It was winners all round at the
MTA’s Annual Gala Dinner held on
1st February at the ICC in
Birmingham. As well as the
President’s speech, the MTA
presented its Manufacturing
Industry Awards, an opportunity to
celebrate success and congratulate
outstanding individuals and
companies.

MTA President Simon Pollard
used the speech to drive home the
message that UK manufacturing is
great and growing. He is looking
forward to MACH 2012 and said he
believed UK Manufacturing was well
placed to take off with advantages in
technology, science and research
skills, as well as progress in sight on
issues like export finance and the
Government’s attitude to the sector.

He highlighted the commitment of
Lloyds TSB Commercial not least in
their support of the Awards night.

Simon Pollard stressed that it was
vitally important for Government to
invest strategically in the country’s
manufacturing base. He said: “We
have to be prepared to stand up for
what we make here in the UK and to
believe that some industries are
strategically and economically
essential – and that doesn’t just
mean submarines in Barrow, it
means trains in Derby too.”
Prize for Best Training Scheme
was won by the National Physical
Laboratory’s training programme in
metrology. Best Supplier Partnership
went to Delcam and Coventry
Engineering for the latter’s uses of
the former’s FeatureCAM to enable
more complex parts to be machined.

Most dynamic subcontractor went to
BTEK Precision for its work on
BAPS Structures for the European
Space Agency’s Sentinel 2 satellite.

The Young Engineer of the Year
was named as Adam Kelsey of
Joseph Rhodes. He received an
AMTRI Scholarship.