Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
The MTA’s flagship competition for schools, the Technology, Design and Innovation (TDI) Challenge returns to Yamakazi Mazak’s European headquarters in Worcester on 4th July for the finals day. The TDI Challenge is one of the MTA’s longest running outreach projects, find out more in the story below.
The MTA Business Survey for May will be closing on Monday, but there is still time to get your return to us if you have not done so already. You can access the on-line form at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-may18.
Additive International (formerly the International Conference on Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing) announces its speaking line-up for its two-day event in Nottingham. Held at the Nottingham Belfry hotel on 11th and 12th July, with a pre-conference day on 10th July, this year’s summit includes a mix of additive experts, researchers, entrepreneurs and practitioners from across academia and industry. We’re delighted that this year, for the first time, the MTA will be sponsoring the conference dinner.
During its General Assembly in Mainz, CECIMO reported that its machine tool production saw an 8% gain in 2017, outpacing earlier forecasts. The turnover of CECIMO manufacturers reached €26 billion, marking an extraordinary recovery from the last year’s small loss and securing a 33% global market share.
The Additive Manufacturing Special Interest Group meets on 22nd June. The group aims to foster new commercial opportunities, enhance awareness and build UK capability and capacity in AM through delivering structured workshops and roadshows and developing a capability map and understanding of the value chain in the UK. Find out how to get involved in the story below.
This week saw the publication of the latest UK manufacturing output data which attracted some negative headlines. While it is clear that we are seeing a slowing of the pace of growth compared to 2017, we also need to be careful about not reading too much into one month’s data, especially as there are some signs to suggest that the seasonal adjustment might not be quite right. The Automotive industry continues to fall from its peak levels (although the SMMT data on cars and engines was positive in April) and Metal Products had a bad month, but Aerospace remains strong and the Machinery industry data is see-sawing all over the place making the underlying trend hard to see (but it looks like flat at a high level). You can read a more in depth analysis by the MTA’s Statistician, Geoff Noon, in the story below.
This rest of the week’s economic news includes a look at the European industrial production data - where the capital goods industries are leading the way - and the detailed GDP figures for the 1st quarter; we also have positive news on the significant growth in the US market for manufacturing technology and cutting tools.
This week’s final story is about a team of leading engineers working together at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to drive forward cutting-edge capabilities for manufacturing composite components in ways not currently available in the supply chain.
That’s all for this week, have a good weekend.
