The Annual Dinner of the British Lubricants Federation

Citation

Margaroni, D. (1999), "The Annual Dinner of the British Lubricants Federation", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 51 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.1999.01851cab.015

The Annual Dinner of the British Lubricants Federation

The Annual Dinner of the British Lubricants Federation

Keyword British Lubricants Federation

The annual dinner of the trade federation which represents the UK lubricants industry is always a significant event, and enables those directly involved in the industry, in addition to the many guests present, to hear the annual message from the president as well as to renew old acquaintances.

The event was held for the second year at the London Hilton on Park Lane and was judged as "probably the best annual dinner for a long time" in the opinion of many of the BLF members present.

Another year of changes in the industry, both realised and promised, fortunately did not affect the attendance at the event, with numbers exceeding those of last year.

Contrary to previous practice, there were no federation committee meetings at the London Hilton in the afternoon preceding the dinner. In order to streamline activities, the BLF Council had previously agreed to move the date of future annual general meetings forward to coincide with the spring seminars, normally scheduled for early March, which in 1999 will be held in the Manchester area. The north west branch of the federation will also be holding their annual dinner the same evening, and it was confidently anticipated that this combination of the three events would encourage higher attendance and increased support and participation in BLF affairs.

In his address, the BLF president, Adrian Parsons (see Plate 1), began by thanking the sponsors, Witco, Infineum, R.S. Clare, Elf Atochem and Total Oil GB for their generous support. He then went on to speak of the consolidations and industry changes that are becoming more and more commonplace, their effect upon the BLF, and how changes are being introduced in the organisation of the BLF to accommodate such events. As an example, he described the introduction of a new subscription structure with its multi-tiered membership rates, which will be phased in and fully operational by the next financial year. This new system, which accentuated differentials based on company turnover, was felt to be a fairer to large and small companies alike, and would certainly make it easier for smaller companies to join.

Plate 1 Adrian Parsons, chairman and chief executive of Fuchs Lubricants (UK) plc and national president of the British Lubricants Federation

Although the federation was fortunate in having the services of a small full-time secretariat, the organisation relied primarily on its members for input, and a recent and most successful innovation was the introduction of a series of business meetings held at branch level. Many of the issues discussed involved regulatory matters affecting the industry, of which there is a steady increase. Council meetings would in future be timed to react and respond if necessary to issues raised during such business meetings. The president also spoke of two new training/education courses that the BLF was in the process of developing. These new initiatives were in addition to the Lubricants Plant Operations NVQ, which, after a slow start, is now gathering momentum with the first awards being anticipated early in 1999. A certificate of lubrication competence is intended for the benefit of newcomers to the industry and also junior members of staff. The second, aimed at supervisors, salesmen and middle management, will consist of one-day more advanced modules covering specific product areas.

Finally, the president spoke about succession within the BLF and he appealed to senior management within member companies to allow and encourage younger staff to get involved in federation activities.

This year, the President's Award, sponsored by RohMax, for an individual's outstanding contribution to the BLF during 1998, was presented to Charles Hey, chairman and managing director of Boxer Services Limited and immediate past chairman of Yorkshire & North East branch.

The guest speaker was Robbie Glen, BAFIMgt, a retired prison governor from Ayrshire, who was educated at Hamilton Academy and Strathclyde University. He joined the prison service in 1969 and until his retirement in 1996 held many posts, among which were deputy and acting governor of Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and also governor of Cornton Vale, Scotland's only female establishment. In a deliberately serious and effective monotone, Robbie told of his hilarious experiences whilst working in these intimidating environments, to the evident enjoyment of all present.

David Margaroni