Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
Last week MTA President and Director of Yamazaki Mazak Europe Marcus Burton was honoured by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) at their 2019 Achievement Awards. Marcus was presented with the Mensforth Gold Medal for Manufacturing. Congratulations to Marcus on receiving this award and if you would like to find out more please see the story below.
MTA CEO James Selka is speaking at a conference on advanced manufacturing, the general election means the new EU Withdrawal Agreement will not be debated in detail, the international trade committee’s inquires stall, and banks promote a 10-point guide, prompted by Brexit.
The MTA AGM will take place on 3rd December at Cutlers' Hall in Sheffield. If you would like to register to attend this event, please see within the Brief for details on how to do so.
World renowned physicist and TV astronomer Professor Brian Cox will be the star of a stellar new education event being supported by the AMRC which aims to inspire the North’s next generation of scientists and engineers.
In collaboration with the Sheffield City Region, the KPMG-Axillium Innovation Alliance invites MTA members to join with innovators, industry & government at the AMRC Knowledge Transfer Centre on November 27th from 09.30 to 16.30. The aim of the event is to foster advanced manufacturing collaborations by providing access to support in order to accelerate technology, innovation & skills specialisms for organisations of all sizes & sectors.
Digital Catapult and Ericsson are looking for partners to explore and further understand the improvements to products and services through the adoption of 5G. Businesses do not need to be 5G ready - this open call will aid the adoption and development of 5G by addressing real life use cases in collaboration with large equipment providers and industrial end users. It will prove the potential for industry-wide improvements and make the case for rapid adoption, putting businesses at the forefront of industrial digitalisation. If you are interested in getting involved check out the story below.
MTA members Mazak will be showcasing highlights from EMO 2019 from 3-5 December at the European Technology Centre in Worcester. If you missed the EMO event in Hannover this year, EMO ENCORE is the perfect opportunity to see new technology that was unveiled and experience the highlights from the Mazak stand.
The October Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector in the UK was still in negative territory despite an improvement in the index; this was largely generated by an increase in stock building and purchasing activity, with the underlying orders and output data still weak - we will have the full details next week as some of the key countries won’t publish their figures until Monday. The latest CBI Trends Survey made rather gloomy reading with output, orders and employment in manufacturing all weak but the most concerning figure is probably the sharp fall in investment intentions for plant & machinery which slipped to recession type levels. The industrial breakdown was not quite as bad, but the Brexit process generated uncertainty is clearly having an increasing impact on decision making. The equivalent survey from the European Commission showed industrial confidence down in both the Euro-zone and the EU28, although the pace of decline has eased slightly compared to the last couple of months. This survey also indicated a significant fall in capacity utilisation rates in most of the major European countries although, surprisingly, the UK saw an increase (or perhaps a correction given the large fall last quarter), but this seems out of line with the other survey data. We also have the first indication of European GDP for the 3rd quarter which suggests a continuation of the modest growth that we saw in the previous quarter.
That’s all for this week we’ll be back next Friday with more industry news and views, until then have a great weekend from everyone at the MTA.
