Friday Brief 11/02/2022

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

To begin, we have a note regarding one of the feature stands at MACH 2022. The advantage of the MACH exhibition has always been that a complete range of solutions is available to view all under one roof. But this year the MTA has gone a stage further and is creating a special Tooling Clinic. Read more the tooling clinic in the story below.

The government has just launched a call for evidence related to advanced materials, as part of the development of its strategy for innovation. Questions address the strengths and gaps, challenges and opportunities for UK advanced materials; and lessons that could be learned from other countries. Check out the link provided in the story below along with more information.

Despite the huge challenges that the manufacturing sector has had to navigate in 2021, the next 12 months offer opportunities for growth and recovery. Irwin Mitchell, an MTA member, has released a report explaining the challenges that have affected manufacturing businesses, the headwinds manufacturers are likely to face, and the opportunities on offer through innovation. Find the report though a link in the story below.

On Tuesday 8th February the Minister for Skills, Alex Burghart MP announced the launch of a new partnership between industry and Government to grow the number of high-quality apprenticeships in the manufacturing sector. The story below notes each comment made at the launch so fore more details please read.

A recent report from ACAS claims that poor conflict resolution cost UK organisations a staggering £28.5 billion last year, with approximately 10 million people involved in workplace conflict – which means it cost more than £1000 per employee. Citation, have created a handy free guide taking you through all you need to know as an employer. Find the link in the detail below.

We have split the economic news this week into two parts. The UK section reports on the data that was released this morning showing that GDP increased by +7.5% in 2021, with manufacturing output, which was up by +6.9%, lagging the other major sectors of the economy. Part of the reason for this is the mixture of trends for the key industries and we explore this in the UK Economic news article below.

The other article reports on the new forecasts from the European Commission who have downgraded their expectations for the economy in 2022 in the face of continuing supply chain issues for production and a longer lasting increase in energy prices which is driving inflation higher. We also have a note on the end of year data on orders for Japanese machine tool manufacturers.

Finally, a reminder that the January edition of the MTA Business Survey is still open for your input via the online form at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-jan22. With thanks to those who have replied already, please try to spare a couple of minutes to participate – we would love to hear from you.

Thank you for keeping up to date with our Friday Brief this week! We hope you all have a lovely weekend and we’ll ‘see’ you again next week

ECONOMIC NEWS – EUROPE & JAPAN

European Commission’s Economic Forecasts, Winter 2022: The European Commission (EC) has published its latest quarterly forecast with GDP expected to grow by +4.0% for both the EU and the euro-zone in 2022, followed by +2.8% for the EU and +2.7% for the Euro-zone in 2023. The latest outlook reflects a number of challenges facing the […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – UK

UK Manufacturing Output , December 2021: Data released this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that manufacturing output increased by +0.2% in December, but we will focus on the quarterly trends in this note. This shows no change compared to the 3rd quarter although the level was +0.7% higher than in the […]

The disruptors affecting manufacturers in 2022

Despite the huge challenges that the manufacturing sector has had to navigate in 2021, the next 12 months offer opportunities for growth and recovery. According to the Cebr, the economic consultancy which supports our UK Powerhouse campaign, manufacturing is forecasted to grow by 3.5% in 2022. This follows a 6.9% growth in 2021. This summary report […]

Advanced materials – call for evidence

The government has just launched a call for evidence related to advanced materials, as part of the development of its strategy for innovation. Subject areas such as commercialisation, regulation, skills, research and innovation, promoting exports and dual-use technologies are all included, and the term “advanced materials” is purposefully not defined, but left open. Questions address […]

Get Your Tooling Challenges Resolved at the MACH 2022 Tooling Clinic

Finding the best solution to new tooling requirements can be a daunting challenge, as can diagnosing current tooling problems. The advantage of the MACH exhibition has always been that a complete range of solutions is available to view all under one roof. But this year, exhibition organiser, the MTA has gone a stage further and […]

Important free guide on workplace conflict, and how to resolve it

A recent report from Acas claims that poor conflict resolution cost UK organisations a staggering £28.5 billion last year, with approximately 10 million people involved in workplace conflict – which means it cost more than £1000 per employee. To help you both prevent workplace conflict and resolve it in the most cost-effective way, the HR […]

New sector voice for manufacturing apprenticeships launched

Today (Tuesday 8th February), the Minister for Skills, Alex Burghart MP announced the launch of a new partnership between industry and Government to grow the number of high-quality apprenticeships in the manufacturing sector. The Minister said: “The group has my full support in its vital agenda to grow the number of high-quality apprenticeships, the opportunities […]

Friday Brief