Friday Brief 02/06/2023

Good afternoon and welcome to the first Friday Brief of June 2023! We hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend! Finally Summer is getting closer!

To kick things off today we’d like to welcome a new MTA Member! Mitutoyo UK Limited joined membership this week! Mitutoyo are world leaders in dimensional metrology equipment and related support services. Find a link to their website in the story below.

MTA’s cyber risk management associate member Mitigo writes that the only way to prove to yourself and your senior leadership team that you have put the right defences in place, is to obtain independent assurance. Read the full article through the link in the story below.

The Surface Engineering Leadership Forum (SELF) has recently launched a brand-new online resource which provides further information, contains details of the other organisations, and has links to training activities and events organised by its members. SELF is currently planning webinars for later in the year with details available on the website in the coming weeks. If you are involved in the surface engineering and coatings sector, you may be aware of SELF, a UK-run global resource network. The network is the first collaborative space for all major UK industrial trade associations, academics and research and technology organisations dealing with surface engineering and advanced coatings. Take a look at more details below.

We have good news! The deadline to apply for Machine Tools Innovation (MTI) Awards has been extended to 1st of September 2023!! The MTI Awards aim to celebrate the best innovations that push the boundaries of what is possible in the machine tool industry. We invite you to share your exceptional efforts that provide a competitive advantage and drive productivity, growth and profitability to new heights. Details on how to apply can be found below.

Our Associate Member Citation’s Director of Employment Law Gill McAteer has summarised everything you need to know about 2023’s upcoming employment law changes in their new free guide. From carer’s leave to changes to holiday pay and entitlement, get ready today! Download the article in the story.

The trade agreements between the UK and Australia and New Zealand have now taken effect, from May 31st. They are the first that the UK has negotiated from scratch since leaving the EU. The deals are expected to increase trade between the UK and both countries. More information in the story below. A cross-party group of MPs and business leaders has called on the UK government to forge closer ties with the EU and to establish an independent agency to review the performance of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). Check out the key recommendations in the story.

Our leading economic story this week is the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May. The overall global average for the manufacturing sector was unchanged again at 49.6, although output increased for the 4th month in a row; however, this hides positive movements in Asia balanced by generally weaker figures for the Americas and Europe, the latter including the UK which, while not quite back to the low point we saw at the end of 2022, has all five elements of the calculation indicating diminishing activity in the sector.

For Europe, this generally negative trend for the industry/manufacturing is also reflected in the latest results of the European Commission’s Economic Sentiment Index and you can find more details of this in our economic news article. We also take a look at the profitability data published by the ONS for Q4-2022 although in the absence of the industry breakdown of the investment data, this only presents part of the picture.

Also this week, we are announcing the launch of a new report from CECIMO with data and trends for the machine tool sector globally. This is complimentary to the forecasts which are produced twice per year although as it covers 62 countries, it has a wider scope. Unlike the report that is now published by Gardner Research, this is available free of charge to all members and you can find the link to it on our website in the story below.

Finally, the May edition of the MTA Business Survey has been launched today, with the questionnaire available at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-may23 and we hope that you can spare a couple of minutes to participate as we aim to keep track of the latest situation for the manufacturing technology spectrum in the UK.

That concludes our Friday Brief for this week! We hope you enjoy your weekend and we look forward to ‘seeing’ again next Friday!

Cyber risk management: 6 reasons why your manufacturing firm needs independent assurance

Cyber breaches are not acts of God. They are preventable, provided you have taken the right steps to protect your firm from attack. MTA’s cyber risk management associate member Mitigo writes that the only way to prove to yourself and your senior leadership team that you have put the right defences in place, is to […]

New online resource for surface engineering & coatings sector

Deadline extended for CECIMO Machine Tools Innovation (MTI) Awards – Apply now!!

We have good news! The deadline to apply for Machine Tools Innovation (MTI) Awards has been extended to 1st of September 2023!!We are calling on all players in the machine tool industry to enter the Machine Tools Innovation Awards (MTI Awards)! The MTI Awards aim to celebrate the best innovations that push the boundaries of what […]

NEW employment law changes your members need to know about

Did you know that at least four new bills that could affect your business are about to become law? And that there are at least seven other changes to employment law on the horizon that you need to be aware of? If that’s sent you into a panic, take a breath. Our Associate Member Citation’s […]

Australia and NZ trade deals take effect

MPS AND BUSINESS LEADERS REQUEST FOR AN INDEPENDENT AGENCY TO REVIEW THE DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE’S PERFORMANCE

A cross-party group of MPs and business leaders has called on the UK government to forge closer ties with the EU and to establish an independent agency to review the performance of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The UK Trade and Business Commission published its new trade policy platform, ‘Trading our way to […]

New MTA Member!

Welcome Mitutoyo UK Limited to the MTA. Mitutoyo are world leaders in dimensional metrology equipment and related support services. In the UK, in addition to providing top-quality products for manufacturing industry, Mitutoyo offers machine-specific training for customers as well as general metrology training courses for companies wishing to upgrade staff skill levels. Support services include […]

PURCHASING MANAGERS INDEX FOR MANUFACTURING

The Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing produced by J P Morgan using the data from S&P Global was unchanged from the March and April figures of 49.6. This came as output increased for the 4th month in a row, accelerating to its fastest pace for 11 months, albeit still relatively subdued; this was […]

ECONOMIC NEWS

European Commission Economic Sentiment Indicator, May 2023: The European Commission (EC) draws from a range of surveys to construct confidence indicators for five sectors of the economy and then uses these to calculate up its Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) which is converted to an index based on the long-run average. The latest report (dated May*) […]

CECIMO GLOBAL MACHINE TOOL REPORT

This new report, compiled by CECIMO, is designed to be a compendium of data about the machine tool industry at a global level. The database behind the report contains figures for production, exports, imports and, by calculation, consumption of machine tools in 62 countries for the period from 2019 to 2022. Many members will be […]

Friday Brief