Professional federation SIGMA unites importers of material handling and civil construction machinery

In this magazine, we meet Joëlle Germain, secretary general of the professional federation SIGMA. This niche federation represents the interests of importers of material handling and civil construction machinery. It has 73 members in our country, employing over 3,100 direct employees and representing a turnover of 1.6 billion euros. SIGMA constitutes an important knowledge and networking platform in the sector. Joëlle Germain outlines the functioning of the federation and looks ahead to notable trends and challenges.

For many years, SIGMA has been the reference for the Belgian market in the sector of machinery for Civil Construction and Goods Handling. Civil Construction includes excavators, construction cranes, breakers, asphalt work machines, concrete formwork and generators, while the Goods Handling section groups importers of forklifts and related accessories. "The acronym SIGMA is the abbreviation for 'Syndicat d'Importateurs Général de Matériel Américain,' referring to the importation of overstock construction equipment after World War II," Joelle explains. "While the professional federation saw the light of day in 1947, the asbl was founded in May 1966. Since then, the number of member importers has increased systematically. We now have 73. About 20 of them belong to the Goods Handling Section."

Central point of contact in industry

Since its creation after WWII, SIGMA has become the privileged interlocutor in the sector of equipment for civil construction, building and material handling. "In the Civil Construction/Building section, we unite the main players in Belgium who commercialize and rent machinery and equipment for public works, mines and quarries, construction, industry and road construction," said Joëlle. 

"With our Goods Handling section, we focus on importers of warehouse and forklift trucks, attachments and batteries. In both sections, SIGMA acts as a central point of contact for all members, offering, among other things, a range of personalized legal, fiscal, technical, social and environmental advice, trade-related information and model documents. You can think of us as a kind of first-line help that members can call on for specific business issues."

Collaboration with TRAXIO

To provide this information, the SIGMA team calls on the expertise of sector federation TRAXIO, which has a professionally developed knowledge center. "TRAXIO manages the funds of three joint committees, which include most SIGMA members," explains Joëlle. Via its own statistics platform, the niche federation provides its members with a lot of valuable figures about the sector. These figures provide additional guidance when exploring the market and mapping out a successful business strategy. 

"In addition, I would also like to highlight our SIGMACert safety label," indicates Joelle. "We created this label in 2011 for forklifts, pallet carriers, batteries and concrete pumps. Thanks to this safety certificate, we offer our members the opportunity to train their employees, after which they link the inspection of these machines with annual maintenance at their end customers."

Sector full of challenges

Because SIGMA thoroughly informs its members, represents their interests intensively and regularly organizes events and networking opportunities, it is a highly respected federation. "We spare no expense to assist our members as best we can, especially since our sector is evolving at lightning speed," says Joelle. "A structural shortage of technical staff is certainly one of the biggest challenges at the moment. Companies with more than fifty vacancies are unfortunately no longer the exception. This is why we from SIGMA are investing in media campaigns and training courses to promote the unique assets and attractive nature of our sector in the best possible way."

Another challenge, in the Goods Handling section, is the breakthrough of smartly controlled forklifts. Joelle: "The advance of autonomous vehicles is unstoppable, as is the electrification of the vehicle fleet. Add to that the greater product and system complexity - with connected machines that need to fit into a new warehouse's ERP system - and you understand that the future in our industry is going to be very exciting." ■