ITA president Stan Simpson

Acknowledging the economic downturn, the Industrial Truck Association (ITA) is pursuing "some extraordinary actions", says ITA president Stan Simpson.

Simpson addressed the ITA spring meeting in Washington on 1 April. He is president and chief executive officer of ITA member Kalmar RT Center LLC of Cibolo, Texas.

"While none of us can predict the future, we do know that the market has been off at least 50% since last December," he said. "That's the bad news. I think the good news is that it appears to have levelled off ... which gives us a moment to evaluate what we should be doing as companies and, as importantly, an association. There is no way to sugarcoat the facts. This will undoubtedly be the worst year since 1991 and, while we may have reached the bottom, the recovery still seems to be several months away."

Simpson and other executive committee members-Jeff Ruffener, Jim Moran, Brian Butler, Paul Laroia, Mike Lavelle and Jim Malvaso-cancelled the committee's January meeting and handled the work electronically. They've also agreed to adjust and in some cases cancel spring meeting-related and other committee and subcommittee sessions and cancel ITA participation in the 2-6 May convention of the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association in Palm Desert, California and the 24 April dinner-ball of the British Industrial Truck Association in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. "We will be sending written statements to both groups," Simpson reports.

Further, ITA will participate electronically in-but not send anyone to-upcoming meetings of either the China Industrial Truck Association or Japan Industrial Vehicle Association.

In addition, "we cancelled the summer (general engineering committee) session, the statistician training session and the Canada committee meeting," Simpson notes. "It's not so much that these were expensive meetings from ITA's viewpoint, but the concern was the cost to member companies who would need to pay travel expenses for their experts to attend those meetings."

He gave an update about the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation (ITSDF), which assumed management of the development process of Standard B 56 for industrial forklifts from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in April 2006.

"I am pleased to tell you that ITSDF has achieved its first goal of getting the standards into the hands of users, manufacturers, government officials, educators and training organizations," Simpson reported. More than 28,000 copies of the standards have been downloaded in about two years (Forkliftaction.com News #402).

"What has not been quite so rewarding is the fact that we have had to count on ITA, MHIA and PERC for all ITSDF funding so far this year," he noted. MHIA is the Material Handling Industry of America of Charlotte, North Carolina and PERC is the Propane Education & Research Council of Washington. Each group contributed USD5,000 recently.

ITSDF has "cut back to the bare necessities and examined ways to . . . maintain management of those areas of immediate concern to us", Simpson says. "We may have to eliminate standards that aren't of direct importance."

ITSDF needs more income. "We're going to talk with the (ITSDF) board about how we should pursue additional funding," Simpson says. "While we still believe safety standards should be available without charge for any and all who want them, we'd like to see more financial support from others in the marketplace."

Simpson applauded the four-year-old contractual alliance between ITA and the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). "Our alliance is emblematic of how business and government can cooperate on many issues and, in particular, helping on workplace safety," he said. "Reducing accidents is good for all of us." One ITA-OSHA seminar is scheduled although earlier 2009 plans called for three sessions.

Under board direction, the ITA staff is exploring ways to reduce attendee costs for the association's annual meeting during the third fiscal quarter in Austin, Texas.

Input is being sought. "We aren't really interested in cutting association services, but we are interested in having you evaluate whether you feel individual activities are affording you a return worth the investment to belong," Simpson says. "Our belief is that they are, but every so often, in a time of economic uncertainty, you need to raise the question."

Simpson reports that "ITA's financial health is good", with USD349,000 in the association's reserve fund as of 31 December.

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