Warmest greetings to all members of the ACA family. The new edition of Corrosion & Materials marks well over the half way mark of the ACA year and there is a lot to report. Our industry is busy keeping up with an upward trend in infrastructure spend across the country as well as the mining industry showing a comeback with good signs of plant and equipment reinvestment.
The Board will have met twice since the last edition of the magazine, in Adelaide and Melbourne. We’ve had a full compliment of directors attending, ensuring robust discussion and input into the direction of the organisation. Our chief executive Richard Reilly has been in his leadership position for over four months and has settled in well.
We have had a couple of staff changes and additions to the ACA office recently which Richard has expanded upon in his message. There is continuity in the work being done, especially organisation of the Conference.
The ACA’s three year strategic plan is reported on at each Board meeting – we are now over half way through the plan’s life and we are quietly ticking off and undertaking the activities required to achieve the plan’s strategic goals.
We are working to add value to the membership and improve the organisation’s value proposition, by offering and delivering high quality, relevant training courses and running interesting membership events in conjunction with the state Branches.
The Board is very conscious of the need to nurture our membership base and make it a champion of the ACA. One of the best ways to encourage non-members to become members is through the advocacy of the existing membership base.
We seek and welcome feedback from our members. The Association exists to provide benefits to the members and this is the sole focus of our staff at the ACA office.
Our training offerings are continuing to expand and we have seen an upturn in the demand for our courses, which show a strong growth over the same time last year. I was pleased to note that an additional CIP Level 1 training course was required in Melbourne; necessitated by an increased level of demand in this area.
The ACA is expanding its training delivery to international markets, and we’ve recently run two in-house courses in Thailand. The Philippines is on our radar, as are potential training opportunities in Vietnam. We see the international realm as a great opportunity for the ACA to strengthen its revenue base and become the go to organisation for all corrosion mitigation training throughout the south east Asia region.
With a very strong training program having been implemented in the first half of the year, I’m pleased to report that we are in a sound budgetary position year to date, and I expect continuing growth in the final six months. The Conference planning is coming along very solidly.
The ACA is still working with our Branches to consolidate retained earnings at the national level. I won’t prosecute the argument again here, but the benefits accruing to the ACA and Branches of such an administrative move are substantial. The Board is expecting this matter to be finalised in the coming months.