Of 470 manufacturers surveyed, 22% described total orders as above normal, and 31% said they were below. The CBI says the resulting balance of -9% indicates order book levels slipped back in September, though this measure remains well above its long-term average of -18%.

The news comes as Leeds manufacturers report a rush of new business wins and investment, and will be welcomed following the announcement by defence giant BAE that it is to cut nearly 900 jobs at its manufacturing plant in East Yorkshire.

Allied Glass, manufacturer of glass containers for the premium spirits industry including leading brands such as Diageo, Chivas and William Grant & Sons, is investing millions in new machinery and staff as its new management team prepares to conquer new markets in Europe and further afield.

The Leeds-based business went through a secondary management buyout a year ago in a deal valuing the manufacturer at £75m.

Managing director Alan Henderson sees diversification into Europe as “a key part of the growth” of the business, which is backed by the private equity arm of Barclays Bank.

In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Mr Henderson said that Allied wants to win new work in France, Italy, Spain and Poland: “We are targeting key brands that we want to be associated with and know we can do a good job for,” he said.

Allied has hired 30 people to staff a new facility in Leeds in a £600,000 investment to create a new operation decorating bottles.

Meanwhile, textile manufacturer Hainsworth has won a contract to kit out 2,000 firefighters across the West Midlands’ 39 community fire stations. The company already makes protective fabrics used by firefighters across the UK as well as in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Now West Midlands Fire Service is to buy Hainsworth’s TITAN kit – a patented double cloth combining flame retardant properties on the face and high strength fabric on the back, resulting in increased thermal protection.

The eight-year contract will see the state-of-the-art kit rolled out to all firefighters in the West Midlands. The uniform, in dark blue and red, replaces the magma coloured uniforms previously worn by the service. The new kit will be manufactured by Bristol Uniforms.

And specialist brewery engineering firm Microdat has followed up a £500,000 equity investment from Finance Yorkshire with news of £5 million worth of orders for its innovative cask and keg handling systems which are being installed in breweries across the UK

The fast growing international company is aiming for its UK operation, based at Sherburn Enterprise Park near Leeds, to grow to a turnover of £10m within two years.

From its Yorkshire base Power Link is looking to establish itself as a European leader in the manufacture and distribution of diesel power generation sets. The business already employs more than 400 people in its Shanghai factory.

Sophie Han, general manager, Power Link Machine UK, said: “This investment in our European operation is a significant step for the business and will enable us to pursue further European and international opportunities.”

The news follows the announcement last month that Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe (MPSE) had acquired a 35,000 sf ft unit at Navigation Park , Leeds, which it will use for its expanded service and parts facility.

Power generation, service and maintenance firm MPSE was established in 2007 and employs more than 500 staff in eight offices across Europe. The company is involved in the design and procurement of gas and steam turbines as well as developing advanced energy generation in both the solar and wind powered sectors.

Juergen Richter, service director in the Leeds centre, said: “The acquisition of this property will assist us in the expansion of our business and enables us to respond effectively to the needs of both our existing and future clients.

“With the ever growing requirement to source more efficient means of power generation MPSE needs to be able to offer our customers innovative alternatives for power generation as well as increased level of service and shorter response time.”

Siemens has also made a £1.2 million investment in its mechanical drives division, opening a new Leeds plant at Navigation Park at the beginning of the year. The move is designed to enable the £15m operation handle additional and bigger contracts, including work to support the group’s planned major offshore wind turbine manufacturing plant in Hull.

Why has snow hit the economy so badly this winter? asked the BBC’s Andre Reuben and in some sectors it was easy to see how. Utilities enjoyed a bumper back end to 2010 as consumers turned up the heating to contend with the biting cold, while construction and retail were adversely affected by the snow.

So shopper stayed home, building work ground to a halt and there was a 10 per cent fall in petrol sales as people stayed home ratehr than contend with chaos on the raods. 

Even the part of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that calculates the official growth figures for the economy had to postpone its Christmas party because of the weather, and will not be holding it until April.

But, while the economy as a whole shrank by 0.5 per cent, manufacturing saw growth of almost 1.5 per cent in the last quarter with exports and the automotive sector leading the resurgence.

The figures were released as leading indiustry figure met with government ministers at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Summit to discuss how to promote UK manufacturing excellence, challenge perceptions of the industry and dispel the belief that Britain does not produce goods.

“There is a common misconception that there is no manufacturing in the UK, yet we are one of the largest manufacturers in the world…contributing some 18 per cent GDP, said one participant at the summit.

Time for manufacturing to come in from the cold?

Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/summit-considers-how-to-boost-growth-in-uk-manufacturing/1007103.article#Scene_1#ixzz1CFACMf38

British manufacturing continues to report strong trading conditions with indicators for output remaining at record levels for the third quarter in succession, according to the fourth quarter ‘Manufacturing Outlook’ survey published by the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF).

Strong performance continues to be broad-based across all sectors and regions. It has been underpinned by the robust demand coming from overseas markets, which have made a large contribution to export growth since the recovery began.

The EEF forecasts that engineering and manufacturing will continue to outperform the rest of the UK economy in 2011.

JBC agrees expansion plan with Lloyds TSB
The positive outlook is supported locally by news that Leeds engineering contractor JBC Industrial Services aims to increase turnover next year by 25 per cent to £10m after agreeing new working capital facilities with Lloyds TSB Commercial. JBC switched its banking to Lloyds TSB to support its continued expansion.

