Dear

After the strangest of summers, we hope this letter finds you well and the building materials industry in your country in good shape.

It has been some months since our last communication and we all have faced pressing national priorities during that time.  We have also adapted our working practices in order to support our members safely within a COVID-19 secure environment.

One thing we have all become familiar with is the virtual meeting.  It will come as no surprise that the Ufemat Annual General Assembly will be held as a virtual meeting on the afternoon of Thursday 15 October 2020.

As well as our formal AGM, the afternoon will include two valuable presentations. 

One will outline the results of a research project on the Building Materials Market across Europe undertaken by the Builders Merchants Federation’s Industry Analyst and Economist, Nyssa Patel. 

The other focuses on the challenges and opportunities presented by e-commerce and will be delivered by Simon Barkes, Incoming President of ETIM International.

Simon is the MD of an electrical wholesaling business in the UK and was previously President of the UK Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA). He has also served as President of the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers. Together with EDA CEO, Margaret Fitzsimons, Simon was responsible for introducing the ETIM standard to the electrotechnical sector in the UK. Following this, he was involved in the creation of ETIM UK Limited, which enabled the HVAC and Plumbing and Building Materials sectors to join the initiative through the BMF.

COVID-19 has highlighted several valuable lessons for building materials and distribution businesses. They must be able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of customers and clients; to operate remotely; and be e-commerce enabled. To achieve this we need high-quality, structured product data that can be transferred with ease to websites, e-commerce platforms and partners in the value chain – and ETIM provides a structured solution.

We look forward to “virtually” seeing you at the Annual General Assembly and ask you to complete the registration form to confirm your attendance.

Stay safe and keep well.

Best regards