Concerned of the UK, speak up

But there will be no national outcry about the sale of heavy engineering specialist DavyMarkham of Sheffield to an Indian company, nor, I imagine, about the sale of machine tool maker Holroyd Precision, plus related companies, to a Chinese company (yet to be approved by the Chinese government). Understandable, though, because Cadbury's is a household name, while these two engineering firms are not: although their roots are in similar times – the first half of the 19th century. Machinery is making no suggestion that either DavyMarkham or Holroyd will suffer; indeed, in both cases, they now have better access to fast growing markets – India and China. And both were already heavily export focused and winning business from these markets. But that feeling remains that something is lost and that the UK is the poorer for it. It feeds into a general concern about the relative shrinkage of manufacturing, the more so following the recent finance-sector inspired calamity. Now, the [current] UK government is expressing greater support for manufacturing. Indeed, it has just loaned another heavy engineer, Sheffield Forgemasters, £80 million to build a new facility to make ultra-large forgings to support the civil nuclear industry here and abroad (page 8), while Lord Peter Mandelson, Business Secretary of State, is regularly expressing support these days, ahead of an election. We need to make that sentiment a long term one. To make sure that all politicians get the manufacturing message, Machinery publisher Findlay Media is driving the Vote Manufacturing initiative – www.votemanufacturing.co.uk (see page 8 and 16). And there's also a related petition on the No 10 website – http://chilp.it/9f08d6 (currently suspended, due to the election). Please visit the websites and help drive the campaign forward – stop feeling concerned yet powerless; join with us and become powerful.