Jeff Rufener

Jeff Rufener reviewed developments in his state of the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) address during the group's spring meeting on 21-23 March in a Washington hotel.

Rufener is president of ITA and vice president of marketing for Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc in Houston, Texas.

Rufener notes that members of the ITA executive committee attended the 2010 meeting of the Alliance of Industrial Truck Organizations in Istanbul, Turkey. ITA helped establish the AITO in 1997.

"Not everything we have done with our Alliance friends and competitors has borne fruit, but some of it has," he reports. "Japan removed its tariffs, FEM is working with the (European Union) commission to do likewise, and we continue deep in our discussions with China and with the US Office of the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations." FEM is the European Materials Handling Federation.

Rufener says ITA leaders "are confident that we are doing all we can to eliminate tariffs on our products, wherever they are sold in the world, and I am relatively hopeful that our counterparts around the world are working in good faith with us and appropriately with their governments to achieve the same end. One thing is certain: if we do nothing, nothing will happen and our ability to gain our share of emerging markets will be diminished."

ITA "continues to monitor standards and regulations around the world so that when the time comes, we can comment directly as ITA, and/or as part of the Alliance," Rufener says.

A near-term opportunity exists.

The AITO, consisting of management committee members from each of four groups, will hold its 12th annual meeting in conjunction with the ITA annual meeting on 22-25 September at The Breakers oceanfront resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

"It presents a wonderful opportunity for discussions on the worldwide market," Rufener says. "In preparing for those sessions, members of the ITA executive committee will meet with FEM, JIVA and CITA in the next several months so that our voice and opinions will be clearly heard." JIVA is the Japan Industrial Vehicle Association, and CITA is the China Industrial Truck Association.

Further, Rufener mentions that the EU "is in the preliminary phase of preparing to conduct an informational session on 'market compliance,' probably in November and probably in Brussels (Belgium)."

He says the EU is about to begin a program enabling inspectors to prohibit the sale of products that fail to comply with European-wide standards dealing with emissions, noise and electromagnetic compatibility. "The potential impact of this program could be significant, and we are following it closely," he notes.

Closer to home, ITA awaits contact from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding the future of their alliance. ITA and OSHA agreed originally in April 2004 to jointly promote safe use of powered industrial trucks in workplaces.

"In the interim, even without a formal alliance, we have continued a close relationship with OSHA," Rufener says. "We will have compliance officer training sessions in Indianapolis (Indiana) and in Detroit (Michigan) before the ITA annual meeting. We fully expect to continue these sessions into the future."

Rufener seeks the help of members in providing additional locations and trainers. "There is no doubt it is a sacrifice for us to provide these sessions without charge but, if you talk with your legal staff, there is a substantial return on investment," he notes.

In January, the ITA executive committee heard suggestions about the pros and cons of ITA and the Material Handling Industry of America developing a closer working relationship and perhaps finding a way to re-align with one another. Members of "the executive committee thought about it for several months but decided that the benefits of having a stand-alone (ITA) organisation ― responsible directly and only to forklift manufacturers and their suppliers ― best serves our members," Rufener says.

During 2010, ITA cut its operating budget by17%. "Despite this, we did lose several associate members and one regular member," he says. "Nonetheless, we're pleased to report that we almost balanced the budget. We had allowed a drawdown from the reserve fund of USD47,000, but the actual drawdown was less than USD2,000, so the reserve fund is about USD45,000."

The executive committee is not content with the number of suppliers who are ITA members. "With the recovering economy; (the committee is) recommending that we pursue new members," Rufener says. "We think the benefits of membership are self-evident."

In recognising an industry collaborator, Rufener presented a plaque to Roy W Willis, founding president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) and the founding chairman of the Global Technology Network of the World LP Gas Association.

"Since 1998, Roy has led the implementation of a multi-disciplinary program of research and development, safety and training, consumer education, agriculture, and engine fuel," Rufener says. The plaque reads: "This special industry award is presented to the Propane Education and Research Council in grateful recognition of PERC's support of the activities of the Industrial Truck Association and the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation (ITSDF)."

Rufener notes that PERC, "a congressionally authorised commodity check-off program," recently has made the council's vice president, Brian Feehan, available to serve on the ITSDF board of trustees and thereby "strengthened our relationship".

In remarks at the meeting, Willis says, "PERC has worked together with the (ITA) and the (ITSDF) for a decade to protect, grow, and create markets for lift trucks. We have protected our markets with safety and training programs and by shaping regulatory regimes that initially threatened them. We have grown our markets with cleaner, more efficient equipment. Our collaboration has produced results, and continued collaboration will help us create future markets, served by the next generation of propane engines in hybrid powertrains. PERC believes in the mission of the ITA and the ITSDF and shares their commitment to excellence. We are especially grateful for and honored by ITA's recognition."

For standing committee comments, Rufener introduced Rob Reinders, immediate past-chair of the Canada committee; Steve McDermitt, chairman of the general engineering committee; Meredith Stone, chair of the lawyers committee; Payman Shabbak, chair of the statistics committee; and Marc Kemper, chair of the suppliers committee.

"I want to thank each of the chairs for their hard work, not only during the meeting, but also throughout the year," Rufener notes. "ITA staff does a lot of work, but we all count on you for your leadership and insight."

The scheduling conflict during the week of March 20 was noted.

"We can see that, while it was unavoidable this year, having conflicting meetings in Chicago and Las Vegas is not a good idea for our attendance so ITA staff will work more closely with ProMat and ConExpo in the future to make sure we are doing everything we can to make all of our meetings complementary, not competitive," Rufener says. "We apologize for the inconvenience many of you have had over the last few days."

Washington-based ITA represents makers of forklifts and their suppliers doing business in the US, Canada or Mexico.