IIW Annual Report 2022

ING. SORIN KELLER IIW Acting President, Switzerland

As Acting President of the IIW organization, I have the duty and the honor to write this message

in the IIW Annual Report 2022. 2022 has been an unprecedented year for IIW with extraordinary challenges, with the post global pandemic affecting our professional and private lives and other unpredictable happenings that affected and may affect us in also the future. But nevertheless, we never lost our focus on the three fundamental pillars of the IIW: • Our Mission, to sustain the art and science of welding and to advance welding and joining technology through a worldwide network; • Our Vision, the leading global community linking industry, research, and education to the advancement of welding and joining for a safer and sustainable world;

• Our Goal, to be recognized as the best international provider of certification and best practices ensuring the highest standards for all welding projects with global scope and impact. In response to the pandemic, when after the years 2020 and 2021 we organized, with great success, two online General Assemblies, in 2020 originally planned in Singapore and 2021 originally planned in Genova, we all looked forward to the 2022 IIW Annual Assembly in Tokyo, finally in presence. This time the General Assembly was organized, with a proven record of success, for the first time in a Hybrid form with the participation of 51 countries with 550 in presence and 200 online registered attendees. The 2022 International Conference dedicated to: “Innovative Welding and Joining Technology to achieve Carbon Neutrality and promote Sustainable Developments” , was a remarkable addition to the IIW Annual Assembly in Tokyo. There in Tokyo, our welding community came back to a bit of normality, and this was possible only by the incredible engagement und conviction of the Japan Welding and Engineering Society, the Japan Institute of Welding, the IIW Secretariat, the IIW Board of Directors and especially you all as participants. The success of the event demonstrated the strength of our community and the possibilities offered by technology in enabling the association to still function in these days with permanent challenges. During the last year, the IIW Board of Directors and each of its two working groups (Governance and Finances, Audit and Risks) and with the participation of the IAB and TMB Chairs met almost monthly. This allowed the IIW to progress a range of actions towards achieving our 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and although some actions still need to be performed. Board members and our community of volunteers are working towards finalization. On the pure management side, IIW made further steps forward in optimization of resources to improve efficiency in processes and save costs. The incomes arising from the successful 2022 IIW Annual Assembly and the selling of the IIW journal “Welding in the World” resulted in a good financial result in 2022. Despite some loss of membership in the last years, different measures are now in place making IIW membership benefits more attractive, especially to developing countries. We look forward to adding new members in the future, increasing the global relevance of our organization. Welding has been and remains a key to global sustainable development and the IIW is the tool to help every country in this direction. It is part of our strategy to intensify cooperation with other players as EWF / European Welding Federation, AWF / Asian Welding Federation and other global associations and institutions. Now, rather to bore you with several details, I would like to highlight some significant goals achieved, aligned with the strategic plan: • The IIW-Strategy plan for 2023-2028 was started in this year and will be reported in 2023 • The financial losses of 2019 were completely covered • We established The Welding Charity Found of IIW to support project aligned with the mission of the organization In the last three years, the pandemic affected the activities of the welding industry, associations, and related business worldwide. IIW is working to support and to offer perspectives for a positive future. In the last period of the current year, good signals were received form the global market. My wish for everyone is that this will not only bring us back to standard values, but also allow us all to reach higher levels of productivity and financial wellbeing. The success of the IIW organization consist in the fact that we all are committed to the fundamental IIW spirit of serving and providing the art and science of welding worldwide. And for this I would like to thank you all very much. Respectfully, Sorin Keller , IIW Acting President

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