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Filling the void
Progressive sub-contract machinist Unicut Precision is frustrated with the current lack of interest in the engineering sector by parents, school leavers, schools and colleges |
20/04/2008
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India into the limelight
Well, India’s Tata Motor’s acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Company looks set to be a major talking point for some time. What will they do with the brands? What will Jaguar and Land Rover customers now think of the brands? |
18/04/2008
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Banking on exports
The Government is now looking towards exporting parts of the economy, specifically manufacturing, to help bail the UK economy out as other parts of it slow. But it never went away, regardless of popular view. |
28/03/2008
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Relative and absolute
Forget proportion of GDP (relative shrinkage) and talk about output (absolute growth) if you want to promote a positive image of UK manufacturing. |
20/03/2008
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Trends in UK manufacturing
Findlay Publications’ Trends In UK Manufacturing 1997-2007 allies figures to the UK’s recent experience, revealing the turmoil in its rear-view mirror, but signalling steadier times ahead. |
22/02/2008
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Macro and micro perspectives
The Government’s Education and Skills Bill got its second reading last month. A key part of this Bill is that it seeks to raise to 18 the minimum age at which young people can leave education or training.
The largest impact that the Bill is expected to have is to increase the participation in apprenticeships. Indeed, the Government’s prediction is that there will be 100,000 more apprentices by 2013 – not all in engineering, of course.
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20/02/2008
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Bearing responsibility
Perhaps these days we are more often likely to hear about counterfeit software or software piracy. However, the market for counterfeit mechanical products is an old one and the Internet is giving it a new lease of life. |
11/01/2008
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Wind power's promise
Machinery has followed, at a distance, the growth of wind power in the UK from an engineering manufacturing perspective, looking to see if there is significant business for UK engineering companies. We have been unable detect any groundswell of activity.
Now with the December announcement by UK Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton, there’s another push. Up to 7,000 new wind turbines could be built around the British coastline by 2020.
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09/01/2008
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Helping change along
Managed by Birmingham Chamber and funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Accelerate was set up some 10 years ago to help West Midlands automotive suppliers compete effectively in the world’s most demanding global industry. |
20/12/2007
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Showing continued initiative
I’ve been at Accelerate (www.accelerate.uk.net) now for over 10 years and during that time I’ve witnessed everything the automotive industry can throw at you, including major factory closures, exciting new model launches and the emergence of third world countries that are doing their best to muscle in on our territory. |
20/12/2007
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Tooling, torque, rigidity
I hate looking at car stickers! But there is one that seems very pertinent to our industry: “A dog is for life and not just for Christmas.” Surely this analogy can be applied to those seeking higher productivity from machining? |
19/12/2007
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Manufacturing on YouTube
It had to happen. The Youtube phenomena had to turn up an example in the manufacturing arena; and it has. So, along with videos of people skiing down London tube station stairways and others driving their motorbikes or cars at excessive speed (and subsequently getting caught), we now have a video of a Chinese press shop. |
17/12/2007
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Right idea; wrong target
Environmental protesters are focusing on the wrong target if they want to reduce greenhouse gases. |
06/11/2007
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Control or inspect
Manufacturers are fully familiar with the alternatives of establishing and then regularly monitoring a capable process to assure output quality, or of inspecting products after the event to capture failures. Well, the EU Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status, which will affect manufacturers, is akin to the former – establishing a process that will guarantee, in this case, the safety and security of goods traded internationally. |
15/10/2007
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Training template
Like the rest of the UK, companies in the Plymouth area have suffered from a lack of youngsters wanting to move into manufacturing after leaving school or college. There are great opportunities for youngsters going into manufacturing in this country. Not all manufacturing is going overseas to lower labour cost countries. Plymouth’s new ‘Enginuity’ initiative provides a potential template for others to copy. |
30/08/2007
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Understanding apprenticeships
Getting people interested to enter engineering is clearly an important issue and is being addressed by many regional activities, such as Saturday Clubs for Engineers and others. But what will they learn when they enter an engineering apprenticeship? Machinery has found there to be some confusion in industry about what precisely today’s apprenticeships comprise. |
20/08/2007
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Tooling up for the future
Tooling firm Seco's chief executive explains his comany's expansionist agenda in an industry where the large players continue to snap up the small fry. |
03/08/2007
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Skills and migration
Migrants are better skilled than UK locals, it seems. An incentive for UK workers to up their skill game with the support of their employers? |
30/07/2007
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Fresh ideas without threat
Are you a manufacturer with an opportunity but without the human resources necessary to confidently take it on? An interim manager could be the answer. I've been running my engineering business reasonably successfully for more than ten years but am in a bit of a rut and feel a bit stale. I want the business to grow but how do I get some fresh ideas, initiatives and insights without handing over the reins to some overly ambitious upstart who's after my job? An interim manager is one answer.
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26/07/2007
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Superficially green images
Carbon footprint, recycling, sustainability, alternative energy, work-at-home day – the media is awash with green issues and related commentary, and governments, countries, companies and individuals are increasingly keen to promote their green credentials. But sometimes you need to look through the green hype. |
10/07/2007
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Worthy of note
There's still room in the UK for 'traditional' industries such as pressworking and coldforming. But success is more about strategy and vision than investing in latest technology, it seems. |
06/06/2007
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And it's goodbye from him
After spending his entire working life in the engineering manufacturing industry mostly in the machine tool industry, Les Pratt, Yamazaki Mazak UK’s longserving marketing manager, has retired |
30/05/2007
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Powerful presence
200 members of industry drawn from the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) and the Engineering And Machinery Alliance (EAMA – of which MTA is a member) gathered at the House of Lords. It was hosted by Lord Martin O’Neill of Clackmannan (parliamentary advisor to the MTA), and attended by five other lords and 41 members of parliament. What was the effect? |
08/05/2007
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Make allowances productive
With productivity high on the government’s agenda for the country, it is surprising not more attention is paid to manufacturing investment as a direct means of raising the economy’s productivity overall. One of UK manufacturing’s key priorities competitively is to nullify low wage producers’ cost advantage. Investing in automation is one way of doing just that. |
20/04/2007
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