Friday Brief Intro (28/07/2023)

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief! Whilst the sunshine is hiding away for now, it is the perfect time to focus on all the exciting events happening towards the end of the year! Keep your eyes peeled for the range of events taking place throughout the industry in the next few months!

To kick off the newsletter today we would like to begin with a couple of items that have come to us via Jack Semple at EAMA this week. In one item, he highlights a couple of significant events on international trade covering the UK’s signing of a treaty to join the CPTPP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and the Electronic Trade Documents Act. The other item looks at the Prime Minister’s new Business Council which aims to support the PM’s priority of growing the economy.

Registrations are now open for next year’s MTA Annual Dinner which will be held at The VOX, Birmingham during MACH 2024! Book your space through the link in the story below.

The MTA Forecast Seminar will be held on the morning of Thursday 19th October at Cranfield University. Don’t forget to book your ticket through the link in the story.

The UK Department of Business and Trade (DBT) has announced a second series of UKCA roundtables, and has launched of a survey on conformity assessment costs. As we’ve discussed in previous EMIF meetings, a series of roundtable events already took place during April and May. The intention of those sessions, during which DBT had asked for frank and honest feedback on a number of UKCA implementation aspects, was that DBT would use what they heard from stakeholders and use the information gained to help develop the upcoming Product Safety Review. Check out more details in the story below.

Jack Semple, Secretary of EAMA, has written a policy paper giving an update around the issue of net zero and decarbonisation, especially in the UK. The trigger for this was the result of the Uxbridge by-election last week with the somewhat unexpected victory for the Tories largely attributed to opposition to the extension of the ULEZ zone in London (which has a Labour Mayor).

Jack has also written an article on the implications of the new Act of Parliament on flexible working which will give employees new rights regarding flexible working – take a look at this below and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions on the elements that are subject to consultations at the moment.

A safety and product recall note has been issued for a lengthy list of Vevor-branded products, including air compressors, coating machines and welding machines. Find out all the details on the government website through the link in the story.

The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has launched a fast-tracked inquiry into SME Finance and, through EAMA, we are looking to provide some sort of response. Please take a few moments to look at the article below and send us any thoughts you might have on this important subject. On this topic, we also have some insights from the ICAEW on the topic of SME finance which is relevant. Take a look at the story below.

This week we have two new BSI standards awaiting your comments. The proposals read Enterprise modelling and architecture — Constructs for Service Modelling and Test code for machine tools — Part 13: Guidelines on acceptance tests for machine tools used as coordinate measuring machines. Read the scope’s and purposes below.

There is a variety of economic news this week, much of it with a quarterly theme as we start to get data covering the 2nd period of the year. While the CBI trends survey and the European Commission’s sentiment indicators are monthly surveys – and both reflect a generally negative picture for the manufacturing sector – they also include quarterly data for capacity utilisation (mostly down on the previous quarter) and, for the UK from the CBI survey, the latest investment intentions (also weakening). We have the latest report on the contract manufacturing sector and the final piece covers the flash estimates for the manufacturing PMI which came out at the start of the week.

That concludes the Friday Brief for this week! We hope you’ve had a wonderful week and enjoy your weekends! We look forward to ‘seeing’ you again next week!

MTA FORECAST SEMINAR

The MTA Forecast Seminar will be held on the morning of Thursday 19th October at Cranfield University. The agenda will follow the usual pattern; we will start with a look at the global economy, before moving on to the key parts of the manufacturing sector and concluding with our new forecasts for the machine tool […]

Economic News

CBI Industrial Trends Survey, July 2023: The latest data from the CBI Industrial Trends Survey (ITS) showed the first improvement in overall business sentiment for two years and that output volumes stabilized in the three months to July* after being on a steady downward trend since the February survey. Output only increased in 4 of […]

MTA Annual Dinner 2024

Registrations are now open for next years MTA Annual Dinner which will be held at The VOX, Birmingham during MACH 2024! Tickets are prices at £199+VAT for MTA/EIA/AMUK Members and £299+VAT for Non-members. The evening will be hosted by voice of The National Lottery and Strictly Come Dancing, Alan Dedicoat Further details will be released […]

Commons Treasury Committee inquiry into SME finance

The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee is looking into SME finance for what could be an important, influential report. The inquiry comes at a time of general tightening of credit. Companies in the engineering sector are keeping a keen eye on customers’ ability and willingness to pay. Sharp increases in interest rates have affected […]

Vevor machinery safety warning

A safety and product recall note has been issued for a lengthy list of Vevor-branded products, including air compressors, coating machines and welding machines. The notice, from the Office of Product Safety and Standards, relates to both business and domestic tools and cites risks as “electric shock, fire, burns and injuries”. The note can […]

Net zero update – dilemmas and risks

Attached below for downloading is a policy paper from Jack Semple at EAMA on the topic of the current debate about net zero and decarbonisation more widely in the UK. There are a number of risks and dilemmas in the whole strategy for dealing with climate change and the debate has been stimulated again by […]

New flexible working rights and campaign

Royal Assent has been given to the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, clearing the way for employees across the UK to be given new rights regarding flexible working. The rights will come into force in about a year’s time and will be good for both firms and their employees, the government says. There will be […]

Prime Minister’s new council – Sage to speak for SMEs

The Prime Minister has formed a new business council, comprising leaders of very large companies. Half the members are men, half women. The council will discuss ways to boost investment, innovation and access to skills and talent. It will “support the delivery of the PM’s priority to grow the economy and make the UK the […]

UK’s landmark week in international trade

The UK has passed two landmarks in trade over the past week. The UK signed a treaty confirming accession to the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade bloc and the Electronics Trade Documents Bill gained Royal Assent. Business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the CPTPP treaty at a meeting of the bloc in […]

CEA: UK Equipment & Machinery Industry Forum – Invitation to second series of UKCA roundtables and launch of conformity assessment

BSI Standards

Any comments received will be submitted to the national committee “AMT/4 – Industrial data and manufacturing interfaces” for consideration when deciding the UK response to the associated Standards Development Organisation. Please visit https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/9023-08841#/section Comment period end date: 27/08/2023 Scope This document specifies constructs for modelling product-related service systems in business terms, recognising the service environment […]

Friday Brief