Friday Brief 23/02/2024 (W8)

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief. Spring is here! This means The MTA’s MACH Exhibition is just around the corner! If you aren’t exhibiting this year, make sure to register to visit here: https://www.machexhibition.com/visitor-registration/

To begin today’s newsletter we have a note from Croner. The MTA Cluster is a member of Croner who keep us informed and up-to-date with the latest resources and information available in HR and H&S. They provide free access guides on topics listed below. If there is something you are looking for, follow the link to download the guides.

The 32^nd edition of BIEMH – International Machine Tool Biennial, co-organised by BILBAO EXHIBITION CENTRE (BEC) along with AFM – Advanced Manufacturing Technologies will take place from 3^rd to 7^th June 2024 at BEC, Bilbao (Spain). BEC have invited the MTA Cluster to organise a delegation of businesspeople with the power to purchase the products and services showcased at the fair. Find out more details below.

In the context of the upcoming European Parliamentary elections this summer, CECIMO has developed a policy recommendation document aimed at strengthening the manufacturing sector value chain. There are six themes in the CECIMO document which you can find listed in the story below.

BSI have released two proposals for your comments. The proposals read Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Part 222: Self-assessment of human-centred design process and Ergonomics — General ergonomic requirements and recommendations for service. Check out the scope and purpose in the story below.

2024 will almost certainly see a General Election and the MTA is already engaging with the parties to help them understand what manufacturers need as they draw up their manifestos for the next five years. As part of this, the MTA has released its own manifesto setting out the key points. You can find the full manifesto in the story below.

It has been another busy week for data relevant to our industry, so we have two articles for you. The UK economic news is led by the latest results from the CBI Industrial Trends Survey (generally fairly gloomy) and we also take a look at the data for international trade and productivity as we complete our look at the UK macro-economic data from last week.

Our International article leads with the flash reading of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector (the UK was broadly flat in the middle of a mixture of trends elsewhere), the latest data for the US market for machine tools and cutting tools and the end of year figures for orders received by Japanese metal cutting machinery manufacturers.

That concludes this week’s Friday Brief. We hope you all have a great weekend and we look forward to bring you more stories in March!

ECONOMIC NEWS – INTERNATIONAL

Flash Purchasing Managers Index, February 2024: The flash manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for February 22, 2024 is little changed from the previous month’s reading, having edged up to 47.1 (from 47.0 in January). There is some good news in that the output element of the index improved from 45.5 to 47.3 although part of […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – UK

CBI Industrial Trends Survey, February* 2024: The February dated edition of the CBI Industrial Trends Survey (ITS) points to a fall in manufacturing output across almost all of the sub-sectors and industries. Manufacturing output volumes fell in the 3 months to February* and at a sharper pace than in the period to January* and back […]

MTA Cluster of Associations Manifesto

BSI ISO/PWI 9241-222 – Link to New Work Item Proposal

Please be advised that a New Work Item Proposal has been loaded to the BSI Standards Development Portal for comment. Any comments received will be submitted to the national committee “PH/9 “Applied ergonomics” for consideration when deciding the UK response to the associated Standards Development Organisation. Please visit: ISO/PWI 9241-222 Comment period end date:12/04/2024 Scope […]

Empowering EU Industries

In the context of the upcoming European Parliamentary elections this summer, CECIMO has developed a policy recommendation document aimed at strengthening the manufacturing sector value chain. While the UK, of course, won’t be a part of these elections, it has some useful pointers for our own electoral process which will take place sometime in the […]

BIEMH – International Machine Tool Biennial

The 32nd edition of BIEMH – International Machine Tool Biennial, co-organised by BILBAO EXHIBITION CENTRE (BEC) along with AFM – Advanced Manufacturing Technologies will take place from 3rd to 7th June 2024 at BEC, Bilbao (Spain). BEC have invited the MTA Cluster to organise a delegation of businesspeople with the power to purchase the products […]

Croner

The MTA Cluster is a member of Croner who keep us informed and up-to-date with the latest resources and information available in HR and H&S Herewith the list of some of the free access guides in HR for members to navigate these complex issues: Adverse Weather Policy, Apprenticeship Guides, Change of Employment, Employee Code of […]

Friday Brief