Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
MTA CEO James Selka used his key note speech at the National Manufacturing Debate hosted by Cranfield University to highlight the importance of Industry collaboration in tackling the skills gap. James also called on the industry to do more to help improve the image of modern manufacturing to help attract the top talent into the sector. Read more below in the Brief.
Joshua Dugdale, the MTA’s Technical Manager and Paul O’Donnell, the MTA’s Head of External Affairs, recently attended the first Additive Manufacturing Special Interest Group (AM SIG), launched and hosted by the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). Find out more about the group - and the MTA’s plan to establish a Technical Committee for Additive Manufacturing - below.
MTA associate members Mathys & Squire have some important information on registered designs, which are an often overlooked IP right. They are cheap and simple to obtain, and if their filing is given proper professional handling, the legal rights they provide can be both powerful and valuable. Find out more in the feature below.
The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) are hosting events on how SME’s can supply into the automotive sector. If you are interested in attending the events more details can be found below.
Just a reminder that the MTA will be out in Stuttgart next week for the Moulding Expo, if you’re attending make sure you come over and say hi over at the MTA’s stand.
11 Turkish companies operating in the ICT & Technologies sector, are coming to London on 12-14 June during Tech Week. If you think this would be interesting and you'd like to meet Turkish market specialists, please email Serenay Yılmaz from the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey at serenay.yilmaz@bcct.org.tr.
The main headline this week was the somewhat disappointing downward revision of the UK GDP growth rate for the 1st quarter of the year; this was mainly because the service sector, especially its’ consumer facing elements, came out below the estimates used in the preliminary figures released last month – this was something we trailed in our recent economic update presentation. The latest investment data is very much “steady”, but we don’t get the crucial industry breakdown until the end of June. There was also positive news from the CBI Industrial Trends survey that came out last Friday with strong growth in both orders and output. We also note the latest data on UK machine tool exports and imports while, finally, you can download the economic presentation from the recent CELIMO annual meeting.
Finally, The MTA has had several new members join the association in the past few weeks, we’d like to wish all of them a big welcome. More details on the companies who have joined are listed below. Have a great weekend from everyone at the MTA and we’ll be back next Friday.
