I wear a few hats these days – in addition to my role as Head of Concepting at Dematic, I sit on AMHSA’s Steering Group and I have recently become Leader (alongside Dave Berridge, AMHSA Secretary) of the association’s Standards pillar.

You may recall that last year, following Hilton Campbell’s election as AMHSA President, we reinvigorated our focus on the association’s three core pillars ­– Standards, Networking & Promotion and Training – with two individuals from the association’s Steering Group appointed to lead each one.

As a result, the Engineering Standards Forum was established last year to drive the Standards pillar and act as a platform for education, innovation and networking. It provides a regular meeting point for members to understand and discuss the engineering standards issues that affect our businesses.

Our purpose

The new Engineering Standards Forum is not merely a talking shop – it fulfils several important roles. It acts as the voice of our industry with both the UK’s national standards body (BSI) and the European standards committee (CEN). It also advocates for our sector directly with the UK government through the UK Equipment & Machinery Forum, a consortium of UK trade associations led by the Construction Equipment Association.

In pursuing all these relationships, the Engineering Standards Forum naturally provides feedback to AMHSA members to support them in remaining compliant and competitive. This is especially important for SME members, who often do not have the resources to employ someone dedicated to technical compliance. Even for larger companies, collaboration with other AMHSA members secures greater influence through a combined voice.

Of course, an overarching role of the Engineering Standards Forum is to demonstrate to customers and potential customers in the intralogistics automation sector the benefits – in terms of safety, quality and equipment longevity – of doing business with an AMHSA member.

Current focus

A key topic for the Engineering Standards Forum for the remainder of 2026 will be the future of CE marking. For companies selling equipment into Europe, CE marking indicates conformity with the Machinery Directive. However, from 20 January 2027, the Machinery Directive will be replaced with the new Machinery Regulation, so the Engineering Standards Forum is busy understanding the implications of the new rules for AMHSA members.

Three new subgroups

The Engineering Standards Forum held its inaugural meeting in February. We were delighted to have around a dozen highly engaged attendees. It was decided to form three subgroups with specialist expertise: Conveyors, Shuttles and AIV (Autonomous Intralogistic Vehicles). As not every AMHSA member is active in all three areas, this approach allows representatives to focus on the technologies that are relevant to their business.

Engage with us

To maximise the potential of the Engineering Standards Forum and our new subgroups, we want members in technical roles to engage with our work. So, if your work revolves around engineering, health & safety or compliance, we really want you to either join one of the subgroups or make sure that you attend AMHSA meetings to hear important feedback about the development of standards in the UK and internationally.

There will usually be at least four opportunities a year to get together – our two AMHSA meetings in spring and autumn, plus two Engineering Standards Forum meetings in between these. The next meeting of the Engineering Standards Forum is planned for July 15^th, with the three subgroups meeting before then. Please look out for information about these events and, crucially, make sure that your colleagues in technical roles know about these meetings.

With less than a year until the new Machinery Regulation replaces the Machinery Directive, it is more important than ever that members engage with these new platforms for education and networking with their peers.

For more information about the Engineering Standards Forum, please contact Matthew Jones, Administration & Events Manager, on 07517 610 514.