European Materials Handling Federation

History

FEM was established in 1953 with two main purposes: (1) facilitating cooperation among materials handling manufacturers in Europe through their respective national committees and (2) creating state-of-the-art technical recommendations from the sector on the use of its equipment.

1993 marked an important change in FEM core activity with the establishment of the Internal Market (European Union) and the gradual increase in relevant regulatory requirements (firstly in the area of safety) originating from the EU. Consequently, in 2000 FEM Secretariat was moved to Brussels to be closer to the decision-making centre.

Structure

It represents 15 National Associations in 13 EU Member States, plus Russia and Turkey. FEM members represent more than 1,000 companies that employ 160,000 people directly in Europe. The indystry has an annual turnover of €60bn (2014). FEM office is located in the same building as Pneurop, Comité Européen de l'Industrie de la Robinetterie or Orgalime, of which it is Associate Member. FEM is one of the sector associations Orgalime offers services to.

FEM is organised in Product Groups that reflect the various industries under the materials handling heading: conveyors for bulk handling, crane and lifting equipment, elevating equipment, intralogistic systems, industrial trucks, mobile elevating work platforms, and racking and shelving.

The constituent organisations include:

Since 2012, FEM President is Jan van der Velden from the company Vanderlande Industries.

Function

It holds a Congress every two years in the autumn. The next edition will take place in Bordeaux (2016). It is organised by CISMA, the French association. It is listed in the European Transparency Register.;

FEM is organised in working bodies (Executive Committee, working groups) that meet on a regular basis and several times a year.

Activities

A historical and still substantial part of FEM work lies in the production and update of technical recommendations on the use and maintenance of the various categories of materials handling equipment. FEM thus manages several dozens of recommendations.

The other main activity consists in defending and promoting the interests of European materials handling manufacturers towards EU decision-makers in the context of relevant EU legislation. FEM is thus monitoring regulatory developments in several areas such as exhaust emissions of non-road mobile machinery, machinery, noise of equipment used outdoor, energy efficiency, resource efficiency, market surveillance...

FEM also organises events (e.g. participation in CeMAT exhibition) and provides statistics on its industry to its members.

In 2014 FEM confounded the World Materials Handling Alliance with American (MHI), Chinese (CMES, BMHRI) and Japanese (JIMH) colleagues. The Alliance exchanges information on trends, standards and regulations in the world materials handling industry. It meets once a year in conjunction with a major trade exhibition.

Products

Materials handling manufacturers produce mechanical equipment related to the movement, storage, control and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. Materials handling can be considered as an 'enabling' industry insofar as it fosters the efficiency of the various steps throughout the life cycle of products. Materials handling products are found in almost every manufacturing or distribution company. Materials handling has become more and more automated and integrated into complex systems.

Materials handling equipment covers a wide variety of products including cranes, dock levellers, forklift trucks, adjustable shelving and pallet racking, aerial work platform, vertical conveyors, etc.

Market surveillance

Market surveillance consists in effective control, by responsible authorities, of products' compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Insufficient market surveillance in the EU has been identified as a major risk for the industry. Indeed, whereas a lot of regulations and directives apply to materials handling products, some competitors do not comply with the rules thus creating an unfair market and affecting the environment, workers' health and products'safety. FEM is therefore cooperating with other machinery industries (e.g. CECE ) to raise and address the issue at EU political level. FEM also created an Industry Support Platform together with the other trade associations to assist market surveillance authorities and market operators thanks to centralised technical guidance on conformity with various regulatory requirements. A