Editor’s View

According to the latest figures, the UK has moved up to become the world’s eighth largest manufacturing sector – overtaking France in the process. The figures are contained in the latest annual ‘Manufacturing – The Facts’ report published by Make UK.

Based on information from 2021 – the latest year for which global comparisons are available – the UK’s manufacturing output was worth $272bn compared to $262 for France. Let’s not get too excited though – the US stood at £2.5tn and itself lagged behind the world’s largest economy, China, with a manufacturing sector worth $4.9tn.

Nonetheless, we do have Italy in our sights and if we can grow manufacturing to 15% of GDP we could overtake them and move up to seventh.

That ‘if’ is doing a lot of work there though. One of the things we need to make this happen is some kind of Industrial Strategy. That would also need to address the ongoing shortage of both skilled and unskilled labour. According to Make UK there are currently more than 74,000 unfilled factory jobs across the UK.

With people strapped for cash, one company Fabweld Steel Products (see page 9) spotted an opportunity to increase its workforce. It had the brainwave of setting up a new 6pm to 10pm shift aimed at people who wanted a part-time or second job.

Investment in technology is another way to approach the problem. As Roger Street of LMS explains on page 12. “We can’t get the people to run the machines, so we have to find the machines that will do more for us with fewer people.”

Andy Sandford, Editor

The Manufacturing Technologies Association’s (MTA) flagship Technology, Design and Innovation (TDI) Challenge competition has continued to highlight the imagination and design skills of a new generation of young engineers.

The TDI Challenge 2023 encouraged students between 16 and 18 years old and enthusiastic about engineering and science, to demonstrate their creative talent to an industry that relies upon vision and innovation.

Entrants are tasked with devising an original design for a product or concept, explain its application and produce a video, no longer than two minutes, to demonstrate how and why their invention would benefit users.

Judges were once again flooded with entries and then had the hard task of whittling down the submissions to a manageable shortlist. Those shortlisted were invited to Finals Day at the Yamazaki Mazak facility in Worcester where they got the opportunity to pitch their idea to the judging panel, with the winner being chosen on the day.

Stewart Lane, of Renishaw Plc, who chaired the judging panel, said: “The TDI Challenge continues to demonstrate the talent present in our aspiring engineers and once again the standard of entries was so high that judges struggled to choose which submission was the best. Each finalist should be congratulated on their achievements.”

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro