IIW 2017 Annual Report

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Mr Douglas R. Luciani IIW President

In my first of three years as your President, it is my privilege to provide you with the 2017 Annual Re- port. Before doing that, I would once again like to thank Gary Marquis for everything he accomplished for the IIW while he was our President over the past three years. Since the tremendously successful Annual Assembly and International Conference in Shanghai, P.R. China, your IIW Board of Directors has met three times and continues to work on several key initia- tives to elevate the IIW as the worldwide organisation that we all enjoy being part of. Development of a new 5-year IIW Strategic Plan In January 2017, the IIW Board of Directors began the process of developing a new IIW Strategic Plan. The previous plan covered the five-year period of 2013-2017. After several Board workshops and excellent insight from many of you via the stakeholder survey that we conducted in November 2017, the IIW Board of Directors has now finalised a brand new 5-year Strategic Plan that will be brought forth to the General Assembly in Bali, Indonesia for approval. Prior to this, during the month of June, I held two 1-hour webinars to present this new Strategic Plan to many of you around the world. The questions posed by those that attended were excellent, and I look forward to talking more about this new plan at many of the Annual Assembly and Conference meetings being conducted in Bali. For your information, the next phase of this Strategy is to finalise the Operational Plan that will be aligned to help us execute this new strategy going forward. The IIW Board has already started to de- velop this plan, and recognised one area that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. This is the creation of a new corporate wide IIW Strategic Marketing and Communication plan, which was a key area of improvement for the IIW noted in the stakeholder survey. In addition, we will also be revising the Secretariat contracts for both the overall IIW (i.e. General Secretariat) and that for the IAB expi- ring at the end of 2019, as it is an opportune time to ensure the future of these contracts aligns with the new Strategic Plan (i.e. “structure follows strategy”). We envisage both the Operational and the Strategic Marketing and Communication plans will be completed in time for the Annual Assembly and Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. Stay tuned for more information on all of the above as we continue throughout 2018 and into 2019. As indicated above, the 70 th Annual Assembly and International Conference in Shanghai, was an unpa- ralleled success having the largest attendance of Young Professionals and students seen to date with 356 participants. In addition, total attendance was over 1200 with individuals representing 43 coun- tries which is another impressive accomplishment for our Chinese Member Society and all those in- volved in organising this event. In addition, at this event, the IIW signed an MOU with the International Committee on Non-Destructive Testing (ICDNT) which recognises our joint objectives of advancing the highest standards of NDT in welding for the benefit of all. Going forward, I for one know that the IIW relies on the passion, commitment, cooperation and com- petence of all of you and I cannot thank you enough for your continued devotion to the IIW. Like every organisation, change is something that is inevitable and for the IIW, this is no different. To ensure the IIW continues to be the leading global community that links industry, research and education for the advancement of welding and joining for a safer and sustainable world we will need to ensure it continues to evolve. With the involvement of all of you, I have no doubt that we will accomplish all of this and I look forward to taking this journey with you.

I hope to see many of you at the upcoming 71st Annual Assembly and Conference in Bali and at other IIW events over the next two years. Mr Douglas R. LUCIANI President

cile MAYER Executive Officer

Mr. Douglas R. Luciani President, International Institute of Welding (2017-2020), Toronto, Canada

2 IIW - ANNUAL REPORT 2017