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Dr Bill Griffiths, ICME National President 2009-2010

Dr Bill Griffiths is currently Senior Lecturer at The University of Birmingham in the UK. Bill began his working life in a grey cast iron foundry, obtaining an HND in Cast Metals Technology and much practical experience. This was followed by a return to studies, eventually resulting in a PhD in Industrial Metallurgy (his thesis was entitled "The quenching characteristics of sodium polyacrylate solutions"). He was then employed at Foseco International Limited on the development of grain refiners and modifiers for Al alloys before becoming a Senior Research Associate at Nottingham University studying electromagnetic stirring of Al alloys. He then became the Federal-Mogul Senior Research Fellow at UMIST where he spent nearly five years studying interfacial heat transfer during casting solidification. He has presented numerous papers at international conferences and is frequently published in our own Foundry Trade Journal. Bill is also a longstanding member of the ICME Technical Board and was Vice-Chair of the Technical Committee for the recent World Foundry Congress held in the UK in 2006.

Challenging Times Ahead

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the Council for presenting me with the opportunity to become President of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers, and to add to this my thanks to Pamela Murrell and the office staff for their hard work and support over the past few years.

The Institute is going through a challenging time at the moment and this prompts thought and discussion about the future strategy of the Institute. There has been a decline in the value of the investment fund, due to a global recession, and a continuing annual deficit which draws on the investment fund capital. Furthermore, there has been an overall decline in the numbers of members over recent years, and an increase in the average age of members, both of which reflect what has been happening in the foundry industry in the last few decades. We must consider the future strategy of the Institute, so that the services we deliver to our members are not diminished and, if possible, further improved.

From the many Council and other meetings that I have attended it is apparent that some form of Institute for our industry should survive into the future, and the current debate revolves around the form in which it will take. I detect two schools of thought; one says that the Institute can thrive independently; the other says that some sort of merger is desirable. I hope that I can see the arguments on both sides dispassionately and objectively; I am not committed to either school of thought by reason of past habits, or romanticised memories.

To deal with the independent Institute model first, our expenditure currently exceeds our income, and this would suggest that the Institute has a finite life. We must either raise income, cut expenditure, or do both so that the two sums match.

Can we raise income by increasing membership? Like many institutes, we have a membership profile that is increasingly aging, while younger members are not entering the Institute at anything like the rate we would all like to see. Many of the older members are the backbone of the regional Branches, and continue to support the activities of the institute very strongly. Our current membership demographic suggests a future where the membership numbers inevitably decrease. We are actively pursuing new recruits now, and this has met with some success, with over 100 new members joining during recent months. However we still want more young and enthusiastic members willing to do things for one another – only in this way can the Institute move forward.

To recruit these new members has been challenging and I would like to here thank Dr Tom Paterson for his considerable efforts in this endeavour. At the moment we seem to have reached a situation where our membership numbers are stable at just over 1000. I suggest this is where we will stay. Further active recruitment will stabilise membership numbers, but may not lead to their expansion. Significant growth of the Institute as it is currently constituted would seem unlikely. If we want to expand membership we need to broaden our appeal by increasing the range of our interests and activities, but it is not clear how that can be done at the moment.

Further sources of revenue-raising are continuously being examined by the Institute’s office staff and the Strategy Group established by the Council. It is difficult to see how we can increase advertising revenue, particularly in the current recession. Looking ahead to the end of the recession, the income stream from advertising will probably bounce back to its original level before the recession. The Institute could increase revenue from training, and there does seem to be a demand for this, and certainly the Institute did a great deal more training of its members in the past. However, this activity is virtually moribund, apart from the activities of Pam and myself. There appears to be a shortage of volunteers willing to participate in training courses, and also limited actual demand, perhaps due to a lack of awareness about what is available. Perhaps something could be done here in the future at the Branch level? In this connection I would like to note that deskilling of operations seems to have reduced the need for operator training, but the reduction in the number of metallurgists has led to an increase in demand for more general education about the casting process, its advantages and disadvantages, etc.


