New chief executive for BFPA The president and directors of the *British Fluid Power Association are delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Buxton as their new chief executive officer. Chris, who formally takes up his role from January 2014, takes over from Ian Morris who, after 10 years in post, will be moving on to work freelance in this industry. Chris joins the BFPA from his role as CEO of the Processing & Packaging Machinery Group, incorporating Processing & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA), British Automation & Robot Association (BARA), Polymer Machinery Manufacturers & Distributors Association (PMMDA), and UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) – a role that he held for over eight years. During that time he successfully integrated four advanced engineering trade associations into one cohesive organisation. Chris joined PPMA from BAE Systems where he was responsible for their sales & marketing naval operations. The latter two years of his career at BAE were spent on secondment to the UK Cabinet Office where he was one of four UK industry representatives working on a PM-sponsored initiative to reduce the burden of inappropriate and disproportionate regulation on British industry. Prior to BAE Buxton held a number of senior management positions in the private sector including marketing director for Brown & Root Services, sales & marketing director of Dalkia Energy and Technical Services Ltd., marketing manager for Taylor Woodrow Mgt. & Engineering and regional business manager for Perkin Elmer Nuclear Systems. He is a chartered physicist and spent a number of years in research at the Royal College of Science and the MRC at Cambridge. Speaking of his appointment Chris stated: "As one of the UK's most proactive engineering trade associations the BFPA has an excellent reputation for representing the best interests of this all-important sector and I look forward to working with the directors, the executive staff and the member companies in building upon this success and taking the organisation through the next stage in its development." Tony Kay; managing director of member company Hydrofit FZE International Ltd. and president of the BFPA added: "We are absolutely delighted to gain the experience, intellect, energy and drive of Chris Buxton as CEO of the BFPA. We wait with bated breath to see which direction Chris takes the BFPA, but strongly believe that he will develop a strong and dynamic association to even greater heights." The directors and executive staff would like to thank Ian Morris for the excellent contribution made during his tenure and welcome Chris Buxton to his new role in the BFPA industry. 2014 CETOP General Assembly to be hosted by the BFPA CETOP, or as it is more formally titled 'Comite Europeen des Transmissions Oleohydrauliques & Pneumatics', will in 2014 hold its General Assembly in the UK, which will be hosted by the BFPA. As CETOP is the European body for the fluid power industry it sets out to hold the GA in a different country each year. This provides valuable networking opportunities and exchanges on a wide variety of subjects. Of course the underlying reason is the furtherance and wellbeing of the fluid power industry; a maxim which has been at the core of CETOP from the start. Although the date and venue for this General Assembly has not been finalised it will be held in June 2014. For more information visit: www.cetop.org. New BFPA logo registered A new BFPA logo design shown below has been fully registered with the Intellectual Property Office and can now be released into public view. Registration with the IPO means that only the BFPA and its division may use this style, a situation which did not prevail with the association's previous logos. All logos associated with the BFPA will now take this form and below can be seen both the BFPA and the BFPDA in their new format. These logos will now gradually be incorporated into our literature and products. However, ever conscious of costs this will happen as current stocks expire. Thus both formats will be seen for a time but anything new will carry the new style. 2013 Fluid Power Forecast Seminar at Jaguar Land Rover The sold-out 2013 BFPA Forecast Seminar took place at Jaguar Land Rover in Solihull on 9 October, with over 40 delegates from the UK fluid power industry attending what was a very informative day. Jeremy Leonard of Oxford Economics presented OE's 2013 to 2017 forecast for hydraulics & pneumatics as well as giving an overview of the UK and global trends that form the backdrop to the forecast itself. Charlie Overton of Jaguar Land Rover gave an excellent overview of the Jaguar Land Rover current business, and an insight into the company's future plans as it strives to become "a significant global player in the premium automotive market". David Phillips of Off Highway Research gave a very comprehensive overview of the construction equipment markets in the UK and worldwide, and discussed the key trends and uncertainties facing construction equipment markets around the world. BFPA and BFPDA Members can purchase the forecast and proceedings from the day as a BFPA publication. For more details visit our website or contact Sarah Gardner on sarah@bfpa.co.uk