A consolidating market and declining sponsorship revenues will see two associations, Label and Tag Manufacturers Association of Australia (LATMA) and Australia New Zealand Flexographic Technical Association (ANZFTA), merge as one.
LATMA president, Mark Easton, who works as the sales and marketing manager at label printer Impresstik, says the associations are merging after a mandate was obtained during their mini conference and awards dinner.
Mark Easton, LATMA president
Easton says, “This mandate gave us the go ahead to pursue discussions with AFTA (ANZFTA) in view of a final constitution to be reviewed and resolved with the membership.
”From members comments received over the past 18 months along with the hard work from a steering committee made up from members of both associations I am now pleased to announce that we have a draft constitution for your review and vote.”
He sees challenges facing the industry today that require the associations to come together and maintain a strong position. He says, “Those challenges include an ever decreasing pool of members as acquisitions of businesses become more prevalent; consolidation also among suppliers and end users. It is becoming more and more difficult to raise sponsorship dollars that we as not-for-profit organisations rely on to continue.
“Cash flow and budget constraints are affecting all organisations as the competitive tension grows in today’s business world. We need to move with these times in order to deliver our members continued excellence in both technology updates and training.”
He says the new association, which does not have a name yet, will start at the beginning of 2016, and the first leadership council will be made up from an equal portion of members from both of the current associations.
“The nominations put forward for the positions available will be voted on by the current sitting council members. Consolidation and therefore expansion of a combined association will broaden opportunities; improve quality of programmes, speakers, training, and workshops.
“We will have a greater monetary reserve to spend on training and education. We will have the numbers to grow and be strong and survive for many more years than would have been possible had we not proposed this venture.
He urges members to access the initial draft version of the new constitution for the new association on its website and ‘have a careful read’.
Easton wants members of LATMA and AFTA (ANZFTA) to vote on this proposal before the AGM, which takes place on November 23.
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