Friday Brief 15/12/2023 (W50)

Good afternoon and welcome to the last Friday Brief of 2023! The MTA will close at lunchtime next Friday (22nd December) and will then open again on 2nd January 2024.

This week we have details on bootcamps being run by the MTC for business in the West Midlands. If you’re based there, or your customers are, take a look at the article below to find out how you can take advantage of these.

We have recently had contact from Czech firm, Tajmac ZPS who are exploring UK agents for their range. If you think their product range might fit your business, then get in touch with us to find out more. Further details of their products can be found below.

The Future of Manufacturing, Transport and Mobility campaign launched yesterday, with the MTA being included as part of the publication. You can view the online version via the link below and see our article.

We also have some dates for your diary for 2024. Make sure you check out the story below or the events calendar on our website to mark those you want to attend in your diaries now.

This week saw the release of the manufacturing output data and UK GDP estimate for October and they made rather gloomy reading; manufacturing output fell by more than -1% month-on-month and with services and construction also lower than in September, UK GDP is estimated to have fallen by -0.3%, surprising most commentators and increasing the chances of a negative outcome for the 4th quarter as a whole given the lack of momentum in the economy at the moment.

On Thursday, the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to hold the Bank Rate at 5.25%; the dissenting voices wanted an increase of 25 basis points, arguing that the labour market remains tight and underlying services price inflation remains high.

In our international economic news article, we cover the October industrial production data for the EU where output fell compared to both the previous month and the same month in 2022. The other element of this article has the latest manufacturing technology trends from the USA where machine tool orders are still falling but demand for cutting tools continues to rise.

Finally this week, we had hoped to complete the MTA Business Survey for November today but it is now looking likely to be Monday so there is still just time for you to let us have your input via the secure online form at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-nov23.

That’s all from this week, and indeed, this year. We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we shall return in the new year.

NEW UK AGENT REQUEST | TAJMAC ZPS

The MTA have been approached by Tajmac ZPS would are looking for a new dealer in the UK. Their product range can be viewed at: https://www.tajmac-zps.cz/production-programm. If you are interested or would like further details, please contact James Fudge via [email protected].

MTC BOOTCAMPS FOR WEST MIDLANDS FIRMS

West Midlands manufacturing firms can benefit from a funded skills bootcamp, run by the Manufacturing Technologies Centre (MTC) with money from the West Midlands Combined Authority and Lloyds Bank. MTC says that the bootcamp aims is open to managers, team leaders and supervisors looking to upskill and to optimise their organisation’s processes and output. At […]

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING, TRANSPORT AND MOBILITY CAMPAIGN

The Future of Manufacturing, Transport and Mobility campaign launched yesterday, with the MTA being included as part of the publication. Hard copies are available within the New Scientist and if you would like a hard copy, please email [email protected]. Contents from the print campaign and more can be found at: https://www.businessandindustry.co.uk/campaign/manufacturing/ If you would like […]

MTA EVENTS FOR 2024

We have already began planning our events programme for next year to bring our Members more value and opportunities to network. These will continue to develop, with more details becoming available and new events will also be added. Full details are always added to our website at: https://www.mta.org.uk/events/ but make sure you mark these dates […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – UK

UK Manufacturing Output , October 2023: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the output data for October this week and it made rather gloomy reading. Total manufacturing output fell by -1.1% compared to September; on our preferred measure of using rolling 3-month blocks, it was down by -0.9% comparing the latest 3 months (August, […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – INTERNATIONAL

European Industrial Production, October 2023: Eurostat also published its output data this week, although they use Industrial Production (IP) (the largest part of which is manufacturing, but it also includes energy and utilities (but not construction) as the top-level aggregate. Also, the way in which Eurostat publishes these figures requires a lot of digging to […]

Friday Brief