How about cost-cutting? This is always possible and it is tempting to declare that the Institute should simply live within its means. But what sort of Institute would this be? Run only with the membership revenue and the income from the fund would it be able to do anything? The Institute has attracted great kudos globally from its performance in hosting the World Foundry Congress in Harrogate, and it is beginning to be mobilised behind the new Foundation Degree in Casting Science, (to be delivered by Bradford College), which promises to be a very strong contributor to the training needs of the industry. To commit to such large but valuable projects could well be beyond the scope of a shrunken ICME. If the Institute lived within its means, it would need to rely much more heavily on a large pool of volunteers and this at a time when society is changing and bringing about a noticeable reduction in the ethos of volunteering, and in an Institute in which it has been noted there are limited numbers of young enthusiastic members.

While cost-cutting is an attractive way out of the present situation, it could lead to an Institute that is so limited in its scope and activities that it becomes unimportant to the foundry profession, resulting in further declining membership and eventual implosion.

Continuing Independence or Combine with another Organisation(s)

Having looked at the difficulties associated with continuing independence, is the answer necessarily then to combine with another organisation, (or multiple organisations)? There are other professional organisations involved in activities which complement the activities of the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers, and there are other organisations which carry out key activities for the foundry industry which would enlarge our sphere of activities greatly.

If we combine with a small organisation, it is probable that they too would have troubles, and the problem is compounded, not solved. That leaves the possibility of joining with a larger organisation as a better option. But what would this mean for the Institute? The Institute has a particular character and it has an identity. I would define the character of the Institute by saying that this is reflected in its members, and is revealed in the way that things get done (or not done). I would define the identity of the Institute as its goals and its aspirations; its raison d’etre.

In combining with another organisation the character of the Institute would necessarily change as different personnel would get involved in the running of the new body. This is perhaps not a bad thing; the Council is in need of new blood, as it does not have sufficient members. Many of the Standing Committees would benefit from a fresh injection of ideas and members.

But what of the identity of the Institute? Many people in the branches and on the Council and in the Committees are involved with the Institute because they identify with its aims and objectives. The Strategy Group has recently defined a list of worthwhile goals for the Institute, (many of which are currently being met in its present form, by the way), against which to benchmark future changes in the organisation. If we were to combine with another organisation, we may lose control over these objectives that we currently deem worthwhile, and the Institute would lose its identity, its purpose for its existence, as this would be, presumably, redefined (or left undefined) in any new hypothetical organisation.

As you can see the issues facing the Institute have not gone unnoticed and ignored. In conclusion I would like to say that a future strategy should be arrived at soon, and the members should learn about it in the next year at most. In my opinion, the probable best solution is a middle course. We shall have to minimise our spending, but we must try to do it without having too much of an impact on our activities. We will have to try to raise revenue, whilst accepting that it may take considerable effort to raise only a little. It is not clear that a merger solves our problems, but it is certainly true that we could achieve more through more formal co-operation with the other bodies in the foundry industry.

Volunteerism

Finally, there is a very clear solution to the problem of the future of the Institute – we just have to do more with less! This is not such a crazy idea as it sounds – the Institute has always been primarily an organisation run by volunteers. The ethos of volunteerism is still strong in some branches and some national activities. If more volunteers could be obtained, we could do, literally, whatever we liked……….. So, very finally, if you are reading this and thinking the Institute does not offer much to you – what would you like it to do, and are you prepared to get together with a group of like-minded people and do it for everybody!

W D Griffiths CEng FICME

Willie Howson - ICME National President 2008/09

This year as National President has been an interesting one and one which I will not forget. Indeed I am sure that for all those involved in manufacturing, this is a year that they will not forget. The whole country is now in the grip of a recession according to the Government. As many of you will be aware, the Institute has been reducing in size for many years, reflecting the reduction in size of the industry. Our funds have also suffered dramatically recently due to the downturn of the Stock Market. We, as a Council, have not been idly waiting for a magic wand or a lottery win. We set up a small group to look at what we can do to continue to develop and to continue to serve the members and the wider castings industry. We will be reporting progress on this to the General Council and AGM in May and in this way will keep members up to date. We are indebted to our Hon. Treasurer David Fletcher for his direction and expertise in the financial world along with our fund managers Baillie Gifford.

