Welcome to our final CMEIG Newsletter for the year and a reflection on the year that was.
2023 was a year that saw construction and infrastructure activity continue strongly despite state budget fiscal tightening and the headwinds of rising interest rates.
Mining continued to be resilient and 2023 has, in many respects, been the year where low emission technologies have come of age.
This has been championed in the first instance by mining companies and supported by low emission Battery Electric Vehicle, Hybrid Electric and other technology offerings from CMEIG member companies.
An immediate challenge that we face as an industry is to ensure that skilled mobile plant technicians have access to training to enable them to continue to service equipment that incorporates both traditional and emerging low emission power technologies.
After 25 years, we welcomed a new provider of industry statistics, Dima Ivanov and the team at PowerStats. This change has delivered new opportunities and has encouraged us to examine what we do and why. More will be emerging in this space as we look to harness the capabilities of PowerStats technology for your benefit, whilst respecting that as a valued CMEIG member, it is your data.
CMEIG’s Engineering Working Group produced six key industry papers through the year, and in 2024, topics will likely focus on electrification standards and harmonisation of AS20474 equipment safety standards. Additionally, CMEIG represented the industry at international forums, the most recent being the ISO Plenary forum in New Delhi where the technical committees of international earthmoving equipment bodies met to discuss developments.
CMEIG are an active participant in the Standards Australia Earthmoving Equipment Committee (ME-63) which is chaired by CMEIG representative Os Ali, from Caterpillar.
The CMEIG Engineering Working Group’s latest publication is an Advisory Notice on Third Party Risk Assessment and is included in this newsletter.
It was terrific this year to continue with face-to-face events including the Cybersecurity forum in Sydney and the presentation from Josh Bull MP on Victoria’s infrastructure agenda at an event held at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne.
More events are planned but we are keen to hear your views on what CMEIG should be doing to represent you, our members – and we welcome your feedback.
Importantly, I wish to acknowledge our recently departed Chair, Dean Gaedtke formerly of Komatsu. CMEIG’s success relies on the voluntary input of its members and Dean has been an exemplar of this principle, leading the establishment of the pillars of industry statistics, engineering, education and HSE that CMEIG operate under.
We welcome Simon Turnbull (Hastings Deering) as interim Chair until our Annual General Meeting to be held on March 14 in Sydney. I hope to see you there.
Finally, all the best for the festive season and thank you for your support throughout the year.
I look forward to working together in 2024.
Best regards
David Birrell
Chief Executive Officer