Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
We hope you all have finally recovered from MACH 2018. We’re pleased to announce that MACH saw a 5% growth in trade visitors on the 2016 edition of the show. You can read more about the numbers in the story below.
We will be holding our Spring Economic Update on Thursday 17th May at the MTC in Coventry (10:30 for an 11:00 start). The focus of this will be the UK although, of course, we cannot ignore global economic events. You can get more details about this MTA Members event and register to attend on our website at https://www.mta.org.uk/event/spring-economic-update - we look forward to seeing you there.
Just a quick reminder that entries for our flagship schools competition, TDI Challenge, close on Friday 11th May. The TDI Challenge has four categories, and is open to anyone in the UK who has created an impressive Design & Technology or Engineering project within school. Find out more within the Brief.
Big congratulations must go to MTA members NCMT, who have won the Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade 2018 for their rapid growth in exports to contract machinists supplying international aero engine and land turbine manufacturers. Well done to NCMT and find out more about this fantastic achievement below.
We have two opportunities to get involved in some of the political work of the MTA this week. Firstly EAMA - the mechanical engineering umbrella group which brings together 11 Trade Associations and of MTA is a member - is holding a Parliamentary Reception on the 11th of June. The event will be on the Terrace of the House of Commons between 7:00pm – 9:00pm and will be a great opportunity to network with people from the wider manufacturing community as well politicians. Juergen Maier will be speaking on the progress being made towards implementing the Made Smarter Report. If you would like to attend the event please contact Paul O’Donnell, Head of External Affairs, at podonnell@mta.org.uk .
Secondly, the MTA is part of EURIS, an alliance of manufacturing Trade Associations working on Brexit related issues. One of those issues is working out how the UK economy will be affected by the massive extension of the use of Rules of Origin which will come about if the UK leaves the Customs Union. Rules of Origin are how it is decided ‘what is from where’ for the purposes of Trade agreements. We are working with BEIS and academics at the University of Sussex to understand the implications of this in international supply chains. If you have expertise in this area in your company - or want to know more about how it may affect your supply chains - please let Paul O’Donnell know at podonnell@mta.org.uk .
AMRC Aerospace lunch and learn event 2018 takes places on May 23rd 2018. Learn about the latest machining trends in the Aerospace Industry with KYOCERA SGS.
The 3M BIC is celebrating its fifth anniversary in May and they would like you to join them to help celebrate. They’re opening their doors on Wednesday 23rd May to showcase how the centre has transformed over the last five years, as well as focus on the future as they officially launch the Huddersfield Innovation and Incubation Project. Find out how to attend below.
Transferring unused funds webinar. EEF’s People & Skills Policy team are coming together with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to take you through how Apprenticeship Levy funds can be transferred from one employer’s digital account to another employer’s account in order for the receiving employers to spend that money on apprenticeship training. The event has been made accessible to MTA members and details on the webinar can be found in the story below.
The latest CBI survey for manufacturing points to a slowdown in the pace of growth in the sector, although it is important to note that it is still growing, just not as fast as it has in recent months. The investment intentions data is also weaker, but for the past two years we have had a sequence of strong-weak-strong-weak-etc. results and this fits that pattern so it is too early to tell if we have a turning point. Perhaps the most significant highlight is the note that manufacturers expect export growth to ease because of a deterioration in competitiveness for the first time in two years – this is driven by the exchange rate. We also report on some recent data on productivity in the UK and the availability of the latest CECIMO Toolbox Report.
That’s all for this week, we’ll be back next Friday for more industry news, until then have a great weekend from everyone at the MTA.
