Friday Brief (26/01/2024) W4

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Fridy Brief. The first month of the year is almost over which means 2024 is officially underway! We hope you are ready for all the exciting things the industry will bring us this year!

To kick things off today we would like to invite you to a webinar taking place on Tuesday hosted by one of our Associate Members Irwin Mitchell. Join us to hear from Irwin Mitchell environmental partners Claire Petricca-Riding and Keith Davidson. Topics to be discussed can be found in the story below so make sure to take a look.

VDMA would like to invite you to the VDMA Plenary Meeting of the OPC UA Companion Specification Working Groups. VDMA are glad to be able to hold the general meeting of the working groups this year again in presence with us in Frankfurt. This year’s meeting will again feature exciting presentations in the area of OPC UA specification development. Register below.

Associate Member Citation’s recently updated free guide to managing annual leave can be found below. Find out more about it and download the guide in the story.

ForrestBrown are hosting a new webinar on the 8^th February. Businesses operating industrial sites, data centres or controlled environment agriculture systems are among those who could be eligible for grants ranging from £30,000 up to £30 million. Find more details below and register through the link in the story.

The UK government has announced it will introduce new legislation to allow for digital labelling of imports to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses. Digital labelling will allow businesses to put all relevant regulatory or manufacturing information online, rather than having to print it on products, thus saving time and money. Read on below.

Just a couple of economic news stories this week with the latest results of the CBI Industrial Trends Survey and the flash PMI data for the manufacturing sector. The former continues to paint a picture of a sector that is struggling for momentum and, in this quarterly survey, suggests that investment intentions have weakened again in the face of uncertain demand and higher borrowing costs.

The flash PMI data suggests an improvement – or rather a less negative outlook – although in the case of the UK at least, this is entirely due to the perverse way in which suppliers’ delivery times (one of the five elements of the calculation) raise the index when they increase. This is misleading because the extended delivery times are a reaction to the crisis in the Red Sea and the shipping delays (and cost increases) that this is generating, rather than reflecting stronger demand.

That concludes the newsletter for another week! Have an amazing weekend and we’ll ‘see’ you again next week!

ECONOMIC NEWS

CBI Industrial Trends Survey, January 2024: The CBI published the results of its Industrial Trends Survey (ITS) for January*; this showed a fall in output volumes over the previous 3 months with little expectation for much of a recovery in the coming period. Total new orders fell at their fastest pace since July 2020 reflecting […]

UK GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES NEW DIGITAL LABELLING FOR IMPORTS AND EXPANDS CE MARK EXTENTION

Unlocking the full value of your IP: How to generate value from your patents across the innovation lifecycle

£185m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund – Webinar 8 February This month sees the launch of the latest round of the government’s flagship fund for energy efficiency – the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). The IETF makes £185 million available to help businesses cut their energy bills and carbon emissions through investing in energy efficiency and low […]

NEW holiday entitlement rules

2024 is a year of huge change in employment law, emphasising the importance of keeping up to date on your obligations and staying ahead of what’s on the horizon to protect your business. On 1 January 2024, laws around holiday entitlement and rolled-up holiday pay for some employees/workers changed. If this isn’t something you were […]

Plenary Meeting of the OPC UA Companion Specification Working Groups

Location: VDMA Lyoner Str. 16 60528 Frankfurt am Main Room 10 March 1st,2024 9:30 am – 3:45 pm CET VDMA would like to invite you to the VDMA Plenary Meeting of the OPC UA Companion Specification Working Groups. We are glad to be able to hold the general meeting of the working groups this year […]

Webinar | Green legislation Q&A – Fast-changing laws • Your reporting obligations and liabilities

Thursday 30th January at 10am Mazak’s carbon measuring technology MTA member Mazak will give a 10-minute talk with Q&A about how its technology can measure energy usage and carbon footprint. The technology can calculate and display several metrics, including tonnes CO2 produced, electricity costs and daily peak power. It is used to help reduce Mazak’s […]

Friday Brief