Success at our 65th ARGE Annual Conference

More than 80 delegates attend the ARGE Conference in Salzburg

Hosted by Berufsgruppe Schlösser und Beschlagindustrie (BSB) of the Austrian Association FMTI, the ARGE conference took place from 14^th-15^th September. The event achieved its highest turnout in recent years, thanks to the compelling focus of this year’s conference, ‘ARGE 2020- Changing the Game.’

At the event in Salzburg, the ARGE board members were able to map out and engage delegates in our journey to 2020. The key elements of this vision are:

• Greater connection with Brussels on standards
• Taking clear responsibility for the work within CEN’s TC33 WG4 – Working Group for Building Hardware related standards
• Continued progression on Smart Home standards
• Progressing the work on industry-wide guidance for data and system security of Master Key Systems and the implications of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on this

First introduced at the 2016 conference, the possibility of a European Quality Brand was also debated and may still form part of our journey to 2020. It was agreed that the next step will be to establish an overview of existing national quality brands.

In addition to setting out our agenda for the next 3years, we also updated delegates on the continued roll out of our 14industry representative Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are moving forward in line with the EU’s ambition for a Circular Economy and the improved Sustainable Performance of Buildings.

We also took the opportunity, at the conference, to announce that ARGE has become an Associated Member of CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS EUROPE (Brussels) This was met with great enthusiasm from attendees, as it affords us a greater understanding of the impact EU institutions will have on our industry and businesses. Plus, it will provide us with more opportunities to participate in the decision-making process of EU institutions.  

In other announcements at the conference, Executives re-elected Paul Browne (UK), Bruno Rosevich (IT) and Denis Schnœbelen (FR) to the board. They will be joined by newly elected Jens Busse (DE) and Jari Toivanen (FI).  The Turkish company Kale Kilit was also accepted at as Guest-member of ARGE, with an aim to establish a Turkish Association within the next three years.

The business programme concluded with two lectures designed to focus our attention on the future. These insightful presentations covered the ‘Future of doing business in Russia,’ and ‘Digital transformation effecting our industry.’

Delegates were also able to relax and enjoy the interesting social programme and many took the opportunity to visit MACO, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of window and door hardware, where they could see the latest production methods in use.

We’d like to thank all delegates for their attendance and participation in our workshops and discussions. We’re already looking forward to the 2018 ARGE conference, which will be hosted by Dutch Association VHS in Rotterdam, on 13^th & 14^thSeptember – save the date!