Comment by BVAA CEO Rob Bartlett

‘Wake up, smell the coffee…’

I’m a heavy sleeper. Well, more a nightly hibernator really. Very early every morning, Mrs Bartlett wakes me up as she leaves for her shift, and I just about manage to flick on the on the travel kettle by my bed. I confess it’s two doses of caffeine before the grogginess goes, as I listen to the news on the radio, but then I’m good to go!

Currently, it feels like that groggy, just-awoken state persists across some parts of industry however. I wonder if it is a temporary hangover from the enforced isolation from Covid-19, or have things changed more permanently? I sincerely hope it is the former.

While still observing some entirely sensible precautions, I for one am personally raring to go! There’s so much to be excited and motivated about right now!

The spring period heralds its usual treasure of joys; but it’s not all about renewal, the flowers and the sunshine. There’s the wealth of in-person events that are traditional on our BVAA calendar. 

We’ve just had a fabulous Yorkshire Regional Dinner and its associated Supplier Day – what a joy to be able to see and greet so many members in the flesh!  As I write our team are preparing for our first external exhibition of the year, Fluid Power & Systems, and a few weeks later we have CHEM UK, also at the NEC.

Then we have our annual Conference and Golf Day coming up in May (with a fabulous programme of speakers, several on Hydrogen), followed closely by our first international event for a couple of years, namely IVS in Bergamo – I can’t wait!

BVAA also recently launched its 5^th Cohort of the innovative Future Leaders Programme, and our valve and actuator training programme has been revitalised again with some new animated graphics – all our courses are available online as well as the much-missed in-person events at BVAA HQ.

We’re also putting in place some operational changes to smarten up and make slicker some of our back-office activities – less visible, but just as important.

I accept, however, not all is well in the world.  The tragic events in Ukraine are very much on the minds of many, and it’s been wonderful to see the valve industry responding – immediately - to the humanitarian efforts. Some individuals have even undertaken the journey to the border personally to deliver the aid directly.  What wonderful folk we have in the industry!

We have a saying here at the BVAA, ‘Do nothing, nothing happens.’  Essentially there has to be a decision, an action, to be the catalyst to make activities happen, such as compiling that humanitarian aid in the first place, and also in proactively arranging its delivery. 

So it is in industry… we now have to ‘smell that coffee’, recognise that it is time to get the gears of industry working again, put aside the warm, comfortable quilt of procrastination, make those decisions and do everything in our power to get back to normal.

Published: 4th April 2022