Chief Executive Officer in August 2004.
Bob is a graduate metallurgist of the University of Wales (Swansea) where he first became involved with welding through a PhD on the Weldability of 5% nickel steel. He is a technologist, a business manager and a marketer.
He's a fellow of both the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and the Welding Institute. In the early nineties he was a visiting professor at the Cranfield Institute of Technology and has been a recipient of the Lidstone Gold medal for his contribution to welding technology.
