EEF, the UK manufacturers’ organisation, has upgraded its growth forecasts for this year and next, but warned of significant risks if investment does not make up the ground lost in the past five years.
The upturn in UK manufacturing continued to build momentum at the start of the third quarter, with growth rates for production and new orders at their highest levels since February 2011, according to the latest Markit/CIPS Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI).
Roger Evans has been appointed as Schaeffler (UK)’s managing director, with immediate effect, succeeding Kate Hartigan, who is retiring after serving more than 19 years at the company.
Sales of robots in the UK during the second quarter of 2013 were more than double those in the first quarter and almost as large as sales for the whole of 2011, according to figures released by Bara, the British Automation and Robot Association.
About a third of UK manufacturing businesses have given their staff pay rises over the past 12 months, according to a survey of SME owner-managers conducted by Close Brothers. Almost two-thirds of these increases were in line with inflation, while a fifth were above inflation.
Medway (UK), the Kent-based manufacturer and distributor of mechanical power transmission and motion transfer products, has bought another production facility close to its headquarters in Ashford.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has transferred temporarily to the premises of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) while its own Savoy Place venue undergoes a major refurbishment.
Control Techniques is planning to expand its global headquarters and research and product development centre in Newtown, Wales, with the potential to create 40 new full-time engineering and design jobs.
A business-led economic recovery in the UK risks being undermined unless the Government moves rapidly to increase competition in banking, the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF, has warned.
JPT Mechanical Drives – the company formed after HMK Automation rescued Jackson Power Transmission from administration last year – has moved from Stoke-on-Trent to new 465m2 premises in Congleton.
The Bournemouth-based geared-motor manufacturer Parvalux has invested £1m in a new production facility and added a further 20,000ft2 (1,858m2) to its existing 45,000ft2 (4,180m2) manufacturing site. The expansion houses a CNC facility including precision gear-cutting machines.
The UK’s largest water utility, Thames Water, is looking to invest up to €60m on control and automation systems and services under a new framework agreement. The utility says it expects to spend €25–60m during the 84 months of the agreement.
UK manufacturing had its strongest month for more than two years in June, as recorded by the monthly Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) which gauges the state of manufacturing.
The British Government has joined forces with a group of trade bodies in a bid to boost to the size of the UK’s electronic systems sector by 55% and to build a £120bn industry within seven years. If the plan is realised, it will create an extra 150,000 skilled jobs across the UK.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a scheme which aims to produce an extra 100,000 engineering technicians in the UK by 2018.
