Securing the future of Chemicals Northwest

Following on from the announcement in the January e-bulletin that the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) had completed its acquisition of Chemicals Northwest (CNW), we are delighted to be able to continue working with the chemical industry in the region and believe this positive move of joining forces will help deliver a more powerful voice for our sector and a stronger delivery of practical support to members.

Due to the recent public sector cuts, CNW faced severe financial difficulties and we have had to make a number of changes to ensure an effective service. To help take this new organisation forward, I am delighted to announce that Duncan Simcock has agreed to lead CNW.  Many of you will already have met Duncan as he has been implementing the Enworks project to help companies in the North West chemical sector improve resource efficiency and reduce their impact on the environment.  Duncan has over 30 years of industry experience, initially with ICI and Zeneca and latterly with BP before joining CNW. Duncan will be supported by Alex Heys who has been with the team since 2007; she will look after member coordination and communication activities. They will both remain in our Runcorn office and be supported by the CIA team.

Jenny Clucas, Stephen Hoskins, Amy Peace and Helen Cross will leave the organisation at different dates in March and April and we would like to thank them for all they have achieved under Jenny’s leadership.

Chemicals Northwest will continue to offer its wide range of services including events, networking opportunities and information provision.  Our next event is a dissemination event for our manufacturing excellence pilot project, Process Innogateway, at Catalyst on the 10th March. This event will include case studies from companies involved in the pilot and enable others to benefit from adopting new business practices.

Future events, along with news from the sector, will continue to be included in our e-bulletin and posted on our website so please check back regularly.

We will shortly be surveying our members about the services CNW provides and welcome your input to help us shape our future agenda.

I look forward to representing the industry in the region and working with Duncan and Alex to deliver local events and services.

If you have any questions please contact Diana Montgomery, Jenny Clucas, Simon Marsh or myself via Alex on 01928 515678 or alex.heys@chemicalsnorthwest.org.uk.

Steve Elliott
Director
Chemicals Northwest