Friday Brief Intro 09/06/2023

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief! It has been a busy week for Exhibitions in the UK! If you attended any, we hope you had successful event!

To kick things off today we’d like to begin with an article from Unison Ltd. Unison Ltd, the UK-based inventors of all-electric tube manipulation, celebrated their 50th anniversary with a big birthday bash at their Scarborough HQ on Wednesday, 24th May 2023. Just short of 100 customers, colleagues, friends and members of the ‘Made In Yorkshire’ trade group attended the event, which began with a hearty brunch and a warm welcome by Unison’s joint managing director, Alan Pickering. Read more on the event below.

The latest edition of the bi-monthly survey from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP highlights the continuing effect of supply chain disruption among medium-sized businesses in the UK. One of the key results is that almost half of respondents said that they would be focusing on onshoring as much of their operations as possible in the next 12 months. For more details, take a look at the article on this report.

The Defence & Aerospace Technology Roadshow will take place one again from the 25th September – 6th October 2023 visiting major defence and aerospace sites across the UK. This is a great opportunity to present your products, services and technologies on board a unique exhibition vehicle at customers premises. To find out more please go to the story below.

The UKLA (United Kingdom Lubricants Association) has recently published a series of short films to advise viewers on how to look after their metalworking fluids (MWFs). SHEP (Safety and Health Engineering Partnership) is hosting a webinar in which UKLA representative Daryl Yeates will summarise the new UKLA guidance films and provide information and advice on how to monitor and manage metalworking fluids in order to reduce the risks of ill-health associated with exposure to neat and soluble oils used in machining operations. Check out details on the webinar below.

As an employer, you’re responsible for the health, safety and welfare of your people. So it’s important that both you and your employees know what’s expected of everyone when it comes to Health & Safety in the workplace. Download Citation’s best-practice template below and read more.

Members will be aware of the vote by members of the CBI earlier in the week to support the organisation in the future as they work their way through the difficulties that have affected them recently. We are members of the CBI and have participated in an initiative led by some large associations to emphasise the importance of a strong CBI for the sectoral specific work that associations carry out. See the article below for more details.

Metrology manufacturing specialist, MSP, has announced it will host a special technical event on 5th July to educate CNC machining companies about ‘Automated CNC Machining’. The event hosted at the Biesse Group UK facility in Daventry boasts a full schedule with a range of on-machine demonstrations showcasing automation tools which challenge manual production processes. More information can be found in the article below.

CECIMO has published its June newsletter covering a range of topics including their Machine Tool Innovation Awards, artificial intelligence for machine tools and a range of other initiatives. Find out more about this with a link to the newsletter in the story below.

It has been a quiet week for economic news with only the updated European GDP figures to cover, although we also take the opportunity to catch up with the latest UK trade data, released a couple of weeks ago. There are some small but significant changes in the European GDP figures, including the downgrading of the trends for Germany which means that they, and the Euro-zone as a whole, now meet the definition of being in a recession. The UK trade data shows signs of settling down from some of the distortions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war while, for machine tools, both exports and imports are at broadly the same level as a year earlier.

Finally, we have had a good initial response to the May edition of the MTA Business Survey which was launched at the start of this week but, as always with surveys, the more replies we get the better. You can access the online form for this at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-may23 and we hope that all members can spare a couple of minutes to let us have your feedback as we build a summary picture of the manufacturing technology business.

Thank you for taking the time to read our Friday Brief! We hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to ‘seeing’ you again next week!

Labour prioritises relationship with Europe

Jack Semple, Secretary of EAMA reports that the Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has promised that the UK would have a closer relationship with the European Union than it has now, under a Labour government. “Our most important economic relationship is with Europe,” he said, but he added that Labour welcomed the prospect of accession […]

‘BIG BIRTHDAY BASH’ MARKS UNISON’S 50 YEARS OF INTELLIGENT TUBE TECHNOLOGY

Unison Ltd, the UK-based inventors of all-electric tube manipulation, celebrated their 50th anniversary with a big birthday bash at their Scarborough HQ on Wednesday, 24th May 2023. Just short of 100 customers, colleagues, friends and members of the ‘Made In Yorkshire’ trade group attended the event, which began with a hearty brunch and a warm […]

Gaps in UK Capability

Failings and opportunities in the UK supply chain are highlighted in a survey of 500 medium-sized firms across a range of industries (including manufacturing, technology, retail and hospitality) by accountancy firm BDO. The findings include: The findings are the latest illustration of the gaps and opportunities in the UK supply chain. We will continue to […]

2023 DEFENCE AND AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY ROADSHOW

SHEP webinar: Safe handling and disposal of metalworking fluids

Wednesday 5th July 12.00pm-1.00pm The UKLA (United Kingdom Lubricants Association) has recently published a series of short films to advise viewers on how to look after their metalworking fluids (MWFs). SHEP (Safety and Health Engineering Partnership) is hosting a webinar in which UKLA representative Daryl Yeates will summarise the new UKLA guidance films and provide […]

Free Health & Safety handbook template for your members

As an employer, you’re responsible for the health, safety and welfare of your people. So it’s important that both you and your employees know what’s expected of everyone when it comes to Health & Safety in the workplace. Not only does having this written down improve engagement – it also gives you evidence that you’ve […]

Trade Associations Support CBI

A wide-ranging group of Trade Associations, including MTA, from across the spectrum of the UK economy have jointly signed an open media statement that welcomes the CBI’s members vote for their programme of change this week. However, the statement goes on to emphasise the importance of Trade Associations to the economy and why it is […]

MSP to host ‘Automated CNC Machining’ event at Biesse

CECIMO June Newsletter

CECIMO, the European group for associations representing manufacturers of machine tools and related manufacturing technologies, has published its June Newsletter which you can find at https://www.cecimo.eu/newsletter/cecimo-newsletter-june-2023/. Among the topics covered are stories on: Finally, please note that there is an item announcing that the CECIMO Economic and Statistical Toolbox – a compendium of data for and […]

ECONOMIC NEWS

European GDP, 1st Quarter 2023: Data released this week by Eurostat provided a significant update on the European economy, especially for the Euro-zone. The estimate of the trend for GDP in the 1st quarter has been revised to +0.1% for the EU (down from +0.2% in the previous release) and, importantly, to -0.1% for the […]

Friday Brief