Page 26 - BHTA 100 years

Relative stability, materials in short supply, dumping issues and competition from imports....
There was a period of relative stability in the industry and also in the Association in the late 60’s to early 70’s.
In 1970, there were 226 member companies. Subscriptions received in the year ended June 1970 were £3,670. In the 1970 AGM report, it states that the Orthopaedic and Surgical Appliance Section represented well over half the trade.
One of the main discussion items on all meeting agenda’s at this time was the amount of work needed to convert to metric measurements. The BSTA Export group had been very active during this period too,
meeting 8 times over a 12 month period.
One of the issues facing the instrument manufacturers during this period was that, according to an item in the minutes of a 1974 meeting, practically all materials were in short supply. The view was expressed that the cause was low home pricing of materials, which meant that suppliers were looking to export materials rather than sell in the home marketplace. It was reported that some UK material suppliers were quoting a 12 month delay in delivery times and the Association discussed the option of making a case to the Department of Trade.
“Memories from... Philip Salt
My rst recollection of the
Association was when, in my twenties, I visited what seemed to
me to be a dusty old government
type of ce where it appeared that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman swapped roles each year. It was all very formal, but I found that I got something out of the meeting and so I kept going to them and have now been going to them ”for a number of decades!
BHTA 100 years