Owners Club Tooling Fund.

[martin]

Went to the SOCTFL AGM and the co-ordinators meeting today, good companions, Dave and Adrian, met some old friends and had a pretty reasonable lunch, little else sadly, consisted largely of an insurance rant (no names, no pack drill) Only 25 there, probably the weather. Martin.

[dasadrew]

Were there no reports on the SOCTFL ongoing projects as was intimated in the contributions on this thread?

http://www.stag.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?16384-SOCTFL-Panels

[jleyton]

There is a report, published very quickly , on the SOCTFL website.

Cheers

Julian

[Another Peter]

I assume it was a riveting meeting judging by the photo

http://soctfl.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/20120429-110231.jpg

Which one are you Martin?

Regards

Peter

[martin]

Mike Fisher did give an interesting and informative talk about the lack of success with the Millennium heads, porosity is a huge issue, and the attrition rate is too high to be affordable, but they're not giving up. Cost is the issue with the air intake grills, again, they're not giving up. Martin.

[martin]

Hi Peter, back row, my bonce appears to be between the lady in bright red, and the guy in maroon, next to poor old Adrian who looks like he's had enough Martin.

[Guest]

Is Lesley asleep??

Jason

[GDPR]

No - I think she's on standby....... if you look closely, I think there is a red light glowing in her left eye....

[milothedog]

no - i think she's on standby....... If you look closely, i think there is a red light glowing in her left eye....

[GDPR]

Bet that one sends me back to exile for another 6 months.........

Damn my quirky Surrey humour.......

[73stagman]

Was planning to go to this but just couldnt justify the cost of the fuel.

Nice to see a write up on their website and that in itself has made things a bit clearer to me. The " SOCTFL" is not responsible for the projects in any way shape or form. They ONLY provide funding for the tooling for worthwhile projects. As I see it now there is no need for SOCTFL to produce "updates" on "projects"; that is the responsibility of the people who receive the funding!
Thanks for the report on the website and clearing things up somewhat. Please accept my apologies for all the negative comments I have made over the past few months and I trust the committee can now be allowed to get on with what they do!

[STAG1973]

Hi Peter, back row, my bonce appears to be between the lady in bright red, and the guy in maroon, next to poor old Adrian who looks like he's had enough Martin.

That picture is awful i was just resting my eyes

Adrian

[Philip Wardle]

SOCTFL Business Model

It might be of help to restate some info here on SOCTFL's business model and Terms of Reference as agreed between the SOCTFL Board and the SOC National Committee in 2001. Fundamentally, SOCTFL exists to address the problem that component parts and sub-assemblies for the Triumph Stag car as described by its manufacturers, British Leyland UK Limited, in their Parts Catalogue 519579 are for the most part no longer available from the original manufacturer or sub-contractors. SOCTFL was formed much earlier than 2001 but the discussions at that time determined the current modus operandi. Most of the activity is centred on funding tooling and production of panels and parts through grants or loans.

Under the SOCTFL Funding Scheme, parts or panels produced from tooling to which SOCTFL has contributed financially are awarded the “SOCTFL Tick” mark. Whilst the “SOCTFL Tick” mark implies no undertaking as to product liability by SOCTFL, nor any guarantee to end users as to the quality of parts or panels, SOCTFL will seek to ensure that these responsibilities are covered by the manufacturers with whom Commercial Agreements are made.

The "SOCTFL Tick" mark should be attached to production items, or to their packaging, at the point of manufacture. Thereafter, regardless of the route the parts or panels take through the supply chain, the “SOCTFL Tick” mark is visible to the end user at the point of purchase. SOCTFL free-issues self-adhesive stickers to manufacturers and they are encouraged to fix these to finished items themselves or their packaging. Of course, we cannot police this down to the level of individual items, e.g. members have recently reported that rear wings funded by SOCTFL have not been identified in this way.

Through publicity via the Stag Owners Club Magazine and website, at events such as National Day and Co-ordinators Meetings, and attendance at classic car shows where the Stag Owners Club is represented, the members are advised of the current availability of SOCTFL funded parts and the details of retailers. SOCTFL always seeks to clarify through publicity, though, that there are no “SOCTFL approved retailers”, regardless of what some may claim in their advertising from time to time. Many retailers do, however, supply SOCTFL funded parts.

For the information of SOC members the Terms of Reference, Issue 3, dated 9th March 2001, are given here: -

(1) The purpose of the Fund is to ensure continued parts availability for the Triumph Stag.

(2) The Fund operates through the provision of loans or grants to parts suppliers or manufacturers. It does not trade in its own right; neither can it own stocks of parts or tooling.

(3) The Fund should always be the provider of last resort. It should not attempt to provide funds that would result in the duplication of supply, unless the quality of the part already available is such that it would be unacceptable in service.

(4) Funds for the manufacture of tooling should, wherever possible, be subject to the manufacturer agreeing to unrestricted availability of the products produced to all parts suppliers.

(5) Loans to support stockholding should always be covered by a formal loan agreement, signed by both parties, which similarly includes an agreement to unrestricted availability.

(6) All projects requiring loan or grant funding must be submitted for funding approval to the SOC National Committee with a brief statement of justification. An annual budget to cover Fund operating costs should be submitted and agreed each year.

(7) Regular liaison with parts suppliers should be viewed as a priority, especially before starting new projects.

(8) Before proceeding with any new project, the Fund should check out any existing components with the help of the supplier/manufacturer to see if it would be possible to improve the quality of existing tooling.

(9) New product samples should be checked by an independent commercial organisation for fit/ operation.

(10) Repayment of loans should be by standing order.

[Another Peter]

I'm sure that there is a good reason, so please forgive my comparative lack of knowledge on SOCTFL.

Why isn't the AGM held during the National Weekend which will undoubtably encourage more members to participate?

Regards

Peter

[Philip Wardle]

Fair question Peter.

Speaking personally, and not necessarily for SOCTFL, since I've been involved with SOCTFL AGMs they've always been held on the same day as the Area Co-ordinators meeting. This saves SOCTFL money (as the venue is paid for centrally for both meetings) and allows the Co-ordinators to attend both meetings on the same round trip. I have a suspicion that if we attempted to hold the AGM during the National Weekend attendance would be poor, also provision of suitable meeting facilities might also drive the costs of National Weekend up?

Of course, SOCTFL has a presence at National Weekend in any case - usually we co-locate in a suitable tent with the SOC Technical Advice Co-ordinator. At present the latter happens to be involved with SOCTFL anyway (as Chairman) though this isn't necessarily the case. We find that our presence at National weekend attracts a different set of people than that attending the formal AGM at Gaydon, so to that extent I suppose we're getting two bites at the apple.

We get about 25 attendees at the AGMs in Gaydon and 100+ contacts at the National Weekend. The latter can increase substantially if some new project is launched and there's a SOCTFL special offer - for example bonnet insulation pads or wiper blades in the past. Of course, every SOC member is also a shareholder in SOCTFL and is welcome to attend our regular Board meetings held four time per year (reduced from eight per year in the pre Internet era). These Board meetings are held on a Friday evening at Cadmore End near High Wycombe.

Hope this helps !