Dave Berridge has over 25 years' experience in the material handling industry, including being a member of the AMHSA Council for the past three years and is Chairman of MHE/14, one of British Standards Institution's committees responsible for safety in handling and storage automation.
Commented Peter Lerigo, President of AMHSA, "We are delighted to welcome Dave to this new role and we have every confidence in his ability to conduct the affairs of the association efficiently and continue the good work of his predecessor, Graham Watts, in raising the profile of AMHSA. Graham became Secretary almost 20 years ago when AMHSA was in decline; with help from a series of Presidents, he built the association's membership up to about 50 companies and made it a very effective networking group. We're very grateful to Graham for all his hard work over the years and we wish Dave every success as he steps into his shoes."
As well as acting as AMHSA Secretary, Dave Berridge, 47, will continue in his role as Managing Director of Emkat Solutions Limited, the logistics consultancy business he established in 2009. In addition to his expertise in providing technical and commercial services to both clients and suppliers in the automated handling industry through Emkat, Dave brings considerable experience to his new role. After a degree in Physics at Oxford followed by an MBA at Warwick, Dave spent seven years with Cleco Ltd, initially as Project Manager and then as Head of Projects. He then worked for four years as Business Development Manager at IO Systems Ltd, before progressing to roles as Systems Manager and then Head of Solutions with FKI Logistex.
A new home for AMHSA
After operating for many years with just a virtual address, AMHSA now has a permanent home. The association has moved into offices at Harborough Innovation Centre, a £4.2 million development in Market Harborough. Explained Dave Berridge, "This new building provides an ideal base for AMHSA, having not only modern offices but also spacious meeting rooms and high-tech facilities. One of my aims for AMHSA is to make the association more interesting and enjoyable for its members. With this in mind, I'm planning a wine tasting event for our first meeting at our new venue in October." He continued, "Thanks to the efforts of Graham Watts, we have a healthy membership of system integrators in AMHSA. I hope that we can use this strength to add more sub-contractors to our numbers and this is another objective that we will be focusing on in the coming year."