The company, founded in 1978, provides a range of energy-based services for industrial clients. It employs 75 people and has taken on new ten staff this year.

As well as its base in Morley, JBC also has premises in Hull, Warrington, Newark and Southampton and carries out work across the UK, Europe and worldwide with work undertaken in Australia, Belgium and Dubai.

Managing director Jamie Bashall said: “There has been a trend, particularly in the NHS Trusts, towards replacing existing boilers with new, more efficient heat and power systems and this has led to an increase in demand for our services.

“We now have a full order book that takes us into 2012, and one of our main aims will be to expand the amount of work we do in London and the Home Counties, as we see these as real growth areas for the company.”

Call to double growth rate for UK manufacturing
The plans set out by the CBI include calls for manufacturing to double the growth rate for UK manufacturing exports and to be innovative in research, design and creativity.

Andrew Palmer, CBI director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “UK manufacturing is in many ways the unsung hero of our economy. Big productivity gains in the past ten years have made it leaner than ever before, and it’s now well placed to lead the country’s economic recovery.

“To achieve this, however, the Government must act fast. It should build on the sector’s strengths, work with business to harness its innovation, and create a tax and regulatory environment that helps UK manufacturers drive up growth in productivity and exports.”

There are huge opportunities for further growth, according to speakers at the recent conference organised by the Yorkshire & Humber Manufacturing Advisory Service. Steve Watson, managing director of David Brown Gears, explained how the Huddersfield manufacturer has become a major player within the renewable energy sector in just twelve months by focusing on producing gear boxes for wind turbines, hydroelectric plants and tidal turbines. With the renewable industry is currently showing growth rates of up to 25%, compared to 2-6% in traditional markets, David Brown aims to grow its renewable sales to £200 million by 2014.

Taxation and government legislation will also stimulate the market for green technologies, as emphasised by VeryPC chief exec Peter Hopton. Feed in tarriffs and funding available through the Carbon Trust for capital replacement projects where an energy saving or carbon reduction is evident, represent a major ‘green opportunities’ which manufacturers need to be alert to.

The point was driven home by Richard Shacklady, chairman of Pressure Technologies: £900 million is being spent on a large offshore wind farm off the Kent coast but only 20% of the money is being spent in the UK. Through its Chesterfield BioGas offshoot, the Sheffield company is leading the way in the production of raw biogas from natural waste. The process is already widely used in Scandanavian countries to produce fuels for public transport

But the green revolution is driving innovation in more traditional industries as demonstrated by Cheryl Kindness, design and development director at Camira Fabrics. The textile manufacturer, which specialises in advanced fabrics for the transport industry, has developed a range of recyclable, renewable and carbon neutral product lines.

Natural materials such as nettle fibre, hemp and jute have been combined with wool to produce innovative flame-retardant and anti-microbial fabrics. The company is also exploring the use of metals in combination with wool to produce fabrics which rely on light refraction rather than dyes for coloration. The new product line is also highly flame resistant and, with 33 different flammability standards currently in place around the world for fabrics used in transport, it could be a major breakthrough.

 The EEF forecasts manufacturing growth of 3.7% this year and 3.2% in 2011, driven by the strength of overseas markets.

Finding the right people will also be crucial to long term sustainability of manufacturing. This was reflected in discussion round our table, with many manufacturers now ‘importing’ skills form other parts of the UK but recognising that, ultimately, the ageing workforce profile of the sector makes it essential to open up manufacturing to a new generation.

It’s a problem across the sector as shown by the launch today of the ‘Work Wise’ initiative, which aims to encourage and support young people to take up careers in manufacturing and engineering. The initiative has been backed by 50 South Yorkshire employers who are accutely aware of the need to renew the skills base within industry instead of companies feeding off one another’s skills base.

Given that there nearly twice as many people employed in manufacturing in West Yorkshire than there are in South Yorkshire, the need for an initiative in this kind is even more pressing. Something for the Leeds city region Employment & Skills Board and organisations like the EEF to consider?

Harvard Engineering pulled off a hat-trick in the Yorkshire Forward Innovator/10 Awards, including the Sustainable Innovation prize for its ground-breaking LeafNut system for street lights.

And ATB Morley has reached the finals in the Best Exporter category of the Going Global Awards hosted by Yorkshire Forward and UK Trade & Investment.

• Manufacturers reported 33% growth in export sales and 11% growth in export orders, the largest reported improvements in over two years
• Matched by a 27% increase in sales in the domestic market (the third consecutive quarter of improvement) and a 8% increase in orders (second consecutive quarter of improvement)
• 43% report an increase in profit expectation, most positive figure in over two and a half years
• 44% have increased their workforce and 20% are recruiting

The findings are consistent with the results of the CBI’s latest quarterly Industrial Trends Survey which shows an export-led rise in manufacturing production for the first time in two years: 31% said output rose during the last quarter of 2009, the first time since January 2008, boosted by relative weakness in Sterling and improving global demand.

Engineering Employer’s Federation has also forecast export-led growth of up to 3.4% in manufacturing during 2011, although performance will be uneven across individual sectors. Mechanical equipment, metal products and metals will see strong quarter on quarter growth throughout the year, while transport and automotive will see fall in output as scrappage schemes run out and as a result of cuts in public spending