Trevor Gregory
ABB UK Managing Director
It’s an indication of the unpredictable times in which we live that in a few short weeks the proposed topic of this message has changed from the impact of rising commodity prices to how best to blunt the impact of economic uncertainty.
In no time at all, the threat of increasing prices for raw materials has eased as demand scales back. Just as in our domestic lives, worries about inflation linked to soaring energy costs have been overtaken, and industry has greater concerns than commodity cost increases. We know, however, that all these challenges remain in the background, once recovery begins to assert itself.
No-one can say for certain what the individual challenges facing our businesses are, or how long it will take for the current anxiety to diminish and normal life begin again.
ABB has faced its fair share of challenges over the years, and is as well placed as any to weather the present storm.
If we have learned any lesson from the past, it is to remain focused and work together.
While there may be a temptation to overreact, the real solution is to stay cool, calm and collected. At the same time, as the news is filled with economic woes, reports are filtering through of concerns in previously neglected areas. One of these, and one that affects almost all us as either suppliers or consumers, is the prediction of an impending power supply crisis. By impending we mean 5–10 years away. But for the power industry as a whole, this really means very soon.
Everyone from government to industry needs to take action. For many of us, that action involves not allowing infrastructure investment to be delayed or key decisions to be sidetracked.
The economy will recover, hopefully sooner than later. When it does, it would be inexcusable if society was immediately thrown into another crisis where business and industry could not function because of power cuts.
This really would be snatching defeat out of the jaws of future success. Let’s make sure it does not happen and work together to maintain the momentum of long-term investment.