Wood Technology Society broadens scope

27 November 2010


The WTS is part of the industry initiative to develop nationally recognised qualifications


It’s now almost 18 months since the Institute of Wood Science merged with the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM³). We took this opportunity to rename the organisation as The Wood Technology Society (WTS), which more accurately reflects our mission. IOM³ is an organisation with 17,000 members, premises in London, Stoke, Doncaster and Grantham and a strong financial position. WTS members enjoy new benefits such as use of these offices, access to a product library for displaying samples, local societies and networking opportunities across a wide range of other materials disciplines.

One of my aims as chairman of the WTS is to make it more outward looking. As well as our educational brief, we are trying to change the WTS by making it more commercial. There is a hard-headed logic to this at a time when companies and individuals are rightly questioning what they receive in return for membership of organisations. I believe that as well as our courses, we can offer members the chance to broaden their horizons by learning about how the timber industry can work with manufacturers of other materials. This is why we’ve broadened the scope of our conference on November 30 which will include presentations on glulam in commercial applications, designing with timber, advanced timber composites, packaging and the latest developments in adhesives technology.

Our primary aim is to provide education and I want to position the WTS as the leading provider of education for the timber industry. We are updating our Foundation and Certificate courses and rewriting the learning outcomes and assessment criteria so they comply with the requirements of the government’s Qualification and Credit Framework which will create a nationally recognised qualification. Our courses will be indispensable as a means to enable the industry to compete effectively.

Education is currently playing a large part in the evolution of the UK timber industry as it partners Proskills, the Sector Skills Council for process and manufacturing, to develop and implement a set of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the wood industry. This is an exciting move because the whole UK wood industry is united to develop a set of nationally recognised qualifications for our sector. The WTS is very much part of this initiative.

To see how much we’ve changed come along to our conference on November 30. The programme starts at 1pm at the IOM³’s office at 1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DB and to tegister online visit www.iom3.org/wood-technology and click on Events.

I look forward to meeting you on the day.

Charles Trevor is chairman of the Wood Technology Society Charles Trevor is chairman of the Wood Technology Society