Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
It’s been another crazy week in Parliament and with a Deal still not in place the prospects of the UK leaving without one should not be discounted. Head of External Affairs Paul O’Donnell has written a little on the votes and also highlights a new consolidated version of the Government’s No Deal preparation guidance.
This year’s MTA Spring Update presentation will be held on Tuesday 30th April at the premises of Fanuc UK in Coventry. Andy Goodwin from Oxford Economics will give an overview of the economic situation, including, of course, some estimates of the impact of Brexit - whatever that might be! - and the MTA’s own Geoff Noon will talk delegates through the outlook for the manufacturing and engineering industries. This year will also feature a technology update from the MTA’s Technology Manager, Josh Dugdale. You can register for this event via the MTA web-site at https://www.mta.org.uk/event/mta-spring-economic-update - we look forward to seeing you there!
Siemens are holding a free to register, Digitalisation event – ‘Digital Talks – Transforming Industry Together’ on the 11th June at the Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool Waterfront. Find out what is on the agenda for the day and how you can register to attend in the story below.
umati, universal machine tool interface, has chalked up further major successes on its way to becoming an internationally recognised standard interface for machine tool communication with higher-level IT systems. Find out more in the story below and if you’re attending EMO this year there will be a product showcase launch at the exhibition.
The EPHJ-EPMT-SMT Show is known worldwide for the quality of exhibiting companies and for the diversity of innovations presented. The players in three sectors (watchmaking, jewelry, micro-technologies and medtech). The exhibition runs from 18th – 21st June in Geneva.
According to the Government’s Cyberaware initiative, in nearly three-fifths (57%) of businesses experiencing recent cyber attacks, the most disruptive was reported directly by staff, rather than picked up automatically by software. Having an individual whose job role includes cyber security is directly linked to a faster response. However, research shows that only 35% of businesses have staff whose job role includes internet security or governance, despite two thirds (68%) saying cyber security is a high priority. There are useful links to information to protect yourself in the story below.
Congratulations to the are due to the AMRC Training Centre where, according to a new Report by Ofsted ‘An inclusive culture of high expectations sees apprentices challenged and supported to achieve their full potential’. The report published this week said there has been a ‘relentless focus’ on improving the quality of education apprentices receive at the training centre and weaknesses identified at a previous inspection had all been successfully addressed.
We have a new Edition of the CECIMO Toolbox. This newly revamped resource contains a round-up of data for Europe based on the 5 themes: Historical data for the sector - trends such as trade and orders; Demand, including the consumption and orders forecasts from last Autumn; Investment which includes data on capacity utilisation and bank lending; Business climate with a summary of PMI’s and CECIMO’s own Barometer survey; General indicators for GDP, inflation and exchange rates. It is invaluable for anyone who want to understand the European market for manufacturing technology and you can download the toolbox from the CECIMO’s brand new website at www.cecimo.eu/economic-data/toolbox/ or request it from MTA.
There was nothing too dramatic in the UK national accounts that were published this morning with the ONS confirming that the economy grew by +0.2% in the 4th quarter of 2018 to give an unrevised growth rate of +1.4% for 2018. The more interesting information came from the detailed investment data that is part of this release which showed that while business investment overall fell by only -0.4% in 2018, spending by the manufacturing sector fell by -1.1% and, within that total, the engineering & vehicles industries saw a reduction of -2.7%. The European Commission’s Economic Sentiment Indicator showed another fall in March and although the pace of the reduction has eased, it is concerning that the downward trend is being led by the industrial sector, with a sharp reduction especially in Germany a cause for concern. Also this week, we take a look at some headline data for R&D spending in the UK in 2017.
That’s all for this week, we’ll be back next Friday with more industry news and views, until then have a great weekend.
