MAKING CECE WORK FOR YOU

Once a year manufacturers from around Europe and beyond gather for the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) Congress. This year the venue was the Belgian seaside resort of Knokke-Heist - a location that attracted around 160 representatives. Whilst the pall of business uncertainty arising from the events of 11 September threw a shadow over the proceedings there was still some solid progress on a number of technical and other issues. In other words business as usual. However, CECE (and the CEA as an important member) is acutely conscious that, for an organisation that claims to represent up to 1,000 European enterprises, the numbers participating in its activities are relatively small. The organisation is well respected by the European Commission but much of its success is based on the strong support of the leading OEMs, mostly those in the earthmoving sector. One of the tasks for the incoming CECE Secretary General, Ralf Wezel, will be to get the greater involvement of small and medium sized companies and to re-invigorate the other (non-earthmoving) product sections. He has also correctly identified that an early priority will be to improve CECE's communications. It was appropriate, then, that this year's Congress should see the launch of CECE's web site - www.cece-eu.org - take a look, the communication drive starts here!

Rob Oliver
CEA Chief Executive