It has been an eventful few weeks – tariffs, non-tariffs, geo-political tension, enormous supply disruption in oil markets creating further increased volatility in energy and raw material prices. On a more positive and inspirational note, we have witnessed an historic event in NASA’s history and seen images of the moon’s surface unlike ever before thanks to the Artemis II mission.

A booming space market (excuse the pun), is of course good news for the industrial sector, including the refractories industry. It is an opportunity for growth and development at a much needed time. Investment in people and technology is vital even in difficult times; indeed, it could be argued that it is most crucial when the “chips are down.” It is encouraging that many of our members are continuing to support the development of the sector, and we thank you for your
ongoing patronage. In particular, for your sponsorship and collaboration on our technical and training events, both in the UK and Australia. We know that coming together to share best practice is vitally important.

Despite the wider ‘noise’, the objective of engineering and manufacturing in a ‘greener’ and more sustainable manner is still a market driver, so this issue focusses on raw materials and the aluminium sector. There is also a great deal of continued change in legislative requirements to trade globally, and we have considered how 2D technology can assist in the forthcoming EU’s digital product passport needs, see page 24.

Once again, we also consider the news and developments in our end user industrial sectors and the dilemmas they are facing. As we know, success is dependent upon partnerships, so it is important to remain relevant and responsive to our customer base. Let us hope things can settle down in the coming weeks, but in the meantime happy reading.

#IRE #Institute #Refractories #Engineers #Journal #Conference #Training