Tim Waples, Chief Executive of the UKMHA, has announced he is to retire from his role as the association’s figurehead. He announced his intention to step down at the recent Thought Leadership event.
Addressing the audience at the event, he said: “Following a recent health scare, it is my intention to retire from my role as Chief Executive of the UKMHA next March.”
Tim has been Chief Executive of the association since it was first formed in 2020, following the merger of the material handling sector’s two leading trade associations, BITA (The British Industrial Truck Association) and the FLTA (Fork Lift Truck Association) – the latter of which, Tim had served as Chief Executive.
With a career spanning more than 45 years, he is one of the UK material handling sector’s most recognisable figures.
Prior to taking on the role at the FLTA, he had a distinguished 33-year career with Doosan Industrial Vehicle UK Ltd, serving as the company’s Vice President and Chief Executive Officer for almost 12 years – a position which saw him appointed BITA President in 2016, having previously filled the same role at the association between 2010-12.
Tim began his long association with the material handling sector while serving as a mechanical engineering apprentice, a reason he is still passionate about the importance of proper training provision and why he is a long-time advocate of the need for higher skills within the sector.
Prior to joining Doosan, he had spent more than 16 years with Lex Industrial Machinery, starting out as Workshop Manager before rising to Logistics Manager, where he oversaw responsibility for the pipeline stock and inventory of multiple product lines in support of an independent import and distribution operation. Tim’s transfer to Doosan (at the time still trading as Daewoo) in 2001, was due to Lex surrendering their importer franchises in Material Handling Equipment back to the manufacturers. It was Tim’s responsibility then to set up and run the factory-owned, UK Import and Distribution Centre for Daewoo, based in Northampton. Daewoo was acquired by Doosan Heavy Industries in 2005 and Tim went on to become the Chief Executive, a position he held for over 11 years, up to his retirement, in 2018.
During his speech at the Thought Leadership event, he also announced that his successor as UKMHA Chief Executive would be the association’s newly-installed Director, Cameron Burnett.
