Welcome to the Friday Brief for 7 February 2014.
The MTA’s Annual Dinner & Awards took place at the ICC – Birmingham last night and was an outstanding success. In this week’s Friday Brief we list the winning entries in the Manufacturing Industry Awards and link to MTA President Mark Ridgway’s speech. It was a truly memorable evening and we offer congratulations to all the winners.
There was more good news this week with the announcement that Richard Noble OBE the World land speed record holder and Project Director for the Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) project will open the MACH Exhibition. Many MACH Exhibitors are involved with the Bloodhound SSC project and MACH 2014 is the third time that the team itself will be at the Show.
This week’s economic data is led by January’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the UK and supports the growth trend in activity in the manufacturing sector. Also, the latest quarterly edition of the CBI Industrial Trends Survey shows the strongest growth in manufacturing orders since April 2011, with domestic orders leading the way.
Your participation in the MTA Business Survey is once again requested. Your contribution helps make this survey a valuable and timely indicator of the trends for the manufacturing technology sector in the UK. We have details of how you can access the on-line form but please remember to try to respond by Thursday 13th February.
We also have details about the EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision’s one day plastic electronics themed meeting in Sedgefield on Wednesday 19 February. The meeting aims to bring together key members from industry and academia with research interests in plastic electronics fabrication technologies.
Finally, remembering MACH 2014 will shortly be upon us, in this week’s brief we draw MACH exhibitors’ attention to the Exhibitor & Training Day which will be held at the NEC on 18 February. This is a valuable opportunity for exhibitors to learn how best to maximise their presence at the Exhibition and how to gain coverage in the trade press attending the event.
Have a good weekend.