New ESF-board 2023

The presidents editorial

Dear members, colleagues, friends,

During this Christmas and New Year period, a break from our normal activities has become a tradition and we take the opportunity to look back on the past year.
2023 was not an easy year economically or emotionally. For our industry, raw material and energy prices remained high, which also had an impact on wages, which in term led to very high operating costs in several countries. This may have been an advantage for producers in countries with lower labor costs, but there too there is a rising shortage of experienced workers. Young people aspire more to a white collar than a blue collar, despite the fact that technical professions are in high demand and also offer job security for motivated employees.

The conflicts in the world, especially around us, with many human dramas associated with them, cause doubt and uncertainty in our population, which negatively affects the economy. New ecological insights cause problems that force the governments to make different choices. I am thinking of energy generation, greenhouse gases, nitrogen. ‘Installing another 1000 new wind turbines or a nuclear power plant, what are we going to do?’

We also feel the influence of these new insights in our industry. The European Commission recently issued a ban on fluorescent lamps, with extinction scenarios imposed for some exceptions. Although LED has become the most common light source, this kind of decision was still shocking to us. There are disagreements about the applicability of new restrictions and bans in the neon industry. ESF works together with other experts to provide a meaningful answer to this situation.

Our Code Of Practice and the preparatory work on the European standard for neon signs took a lot of effort from our people, but there remains a hurdle to overcome to get established Commissions to accept them. That is why I call on every national member organization to motivate their delegates at CEN and CENELEC to support our project and if possible delegate experienced industry experts to participate in the meetings.

On behalf of the entire board at ESF, I wish you a pleasant period in good health and let’s not forget to think of colleagues who are less fortunate.

Best wishes for a prosperous 2024!

Luc Steegmans
President of ESF