Membership voice, January - February 2008
Last year was an excellent year for Industrial Membership of TWI. A record 106 new Members joined representing all sectors of the manufacturing industry, from 22 different countries in Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East. We were pleased to welcome our first ever Member from Tunisia.
Some 56% of new Members came from outside the UK, including 14% from the USA, where we had a strong performance.
We also continued to extend our presence in China, with four new Members, bringing the total number of Chinese Members to 15.
The influx of new Members provided additional revenue for TWI of £500,000, which will enable us to enlarge the Core Research Programme and enhance the services to Members. We are, in particular, improving our contact database so that we have better tools to manage the interaction with Members and are investing in an improved website with better clarity and more efficient search facilities.
The total income received by TWI from Industrial Member subscriptions is now £5.8 million per annum. The money is allocated to support the Core Research Programme, Technical Enquiries, Information Services (Library,Weldasearch, JoinIT), visits in and out, and publications like the Bulletin. The growth in Membership experienced over the last three years has come from low resignations and increased numbers of new Members, whilst the fees have been kept in line with inflation.
I appreciate that it is not always in the best interest of Members for an organisation like TWI to expand its Membership as it runs the risk of overstretching itself and of diluting the exclusivity of the privileges. The extra income, however, enables us to acquire new skills, modernise our laboratories and enhance the range and quality of the services provided. TWI is also going through a growth phase; staff numbers have increased from 450 in 2001 to 570 in2007, so more staff have been recruited to serve the technical needs of our enlarged Membership. In reality, there is strong evidence that the quality of the services has been maintained or improved while the number of Members wasgrowing.
In the first half of 2007, we commissioned a thorough customer survey which confirmed that most Industrial Members were very happy with TWI. The survey did contain a few specific areas where there is room for improvement, forexample the response time to technical enquiries and our practical understanding of industry requirements. We shall be working on these in 2008.
Fred Delany - Head of Industrial Member Services
