Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
MACH 2018 is exactly a month away, so it is time to start thinking about inviting your contacts to come to the exhibition. MACH 2018 is set to be this year’s top UK advanced engineering showcase and a great opportunity to discover a broad range of new technologies. So, make sure you head over to www.machexhibition.com and register for your Entrance Pass and Fast Track Entry Pack now.
This week was National Apprenticeship Week and yesterday was International Women’s Day; the MTA was represented at the National ‘Apprentices Work For Women’ Conference, which marked both. Held at the National Gallery, the Conference was an opportunity for young women from around the country meet and hear from role models and leaders in the world of apprenticeships. Find out more within the brief.
MTA members Yamazaki Mazak have won the coveted Employer of the Year at the 2018 Industrial Cadet Awards. David Barnett, Learning and Development Manager, Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd wrote a short blog explaining the awards and the work that Mazak do in training and encouraging the next generation of engineers.
The Campaign for Science and Engineering published a letter yesterday which has been sent to the Prime Minister, calling on the government to take urgent action in revising current immigration policy to better attract international research and innovation talent. The letter is supported by over 40 organisations from across business, universities, professional institutes, and research charities, including the MTA, the full story can be read below.
Bosch Thermotechnology and Microsoft HoloLens host an afternoon of discussion and demonstration on the future of Mixed Reality. The free-to-attend event, takes place on 26th March and is organised by Microsoft and partner PTC, will help show the factory application of “mixed reality”, a visualisation of complex assets to aid with assembly, maintenance and training. Find out how to attend in the story below.
The EURIS Task Force, of which the MTA are members, last week welcomed the Prime Minister’s vision for UK trade agreements with the EU and across the globe but highlights the need for the creation of a post-Brexit industry and Government liaison body in order to deliver on this vision.
The MTA Business Survey for February is still open, but we will be looking to close this around the middle of next week; follow the link and take part here www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-feb18.
The data released by the ONS this morning showed another strong performance for the UK manufacturing sector and, in particular, for most of the key customer industries for MTA members. The exception is the Automotive industry where although output picked up in January, it has fallen on the 3-month rolling trend that we prefer, because of a weak end to 2017; this seems to be in the vehicle part of the industry as SMMT reported a new record level of engine output for the month of January. Total industrial production was also up as the Forties oil-field came back on stream, but the headlines were grabbed by another fall in construction activity. The latest report from the EEF largely confirms the trends we are seeing in the data and other surveys at the moment. Our other report this week covers the latest GDP data for Europe and highlights how growth is accelerating across much of the continent, while UK growth slows.
That’s all for this week, we’ll be back next Friday with more industry news, have a great weekend from everyone at the MTA.
