The MTA organises the MACH series of exhibitions and draws its membership from companies that supply or make manufacturing technology, including machine tools, tooling, workholding, metrology and CADCAM; it also has a subcontractor membership element.
The organisation’s letter reads:
Dear Sir,
We are writing to express the support of the Manufacturing Technologies Association and of ourselves and our companies for the UK’s remaining within the European Union. The manufacturing technology sector, which provides the machinery, instrumentation and software that makes manufacturing happen, is a global one. Over 80% of the output of the UK manufacturing technology sector is exported, with the countries of the EU accounting for nearly half of that. The ability to access that market cheaply and efficiently is essential to our continued competitiveness.
As a truly globalised sector, many of our companies are multinationals, including companies from outside the EU, in particular the USA and Japan, who have established European Headquarters in the UK. This provides a multiplier effect bringing with it economic activity, and consequent employment in a diverse range of business functions such as applications engineering, marketing, management and finance – not just a UK sales team. This is about more than market access, it is about the UK being a fully participatory member of the EU, able to influence the political and economic climate.
As the largest economic bloc in the world, we believe that the EU is better placed to negotiate International Trade Agreements than the UK would be alone. This argument is borne out by our experience of the creation of international standards where the MTA represents a strong UK voice in concert with our European partners.
Your sincerely,
Guy Mollart
President MTA and president Mollart Engineering
James Selka
Chief executive officer MTA
Paul Crawford
Managing director Europe, Allied Machine and Engineering
Paul Dixon
Director, Baker Blower
Mark Ridgway
Managing Director, Group Rhodes
Mike Diskin
Managing director, Halifax Numerical Controls
Matthias Meyer
Managing director, Heller UK
Peter Graves
Managing director, Industrial Tooling Corporation
Ernst Wagner
Managing director, Kasto ltd
Paul Bexon
Metrology and Quality Service
Tim Allen
Managing director, MJ Allen Group
Tony Bannan
Chief executive officer, Precision Technologies Group (including Holroyd Precision)
Ben Taylor
Assistant chief executive, Renishaw
Steve Totty
Managing director, Star GB
Marcus Burton
European group managing director, Yamazaki Mazak
MTA Member’s views
MTA members were consulted in late 2015. When asked the question “Thinking about the consequences for your business, should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?YES/NO” 89% of respondents answered “yes” and “10%” answered “no”. 1% indicated that they were “unsure”.
Read Machinery's article resulting from a roundtable discussion of MTA members here.
A good information source on the referendum is to be found at Open Europe.