The Institute is for our Members and if we do not have new young blood coming into the Membership we will cease to exist even before considering the difficult financial situation. To address this, as most of you will be aware, we set up, along with Dr. Tom Paterson and assisted by our staff at Head Office, a programme of visits to mostly the non-ferrous sector to try to recruit members. Tom has had some success but even this hard-nosed salesman had to admit that at times he was beaten by the lack of response he received. However, with both Tom and the Head Office’s commitment we were able to gain over 80 new Members. We now have the facility for new members to join online and this has also proved to be successful. We need everyone’s help and support with this and would encourage all of our current members to continue to encourage colleagues to join.

In October we held our Awards Lunch at the newly opened Wedgwood Pottery Museum. Those who attended were given a guided tour of the museum prior to it being opened to the public. This was a first class venue and one which gave an excellent backdrop to our awards. The awardees as usual were up to a high standard and it was a privilege to be part of this event. These are people who give themselves to further the education of our Members and industry, mostly giving of their own time to do so. They should be commended for their efforts and the awards hopefully achieve this.

I have been privileged to be able to visit most, if not all, of our Branches social gatherings where I and my wife, Janet, have been made welcome by the Members. It is a pity when you attend these functions to see that a large percentage of people attending are not Members of the Institute. These friends of the Institute are, of course, welcome but it would be excellent if we could encourage even half, if not all, of them to join since they are working in either foundries or as suppliers to the Industry. The Branch officers must be congratulated in their ability to attract suppliers and foundries to give their support both in time and money to these functions as without them we would not survive. However these events would not take place without the Institute and the Institute needs members.

As far as I am concerned the Branches are an important part of the Institute and we must endeavour to keep them alive by having a programme that will entice Members out on a wet cold winter evening. Our staff at Head Office are now happy to assist in this by suggesting speakers who are willing to travel to Branches and present an interesting paper on different technical matters. Head Office is also willing to help promote the papers by contacting Branch Members to encourage them to attend.

As you can probably tell I am passionate about Branch survival. I know it is difficult to be enthusiastic when you cannot get Members to participate but for the Institute’s future and also for the future of the Casting Industry it is my view that we must keep local Branches strong. I would like to thank the Officers of the Branches for their perseverance in the work they do each month.

We now also have our ICME Members monthly update sent out as an e-mail. This e-publication is an excellent method of keeping you all up to date with members as well as with what is going on in the wider castings industry and supplements the information in the now excellent Journal, Foundry Trade Journal. It gives a flavour of what is going on and hopefully encourages Members to then visit the website and also read the Journal. I cannot miss this opportunity to once again plug Branch news as it provides an excellent platform for Branch Officers to publicise the efforts of branch members and to let members know what is happening in their Branch.

As I said previously, we at the Institute have not been idle and under the guidance of Dr Pam Murrell, our Operations Director, we have developed a new and exciting distance learning programme to be delivered by Bradford College. This is to be launched early in 2009 and we have already had considerable interest from the industry. This is surely exactly the sort of work with which the Institute should be associated and it is encouraging that so many from the Industry feel we still have a place in providing training and education - exactly the aims that the Institute had when we started 105 years ago. The course is a Foundation Degree in Casting Technology and we have also been able to get the promise of funding from the Tor Lodge and Applecross Trust to support up to 15 students from the industry. This is an excellent sponsorship from the Trust and I would like to thank them for the continued support they give to all students who take on industry related training.

It has been an honour to be National President of the ICME and to be linked with some of the great names of the Industry. I would like to thank the Past Presidents for the help and encouragement they have given me and in particular Peter Nix, our immediate Past President, for his mentoring prior to my year as President. I look forward to working alongside our incoming President, Dr. William Griffiths, and wish him, and Patrick Helly who will follow him, every success during his year of office.