Manufacturing news
June 2008
Job cuts likely at Pringle knitwear
Pringle of Scotland looks likely to cease production in Hawick due to the changing market.
30 Jun 2008 12:14
BAE appoints new boss
BAE Systems has announced that its current chief operating officer Ian King is to succeed Mike Turner as chief executive.
27 Jun 2008 10:08
Bernard Matthews to end meat imports
Bernard Matthews has announced it is to cease its importing of turkey meat as of August, and pork and chicken from 2010.
27 Jun 2008 10:33
Brewer rejects bid
Anheuser-Busch has turned down InBev’s £23.3 billion ($46.3 billion) takeover offer, saying that the bid undervalued the firm.
27 Jun 2008 10:22
Irish tidal power generation to start next week
Marine Current Turbines will start generating electricity from its tidal turbine in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland, next week.
27 Jun 2008 9:37
Land Rover wins two Queen’s Awards
Land Rover has been presented with two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise at its Gaydon site in Warwickshire.
27 Jun 2008 10:48
Round-the-clock production for Nissan Sunderland
Nissan is to launch a new 24 hour production schedule at its Sunderland plant in response to soaring consumer demand for the Qashqai crossover.
27 Jun 2008 11:29
UK Industry can lead low-carbon revolution
British industry has urged the government to recognise the vital role that business has to play in moving to a low-carbon economy by setting out the key policies needed to break down the current barriers to investment in key technologies where the UK can become a world leader
26 Jun 2008 13:45
Wing innovation
Airbus unveils the all new A400m plane, with innovative carbon fibre wings, researched and manufactured in the UK.
26 Jun 2008 11:13
GAO calls for reopening of US tanker deal auction
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has ruled in favour of Boeing in the US Air Force (USAF) tanker deal controversy.
19 Jun 2008 15:35
Imperial Tobacco to shed staff
Imperial Tobacco has announced it is to axe 2,440 jobs around its organisation as part of its restructuring process.
19 Jun 2008 11:05
Orders up, but so are prices
Manufacturers reported a rise in the order books in June, though output prices are likely to continue rising, according to the latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey.
19 Jun 2008 15:25
Survey points to energy saving ignorance
The 2008 Brammer Energy Survey has discovered that a significant number of European manufacturing companies are failing to capitalise on the £10 billion of possible energy savings at their factories.
19 Jun 2008 11:30
More jobs from 'green' schemes
Following on from the news of Land Rover’s sustainable initiatives, Lotus, the Norfolk-based car manufacturer, are celebrating the award of two government contracts to develop ‘greener’ vehicles.
18 Jun 2008 15:26
Six hundred new jobs at Land Rover
Land Rover has announced that it is to create 600 new jobs, mostly in engineering, in a drive to develop sustainable technologies and increase the environmental performance of its cars.
18 Jun 2008 14:07
BMW plant resumes operation as fuel protest ends
The BMW Mini factory in Cowley, Oxfordshire, has finally been able to continue production, which had been halted due to the Spanish fuel protests.
17 Jun 2008 9:14
Salvation for Wigan manufacturer Indmar
A last minute deal agreed by the Kanban Group has rescued a sheet metal pressing firm from administration and certain closure.
17 Jun 2008 11:06
Extra £10 million for more jobs and production at Scottish healthcare plant
Health and cosmetics firm Mentholatum’s Scottish manufacturing plant has been boosted by an extra £10 million investment from its US parent firm to increase productivity at the site.
16 Jun 2008 11:21
Grampian sees Dutch takeover
Scottish manufacturer Grampian Country Foods has been taken over by Dutch firm Vion.
16 Jun 2008 16:58
Targets lead towards electric cars
European car manufacturers are set to face even tighter emissions targets by the end of next decade, although penalties for missing them will be reduced, under proposals from the UK, Germany and France.
16 Jun 2008 9:53
Budweiser maker receives InBev bid
Anheuser-Busch – the US brewer responsible for Budweiser beer – has received an unsolicited takeover bid worth $46 billion (£23.6 billion) from rival firm InBev.
