The BCI story: a brief history of the organization

Battery Council International started in Chicago in the 1920s. And although the organization’s name is relatively new, and its host locations have been varied, it has consistently championed the lead acid battery industry.

Changing times

It all started one wet, gray day on January 29, 1924. That day — one of the warmest that month hitting a still unbeaten record 3˚C above zero — a small group of battery manufacturers met in Chicago.

Their objective: to consider whether the organization of a battery manufacturer’s association was worth the effort. And if so what would be its initial remit and purpose.

Interestingly enough, nearly a century later, the two topics of discussion that day are still relevant to what was later to become the BCI: how to promote a better understanding among battery manufacturers through an open discussion of their common problems; and, how to educate US consumers on the proper care of their batteries.

A more formal meeting took place two months later and was attended by some 25 manufacturers and battery suppliers — where the manufacturers were called ‘active’ members and the suppliers ‘associates’.

In June the association took its name as the National Battery Manufacturers Association (NBMA).

The association soon started to prove its worth. In the US, battery manufacturing employed some of the most dangerous practices in the world — hand painting lead paste on to plates, for example.

At the turn of the 1920s, for example, lead poisoning was accepted as a risk that went with the job; even though it was reckoned that it was six times more dangerous to work in a US plant than a UK one and 18 times more dangerous working in the US than in Germany.

One of the earliest studies moving to mitigate the risk: Lead Poisoning in a Storage Battery Plant, was commissioned by the National Battery Manufacturers Association in 1933 and — unusually at a time when ethnic and racial background was ignored, made a point of showing that the dangerous work in the mixing room of the plant was done by African Americans or migrants (93%) versus the 7% by white Americans. Although the US had lagged behind Europe in industrial hygiene in the 1910s, by the 1930s it had become a global pacesetter in working practices and the NBMA, to its credit, was one of the instruments for such change.

But this is not to say that the early founders or members of the NBMA were saints. US Light and Heat (which helped found the association) as well as the Lead Industries Association were roundly criticized — along with other well known US and UK brands — when they set up operations in Australia where health standards were allowed to be as lax.

In echoes of the present situation in China, the reason for the shift to production in Australia was simple: it was an uncomplicated way to circumvent federal import tariffs on batteries. The difference of course being that BCI members are now on the side of the angels and are helping China’s battery industry to adopt international work and safety rules.

In May 1940 the association changed its name to the Association of American Battery Manufacturers reflecting its focus on the continent. Battery industry participation from Europe — then engulfed in war — would have been slight.

To better reflect the post-war environment and increasing global reach of the organization, the association changed its name again to Battery Council International. Four years later it held its first overseas convention in London. Attendance was huge: 32 countries were represented with some 600 delegates.

In 1976, BCI came full circle and returned to relocate its headquarters in Chicago — in the intervening years, the organization had set up operations in Ohio, New Jersey, and California.

At that time the management firm of Smith, Bucklin and Associates was retained to manage the affairs of BCI.

Today BCI membership consists of corporations representing almost 100% of North American leading lead acid battery manufacturers, recyclers, marketers and retailers, suppliers of raw materials and equipment as well as expert industry consultants.

BCI’S INFORMATION GOALS

BCI provides a governmental, legislative liaison service for the industry and has established itself as the collective voice of its members and an authoritative source of battery-related information.

BCI maintains an extensive statistical programme. BCI compiles raw data on automotive battery production shipments (original and replacement) at the manufacturer level and inventory level.

This compilation enables members to gauge their performance against those of the industry as a whole. BCI also provides its members with annual distribution reports that allow members to keep abreast of ever-changing channels of distribution.

Since 1990 BCI has been collecting and disseminating a monthly report on US industrial battery and charger sales. The programme consist of five active reports. • Motive power battery sales • Net sales of diesel locomotive starting batteries • Industrial truck battery charger sales • Standby power battery sales • Stationary battery cell report

Members only receive the industrial battery reports in which they participate. In 2001, BCI began reporting North American sales data.