Welcome to the Friday Brief for week-ending 18 October.
This week saw the world financial markets breathe a little easier following resolution of the stand-off between US President Barack Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress. Encouraging news emerged from the release of statistics from the MTA’s latest Business Survey. Details are included in the Friday Brief and show members confidence about the future is at the highest level since mid-2011 and that a large majority of companies contributing to the survey are predicting improvements in their businesses over the next twelve months.
Greater insight into the economic prospects for the manufacturing technologies sector is offered at next week’s MTA Annual Forecast Seminar on the 22nd of October at Yamazaki Mazak in Worcester. Full details in this week’s Friday Brief.
Members considering entering the MTA’s 2014 Manufacturing Industry Awards, which will be presented during the Annual Dinner, are alerted to the deadline of 15 November for submitting entries. This is an outstanding opportunity to showcase your company’s achievements and/or the potential of one of your young engineers. Categories include Best Supplier Partnership, Best Training Scheme and Young Engineer of the Year. Applications for the AMTRI scholarship are also welcomed.
We also have news this week of a conference at the ICC Birmingham on Tuesday 5th November to discuss issues around the supply chain for HS2. There is a link to the application website in the Friday Brief story.
A final note for your diaries: the 4th of December will see the MTA AGM at Gaydon Heritage Motor Centre. We’re delighted that this year we will be joined the Professor Sir Mike Gregory, Director of the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University, who will share his thoughts on the challenges manufacturing faces in the 21st Century. See this week’s story for registration details.
Have a good weekend.