Good morning and welcome to the last Friday Brief of 2016, it has been a momentous year to say the least and we hope that the Friday Brief has been of some help in keeping you abreast of the latest developments in the manufacturing industry. We’ll be back with more industry news in the first week of January.
First up this week, MTA Technical Manager Richard Griffiths is set to retire at the end of the year. Richard has given 28 years of service to the Association and his technical knowledge has been invaluable to both MTA members and staff. We’re sure that you will join us in wishing him all the very best for his retirement.
Just a reminder from last week’s newsletter the MTA are looking to take a delegation to IMTEX 2017 in Bangalore, India from 26 January - 01 February 2017 and we would ask member companies if they would be interested in joining the trip. If you would like more information, please contact MTA Head of Events James Fudge via email at jfudge@mta.org.uk for more details.
The MTA and Cranfield University are teaming up again in 2017 to host an open conference to discuss the future of the surface engineering industry and nanotechnology companies in the UK. It’ll be held March 31st, 2017 at the main Cranfield University campus.
The University of Huddersfield is to lead a new £30 million research centre to help transform UK manufacturing. The Future Metrology Hub will be based in the University’s Centre for Precision Technologies, home to a team of world-renowned researchers in precision engineering and metrology.
Bloodhound SSC project engineers have successfully completed the testing and validation of the car’s jet fuel system at the Aerohub at Cornwall Airport, Newquay. Find out more about their progress in the story below.
The AMRC Training Centre in Sheffield is running a series of four-day courses on the basic concepts of CNC lathe-work, and typical applications in today’s modern engineering environment. The course will enable candidates to gain an understanding of the first principles employed in CNC turning. More details on how to attend and dates of the course can be found below.
It has been a quiet week for economic news in the run up to Christmas and the main data release was the European industrial production figures which continue to move around a very gently upward trend; most importantly for our industry, capital goods output continues to out-perform the overall trend and is on a more positive trend. Data from the USA on the market for machine tools and cutting tools continue to show both of these are still running below the level of 2015, despite the positive impact of IMTS. Finally, we highlight some changes in the Customs Classification Codes that come into effect from the start of 2017.
That’s all for this year, we’ll be back in January, until then everyone at the MTA would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year.
