Industrial Process News is proud to announce that EEMUA has received our Trade Association of the Year award.
EEMUA, the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association, is a non-profit trade association serving the industrial engineering markets. We chose EEMUA as our Trade Association of the Year because, through the organisation’s range of services and its members’ comprehensive expertise, EEMUA provides practical tools and guidance that help to improve the safety, environmental and operating performance of industrial facilities in the most cost-effective way.
“EEMUA is for the membership, by the membership,” said Stefan Kukula, CEO of EEMUA. “It’s not about what will make money, it’s about what the members need and what the industry needs.”
These values are at the heart of everything EEMUA does, and have never been more important than during the last 12 months. “For our members, the COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges. Organisations have been financially hit, & some have had to keep running throughout, trying to do business as usual with all the added constraints.
“We’ve been working hard to deal with their needs and offer them support, which really accelerated things that we had already planned to do. We had been planning to offer more online courses and resources before the pandemic hit, so the process was just sped up.
“As well as releasing new online e-learning modules, we’re always working on continuous improvement. As a learning organisation, we want to make sure we’re not just releasing something and then leaving it, we are constantly looking at ways to improve and make sure everything is relevant and up to date with the industry’s needs. This is achieved through a continuous feedback process – we meet with our competence and training board, follow up on any feedback, and incorporate this into what we offer. Everything is improved as we go along.”
One notable development for EEMUA was the release of its Process Safety e-learning module. “This was a slight departure for EEMUA. The industry has always been very vocal about ensuring you don’t compartmentalise Process Safety, because as soon as you do that you can risk making it someone else’s issue when everyone should be paying attention to it. But I think there’s a realisation that while that’s true, you need to make sure it’s embedded in training. So this module is a departure for us, but it’s something we’re very pleased with.”
Building on its work over the last 12 months, EEMUA is looking to make its online learning more flexible, putting more access on demand without losing the tutor and training interaction. “I think that even once face-to-face teaching is possible again, the borders between this and online learning will be less distinct. One of our key motivations going forward is making sure we offer the flexibility for different learning preferences – some of our members are saying they’ll never go back to the classroom, and others are saying they can’t wait to get back to learning face-to-face, so it’s all about creating a diverse set up for them.
“The things we’ve managed to accomplish over the last year are all down to the staff within EEMUA, our foresight and planning for moving things online, and also the cooperation and help from our membership. Additionally, alongside the EEMUA team, we’re very lucky to have a set of trainers who have been flexible enough to adapt quickly to teaching online. It’s been a huge collaborative effort.”
EEMUA members range from industry giants to small companies, anyone who can benefit from shared, practical guidance on good practice in industrial engineering. To find out more information on becoming a member and everything EEMUA offers, head to the website or get in touch.
T +44 (0)20 7488 0801
ask@eemua.org
www.eemua.org