This month marks the end of a career that has spanned 42 years at TWI. John Bord has worked directly with staff in companies around the world for much of this time, concentrating particularly on leading these organisations into Membership and ensuring that they gain the maximum benefit from their investment. I estimate that John has been responsible for the recruitment of over 500 new Industrial Member companies in the course of his career, so many Bulletin readers should recognise him!
The success of TWI owes much to John's consistent application of the membership guidelines, always ensuring that the Technology Access Fees quoted were fair and equitable in relation to the nature of the activities and the size of the applicant's business.
Although John's current interests are concentrated on the aerospace sector, some of his earlier work included the introduction of TWI into continental Europe and Scandinavia. John achieved notable successes in Finland, France and Italy before spearheading the development of TWI's membership base in Korea.
On behalf of Members and staff, we wish you a happy and prosperous retirement.
John Bord's impressive career prompts me to reflect on the international nature of the TWI network. The British industrialists who set up the British Welding Research Association in 1946 would be amazed if they knew that the small Research and Technology organisation with national ambitions had grown into a world centre of excellence with over 500 staff.
Today more of the Membership income originates from outside the UK than from British companies. In fact less than one third of our Membership contacts are in the UK. Last year alone, new Members joined from 20 different countries. The largest contribution comes from the major industrial countries of North America, Western Europe, Scandinavia, the Far East and the Middle East. Having said that we are now seeing an increase in Members from South America, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and Africa. We expect many members from China in the next few years.
Overseas Members are looked after through a network of TWI agents, consultants, and associates spanning 17 countries in five continents. In addition, TWI now directly employs over 50 staff in wholly owned subsidiaries outside the UK.
TWI also has many foreign nationals and linguists amongst its UK based staff, and can handle enquiries in 20 languages. We want to make it easy for Industrial Members to contact us. Local contacts, and the ability to handle enquiries in foreign languages is an important component of our service.
Fred Delany - Head, Industrial Member Services
E-mail: fred.delany@twi.co.uk
