Up for the challenge

Writing the comment for our December issue always gives me a chance to reflect back over the past year and look forward to the next. 2015 w

Writing the comment for our December issue always gives me a chance to reflect back over the past year and look forward to the next.

2015 was certainly eventful. After the seemingly endless growth enjoyed by many companies over the past three or four years, 2015 has been something of a reality check. Although we would all like record years every year, we know better than that. Manufacturing is notoriously cyclical; ups and downs; peaks and troughs; highs and lows. We’ve all been there, seen the film and got the t-shirt.

For me, 2015 was a year when things came back down to earth somewhat. Don’t get me wrong – it’s been a reasonably good, busy year but there have been challenges. The oil and gas sector for example, once a bastion of prosperity and growth, is suffering through low oil prices and low productivity and that’s hitting the supply chain. In our August issue we ran an article by Stephen Marcos Jones, Oil and Gas UK’s business development director and he was cautiously optimistic for the future. Let’s hope so. We need a buoyant offshore industry.

In my travels the one thing I hear time and time again is the lack of skilled labour. Companies want to expand and recruit but finding people of the right calibre is hard. Good people are valued and looked after and if they do enter the job market they’re snapped up. On a positive note I reckon that 90% of the companies I visited in 2015 have an apprenticeship scheme in place, opting to train from within. I think the penny has dropped where this is concerned. Businesses have realised that in terms of staff they have to take responsibility for their own futures – and they are!

The last three or four years have been unprecedented for the industry with many organisations reporting record levels of business but I think we’d all agree that things have plateaued, certainly over the latter half of the year. The sun is still shining but there’s one or two threatening clouds in the sky that have affected UK manufacturing: a strong Pound might be good for a fortnight in Benidorm but it’s hurting our exports; a slowing Chinese economy (although according to President Xi it’s still predicted to grow by 7% this year); and of course the aforementioned skills shortage and offshore decline – are all negatively impacting on manufacturing.

I think 2016 will be a tough, challenging year, but there’s much to be optimistic about. The aerospace and automotive sectors in the UK remain strong and companies are still investing and planning for the future. At the Advanced Engineering Show last month I was genuinely surprised and encouraged by the busy aisles and hordes of visitors. MACH 2016 is looming on the horizon and early indicators predict that this is shaping up to be a really good show.

So all that remains for me is wish you, our valued readers, a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and profitable new year. On behalf of the PES team, thank you for your continued support. See you in 2016!

Company

PES Media

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