An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

1985-1988: THE TOMBS YEARS 51Interfacing with IndustryThe Industrial Affiliate SchemeThe remit given to Graham Anthony on his appointment to the EngC as Director-Industrywas to “encourage the competitiveness of British industry” – a direct link back to the Charterand, indeed, to the Finniston Report. The Director believed this could be advanced by Britishengineering companies employing registered engineers, but realised that companies needed toenjoy close links with the EngC to appreciate the value and significance of a registeredengineer. He recognised an opportunity here to not only help British industry but also tosecure much-needed funding for the EngC. In the summer of 1984 he conceived the idea ofindustrial companies linking with the EngC as “Industrial Affiliates” by paying an annualsubscription related to the number of their employees or engineers. In launching the IndustrialAffiliate scheme on 1 July 1985, supported by the personal efforts of Sir Francis Tombs andDr Kenneth Miller, Graham Anthony took a considerable step forward. Although manyCouncil members supported the scheme enthusiastically, surprisingly some were eitherneutral or indifferent to this enterprising innovation. Dr Miller writes:“At the Highgate House Conference [see Chapter 2] in September 1984 the main topic hadbeen how we should approach companies to become Industrial Affiliates and support thework of the Engineering Council. We knew that Industry’s performance could be greatlyenhanced if firms employed high quality engineers and technicians, and we believed that wecould and should invite the leading companies in the UK to support us financially (the largestcompanies would subscribe £10,000 per year). Bob Malpas, Chairman of the IndustryStanding Committee, David Plastow, another Council member, Graham Anthony and I calledon all the leading companies to persuade them to support us.“We started our recruiting shortly after the Highgate House Conference, and arranged for thefirst subscriptions to be received after the second half of 1985 when the Government threeyeargrant-in-aid would cease. We had on board companies for which some of the Councilmembers were directors starting with British Petroleum and General Electric.“Annual Industrial Forums were held for the industrialists to give us their views on theeducation in schools, universities, and polytechnics, the shortage of Engineering Technicians,and the part their engineering staffs could play in working with the ECROs on “OpeningWindows on Engineering” and “Neighbourhood Engineers”.“The ECROs and the Engineering Assembly were linked by their elections direct to theindividual Engineers and Technicians in the Profession, and much of their work became auseful link with the Industrial Affiliates. This I considered to be an important development.”And so companies that became Industrial Affiliates gained direct access to the EngC to joinin common enterprises. In return a company not only contributed financially to the work ofthe EngC, but also agreed to encourage its engineer employees to become registered as CEng,TEng or EngTech through an Institution of their choice. The result of all this and many otherinnovations brought in a total independent income of £1,631,490 during 1985, considerablycounteracting the loss of grant-in-aid from Government. Some £171,000 of this income wasfrom the Industrial Affiliates, many of whom also reimbursed the registration fees of theirengineer employees.© Engineering Council UK 2004