IIW History 1990-2015

reminded everyone that ‘From time-to-time one must stand back and take stock of an activity that has gone on for a very long time along certain well-defined paths and ask oneself where one has got to; whether one is travelling in the right direction and where one is hoping to arrive. Different people will, of course, favour different answers and men of advancing years, such as myself, will inevitably be somewhat more pessimistic and critical.’ 3 Weck was also dismissive of some of the activities of the IIW Commissions indicating that ‘the conclusion is inescapable that we have started to go around in circles’. These remarks by Weck were received rather uncomfortably at higher levels in IIW and Mr Philip Boyd,

Philip Boyd

General Secretary of IIW 1968-1990, considered Weck, the first chair of Commission X Residual Stresses (C-X), to be ‘a long-standing and highly critical member of the Governing Council and Technical Committee’. 4 In retrospect, there was an element of truth in what Weck was trying to get across to what he felt was an unresponsive executive at that time. If his comments carried any weight then Eaton, the incoming President in 1990, would not find it easy to turn around an organisation such as IIW during his coming period of tenure of only three years. The WG Strategic Planning was the vehicle which Eaton expected would deliver cogent reasons for determining a new vision for a revitalised Institute. It was stated as part of the working group’s terms of reference that it was not to involve itself in technical matters, since these were considered to be strictly the role of the Technical Committee and Commissions and no one else. Wallner had previously made a great impression on Eaton who considered Wallner to be one of the most important persons in changing the direction of IIW. Wallner’s influence had brought a new perspective to the Institute since he was the first industrial executive to have a significant influence on IIW. Eaton and Wallner then worked closely together in order for IIW to have a more commercial/industrial focus since, previously, most of the executive/presidents were of an academic or Member Society background. 5 One of the key strategies noted in the WG Strategic Planning paper delivered to the Executive Council by Eaton was to respond to the needs of Member Societies far better than before. It noted that IIW also needed to reflect socio-economic issues of the day. In particular it lacked direction with regard to working for the benefit of mankind and other living creatures, directly and indirectly, through not recognising the frailty of the world’s environment. 6 This topic had already received some support from another direction when the joint Presidents of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the

TOWARDS 2000