James Clark, Secretary-General of BITA, looks back on IMHX 2016 and the Design4Safety awards – two huge events in the BITA calendar in 2016.
With 16,082 visitors, and 409 exhibitors across five halls at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, IMHX 2016 was a tremendous success. As co-owners of the show it was a major event for BITA and the showcase for our Design4Safety awards.
For the first time we shared a stand at the show with the Fork Lift Truck Association and were joined by colleagues from Consolidated Fork Truck Services (CFTS). Our themes of working to continuously raise safety, training, inspection and future standards seemed to chime well with our visitors – and our new leaflet outlining the benefits of BITA membership was very well received.
We also launched our BITA Market Index report looking at forklift orders for the first half of 2016, and our special report, Lifting Higher – the Changing Face of the UK Forklift Truck Market 2011-15. The Market Index shows forklift demand peaking in March 2016, when an annualised level of 33,400 units were ordered, representing an 89% increase on the bottom of the market, in December 2009 – quite a turnaround. There was a slight cooling in the second quarter of the year, but the market remains at historically high levels.
Lifting Higher looks at the market by sector, with manufacturing having a 33% share of the fork truck market in 2015 and wholesale distribution 16%, up 56% since 2011. The fastest growing class of lift trucks, ware house rider trucks, reflects changing consumer buying habits, and meets the needs of the growing online economy.
A real highlight for us was the announcement of the Design4Safety award winners The awards, across six categories, are focused on designing safety into products and services with the aim being to highlight the importance of product or service design in improving safety standards.
We had a fantastic range of entries, with the breadth and quality showing just how seriously designers take safety.
All the winners can be rightly proud of seeing off some stern competition, but special mention must go to Toyota Material Handling UK for picking up two awards, in the Technology and Automation categories. Copies of the new BITA booklet, the Market Index and Lifting Higher reports, can be obtained by emailing info@bita.org.uk or by calling 01344 623 800.
Date Established:
April 1957
BITA Membership Numbers
73 forklift truck manufacturers, suppliers, service providers and media operating in the UK.
The British Industrial Truck Association
The British Industrial Truck Association, BITA, is a substantial and dynamic trade association representing a membership of 73 forklift truck manufacturers, suppliers, service providers and media operating in the UK.
BITA is the voice of the industry in matters technical and legislative at the highest levels in Europe and internationally. It enjoys a close working relationship with bodies such as the UK Health and Safety Executive, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the International Standards Organisation (ISO).
As a member of the British Materials Handling Foundation (BMHF) BITA is allied with the Fédération Européenne de la Manutention (FEM), the European manufacturers’ association of materials handling, lifting and storage equipment. BITA produces a wide range of specialist publications, encompassing best practice and health and safety assurance, as well as technical guidance notes and unique market insight. Its specialist committees include the Truck Suppliers Group (TSG), Technical Policy Committee (TPC), and the Component & Services Group (CSG) among many others.
BITA members, including many international brands, manufacture and distribute over 90% of all new forklifts procured each year in the UK. They employ 7,000 people directly, and enjoy a combined annual turnover of £1.3bn. BITA members play an increasingly important role in the UK’s overall economic health, supply chain effectiveness and environmental performance.
BITA
01344 623 800
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