Simon Pollard, managing director of Kyal Machine Tools, is
the recently appointed President of the Manufacturing
Technologies Association. Here, he gives Industrial Plant &
Equipment his views on the sector and outlines a few of the
MTA’s recent initiatives

The MTA is an association run by its
membership of UK manufacturers,
and it’s a real honour to have been
elected as President. Presidency represents a
chance to give something back to the
industry and to help develop the external
perception of UK manufacturing as a worldleading,
cutting edge sector.

Under my leadership, the MTA will
continue to support UK manufacturing
though developing our services and through
the representation that we undertake in
Westminster and the wider political world.

Until recently Britain’s manufacturing
sector was an unacknowledged strength. It is
now merely an insufficiently acknowledged
strength. That is progress of a sort but it still
leaves us with much to do. After years of
being told that either we didn’t make
anything anymore, or that even if we did it
didn’t matter that much, we have finally
realised that as a nation, our prosperity rests
in a large part on what we can make and the
value that we can add.

Trade missions
There has been a lot said over the last few
years about the prospects for an export led
recovery. The MTA has taken a leading role
in promoting its members’ businesses
around the world, and in 2011 this will
continue with trade missions to China and
the participation in shows in India and
Germany. There are exciting developments in
Russia too with an MTA led scheme to
establish a joint venture company that will
see members setting up a machine tool
refurbishment and reconditioning factory in
the area of Yekaterinburg.

MACH 2012
I’m very much looking to forward to MACH
2012, the highlight of any President’s two
year term.MACH is the lynchpin of the
Association and we will continue to develop
and grow the exhibition, to protect its
position as the UK’s premier manufacturing
technologies show.

The MTA will be working hard over the
next 18 months to ensure that MACH 2012
is a great success, and popular initiatives
from 2010, such as the Education & Training
Zone and the inclusion of subcontractors,
will be developed.

Training
I believe that it is imperative that Associations
such as the MTA back up what they say with
what they do. To that end I am particularly
enthused with the Education and Training
offering of the Association. Specifically,
through the work that we do in schools to
inspire young people to enter a career in
engineering; and in funding apprenticeships
within the industry, we are addressing some
of the barriers to skills progression that exist.

Awards
We have also recently launched the
Manufacturing Industry Awards, a scheme
which looks to celebrate, in particular,
promising young engineers in our industry,
and to reward excellence in training. Our
£10,000 AMTRI scholarship also shows real
commitment to encouraging cooperation
between industry and the higher education
sector.

We’ve travelled down a rocky road, but we
are approaching smoother times. Looking
forward, we must understand that it will not
be enough to simply continue doing what we
have always done. In order to grow, we must
innovate – and importantly – we must help
customers innovate too. As President of the
MTA my principal aim will be to help
encourage, promote and share innovation
within, and outside of, our sector.