Friday Brief

Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.

MACH 2020 is pleased to announce that the Made Smarter programme will be exhibiting at the UK’s national manufacturing showcase. Their stand at the exhibition will look to help SMEs start their digital journey. The programme aims to kick start a new industrial revolution for the manufacturing sector and turn the country into a world leader in digital technologies, we’re excited to have them at MACH 2020.

Just a little reminder that visitor registration for MACH 2020 is now open so don’t forget to start inviting your customers and planning your visit.

EPHJ takes place, in Geneva, from 16^th to 19^th June this year.  The show has a focus on watchmaking and jewelry, microtechnology and medical technology.  The exhibition looks to facilitate the development of synergies between high-precision technology professions. if you’re interested in attending the MTA have some free tickets for members, so check out the story below for more details.

A 3D woven composite component, capable of withstanding extreme temperatures inside a fusion nuclear reactor, is being developed at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in collaboration with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) as part of the effort to accelerate the delivery of limitless zero-carbon fusion energy. More details within the Brief.

A newly published report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has suggested that one-quarter of employees think their company turns a blind eye to workplace bullying and harassment. Get started with these policy templates from our HR experts and partner, Citation.

The results of the CBI Industrial Trends Survey this week marked a significant improvement in overall sentiment and what will hopefully prove to be a turning point in investment intentions.  The balance for the latter moved above its long-run average for the first time in 18 months with key industries for suppliers of manufacturing technology leading the way.  However, there is a note of caution in that although the sentiment indicators were strong - probably reflecting a post-election bounce given that data collection started on 16 December - both output and orders remained firmly in negative territory.  It may just be that these need a month or two to turnaround (both these questions work on the basis of rolling 3-month blocks) but we need a little more time to be certain that a turning point has been reached for these trends.  There is less good news in the profitability data released by the ONS this week, but this covers the 3^rd quarter of 2019 so reflects the weakness in the economy that we saw during the Summer and Autumn.

Thanks so much for reading, we’ll be back next Friday with more industry news and views, until then have a great weekend, from everyone at the MTA.