Inspirational. Motivational. Just what the industry needs. Those were some of the comments that came flying back after East Penn’s Bob Flicker gave the keynote address at 15ELBC yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
“It was just what we needed to hear,” said David Prengaman, former president of RSR International. “Bob spelled it out clearly just what could be done to the performance of lead acid batteries if we cared to spend some time and money on getting there.
“This isn’t the time to be moaning about unfair rules and regulations — we’ve always had those — but getting on with it.”
Others agreed.
“What we need is a call to arms. A call to start doing things rather than just gassing about them. Most of all a time to be positive about what we can do,” another delegate told Batteries International.
“The video at the start [produced by Hammond] introduced this positive message — we need more of this.”
Flicker’s keynote was preceded by some introductory thoughts by Andy Bush, head of the International Lead Association, who compared the state of siege of the lead battery industry to that of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 when the Ottomans tried to storm the island but failed.
The battery business he assured the assembled delegates looked set to thrive and a simple look round at the range of initiatives from players such as JCI, Exide and the like showed what could be accomplished.