Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief. Firstly we’ll be at EMO Hannover next week supporting the UK companies exhibiting there, if you would like to vist the MTA stand we will be in the International Associations Area located in Hall 16 E67, we hope to see you there.
We’re please to announce the launch of the Education and Development Zone at MACH 2018 supported by Sandvik Coromant. The Zone will bring together some the leading advanced engineering companies and educational institutions from across the UK, with the aim to shine a light on the vocational education and training that is imperative if we are to close the skills gap.
The 2017 MTA Forecast seminar will take place on Thursday 19th October and is being held at the premises of Fanuc UK Ltd, Ansty Park, Coventry. This popular MTA event and online registration is now open www.mta.org.uk/whats-new/events/forecasting-seminar.
If you are experiencing Industry 4.0 Fatigue, are fed up with attending events that "worship the problem" and want to just get on and boost your productivity and innovation, then join The Future of British Manufacturing Initiative might be for you. Find out more details within the Brief.
There was generally good ecconomic news, certainly once seasonal factors are taken into account, in the economic data that we have covered this week, with industrial production and especially capital goods output in Europe generally strong and good news also coming from the manufacturing technology and cutting tool markets in the USA. The UK engineering industries have also seen a very strong growth in exports (and imports) over the past 12 months and we explore the data in this week’s article below.
MTA asscoate members Mathys & Squire have provided a feature for this week’s Brief on how far UK manufacturing SMEs are behind their German competitors in patent protection.
Leigh Worsdale from Chesterfield, named ‘Apprentice of the Year’ at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Training Centre’s annual awards earlier this year, won the opportunity to visit the global aircraft giant Boeing in the USA this summer. Find out about her trip in the story below.
The MachinE Tool Alliance for Skills (METALS) project will be featured by CECIMO, Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau and the Institute Technology and Education of the University of Bremen during EMO Hannover 2017. This EU-funded initiative has developed a skills panorama offering an overview of the current skills’ needs in the machine tool industry until 2025. Full details of this venture can be seen below.
That’s all for this week we’ll be back next Friday with more industry news, until then have a great weekend from everyone at the MTA.