Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
The MTA Annual Dinner is returning to London on 23rd March 2017 and will be held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. The event will be hosted by Alexander Armstrong, with entertainment from Simon Evans. The event will also see the return of the charity silent auction, in aid of REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Charitable Trust). Don’t miss out on this fantastic event, contact the MTA events team today and reserve your table by emailing events@mta.org.uk.
Earlier this month we reported on the launch of the consultation on the Government’s Industrial Strategy (Green Paper); as one element of the MTA’s work to respond to this consultation, we have developed a survey that picks up on a few of the 35 questions posed in the Green Paper. Please follow this link to participate in the survey https://www.mta.org.uk/industrial-strategy-survey.
The EEF are hosting a webinar on the 4IR journey – Evolving your business. The webinar will explore the current practices and available solutions that manufacturers have implemented, to help improve connectivity, communication and gain greater data integrity, to remain competitive and grow in the digital future. Find out more details below.
The 5th Industrial Laser Applications Symposium takes place on 22nd -23rd March 2017. This unique two day event that attracts international delegates and speakers to share the latest in laser material processing.
Supporting developments in lightweighting helps UK companies take advantage of opportunities in global aerospace markets. The Advanced Structural Testing Centre (ASTC) of the AMRC with Boeing is working in collaboration with UK company TISICS exploring the development of materials for demanding environments, such as transport, energy and the manufacturing sectors.
Between 6th -10th March 2017, Emrah Öz (Chief Executive Officer) and Gökçe Dönmez (Business Adviser) from the British Chamber of Commerce Turkey (BCCT) Team will be in the UK to answer your questions about Turkey as a market and the support that BCCT provides to UK companies interested in export and investment opportunities in Turkey.
IP&E are looking for contributions from MTA members to answer some of the questions to feature in their 25th Anniversary Issue. The March/April issue will take a brief look back at a few of the changes that have taken place across industry during the past 25 years and then focus on how companies expect the next 25 years to pan out. Take a look at the story below to find out more.
The release of its 2nd estimate for the UK economy by the Office for National Statistics has created some confusion because, as a result of revisions to the data throughout 2016, although the pace of growth in the final quarter was revised up to +0.7% (from +0.6%), growth for 2016 as a whole was revised down to +1.8% (from +2.0%). Looking at the value data rather than the trends reveals downward revisions for all four quarters and because the revision in the 3rd quarter was nearly twice the size of the change for the final period of the year, the growth rate for Q4 has gone up. Initial reactions appear to have focused on this upward revision in the growth rate rather than the less good news in the downward revisions of the levels. The ONS also published the initial investment data for the final quarter of the year which showed a further reduction compared to the previous quarter. In the article below, we also report on the latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey reports - which were positive for manufacturing - and the latest issue of the CECIMO Toolbox report.
That’s all for this week, we’ll be back next Friday, until then have a great weekend.
