Welcome to the Friday Brief for 25 April 2014.
Congratulations to two of our members this week for winning Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Winning one of these Awards recognises business achievement of the highest order and reflects the efforts of all within a company. On this occasion Renishaw Plc has received an Award in the Innovations category, while Vero Software Limited has received a Queen's Award in the International Trade category. We have a full story of both achievements in this week’s Friday Brief.
Released this week is the update to the UK Machine Tool Market Forecast which the MTA produced last October. The final months of 2013 saw a stronger than anticipated demand in the UK machine tool market. Members can download the full report from the link to the story in the Brief. Additionally, there is also the Spring 2014 issue of the Global Machine Tool Forecast available for members to download.
Photos of MACH 2014 including shots of the opening by Richard Noble OBE, the visits by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Labour MP Iain Wright together with more general pictures of the exhibition floors, seminar sessions and the education and training programme are now available from Eric Beech. Please email him at: ebeech@mta.org.uk
Looking ahead to the TDI Challenge we have details of this competition for schools and colleges. Do remind your contacts in the education sector of this technology and design challenge as it does not involve students in additional work and provides an outstanding showcase for their ideas.
We have details of a conference on the Future of Manufacturing Design being organised by Brunel University. This focuses on the importance at the design stage of reducing energy consumption during manufacture and considering how to improve the recycling of a product at the end of its working life. There are also details of an Open Day coming up for employers at the AMRC in Sheffield and an Open House at CNC World in Dereham, Norfolk.
Have a good weekend.