Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
This week the MTA’s Technical Manager Richard Griffiths was recognised by this BSi Technical Committee for his outstanding contribution to the industry over the past 26 years. Join us in congratulating him on his award and service to the manufacturing industry.
In MACH 2016 news there will be special facilities available for international visitors with access to a lounge area with wifi and refreshments and for one to- one meetings and networking opportunities. This facility will be open throughout the week. The MTA will be able to assist companies attending the show with Visas.
To register your interest please contact your local UKTI, or Chamber contact, or Karen
Finegold at the MTA on kfinegold@mta.org.uk.
The EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision at Cranfield University is pleased to be collaborating with Optence e.V (Germany) to deliver Optical Materials Day in the UK on 14 April 2016, in conjunction with SCHOTT AG, Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG and Hellma Materials GmbH. Find out more info on their Optical Materials Day within the Brief.
The AMRC Training Centre is taking a lead on encouraging young people to ‘rise to the top’ during National Apprenticeship Week, find out details on what the Catapult is up to in the story below.
The MTA wants to reach out to University Technical Colleges (UTC) across the UK to encourage them to attend MACH 2016 and experience everything the exhibition has to offer. If members have any links to their local UTC please contact the MTA’s Learning and Development Co-ordinator Laura Pickering (lpickering@mta.org.uk) so she can make contact and facilitate visits to the exhibition.
Most of the economic data which we report on this week points to a weakening of market conditions, but with positive aspects. For example, the PMI for manufacturing in the UK was at its lowest level since April 2013, but was still indicating some expansion in activity in the sector; elsewhere in the world, only a small handful of countries saw an improvement in their PMI readings in February, but only Taiwan slipped back into a negative situation (although others remained there). The results of the CECIMO Barometer Survey suggest that the market has weakened a little, but the overall business situation remains positive.
That’s all for this week have a great weekend and we’ll back next week.