12 Jun 2008 9:17
Fujitsu staff down tools
Workers at a Fujitsu manufacturing plant in Birmingham went on strike this week in protest against the company’s plans to move production to the US.
12 Jun 2008 14:28
Glaxo to shed 350 R&D staff
Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has announced plans to reduce its 17,000-strong research and development workforce by 350 in order to cut costs.
12 Jun 2008 8:56
Joint venture between VT Group and BAE for biggest UK shipbuilding firm
A joint venture has been agreed between naval warship giants VT Group and BAE Systems in a move which will secure thousands of UK shipbuilding jobs.
12 Jun 2008 10:20
Lean processes save jobs at meat factory
Staff at a Cornwall meat processing factory will not lose their jobs after managers backed down on plans for redundancies.
12 Jun 2008 17:00
AG Barr sees strengthened sales
Drinks maker AG Barr has reported a satisfactory increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2008, but with some concern over the possibility of a poor summer to come.
11 Jun 2008 12:06
Manufacturing millenials meet the grade
Young workers in the manufacturing industry are loyal to employers, morally driven and career-focussed, according to a report released today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
11 Jun 2008 11:09
Wienerberger closes two brick factories
Wienerberger, one of the largest brick making companies in Britain, is to close two plants as a result of the current housing market slowdown.
11 Jun 2008 11:19
Brown continues with £83 million German munitions deal
Gordon Brown has exploited a loophole in the cluster bomb ban agreement in order to preserve a previously agreed £83 million deal with German munitions manufacturer GIWS.
10 Jun 2008 11:58
Making 'green' chips
McCain Foods has been praised for its commitment to sustainable power and eco-friendly operations by the Minister for Energy, Malcolm Wicks.
10 Jun 2008 9:11
New scheme to tackle skills shortage in process industries
Process Industry employers will be able to use a standards benchmark to assess their own training and qualifications, in a bid by the National Skills Academy to tackle a shortage in competant staff.
09 Jun 2008 16:24
Producer output prices in record rise
Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics shows UK manufacturers raised output prices by a record 8.9 per cent over the last year.
09 Jun 2008 11:05
Hornby growth continues
Toymaker Hornby has reported a 17 per cent increase in annual profit thanks to a 19 per cent rise in sales.
06 Jun 2008 10:28
Stinging nettles to revolutionise fabric manufacturing
Students at De Montfort University, Leicester, have developed a method of including nettles in fabric manufacturing, as they seek to provide the cloth industry with sustainable sources.
06 Jun 2008 14:30
Alphasteel buyout likely to recreate jobs
Newport steel company Alphasteel, which went into administration before Christmas with the loss of 390 jobs, has been bought for £50 million by Russian firm Libala.
05 Jun 2008 17:00
Car manufacturers may face 'tobacco style' advert legislation
New legislation is being considered which will require car manufacturers to display pollution details in adverts more prominently.
05 Jun 2008 16:53
Green Business Club for London manufacturers
Manufacturers in London and the South East can now get specially tailored advice on how to turn their operations environmentally friendly, through the Manufacturing Advisory Service’s (MAS) new Green Business Club.
05 Jun 2008 9:44
Study looks to new integrated supply chain
‘Future Supply Chain 2016: Serving Consumers in a Sustainable Way’ – a new study published by the Global Commerce Initiative in association with Capgemini – has noted a firm correlation between sustainability and the future consumer products supply chain.
05 Jun 2008 16:39
General Motors to close four factories
General Motors (GM) has announced the ensuing closure of four of its production plants due to changes in market conditions.
04 Jun 2008 14:17
'Waste not, want not' for new clothes company
An innovative new clothing company in Hackney are to manufacture high-end fashion garments by recycling old ones, in a bid for sustainable sourcing and waste reduction within the clothing and textile industry.
03 Jun 2008 17:40
Leading UK yacht manufacturer to be sold
The French luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault is purchasing one of Britain’s oldest boat manufacturers, Princess Yachts.
03 Jun 2008 15:46
Nissan Sunderland secures new model
The Sunderland Nissan plant has been selected to manufacture a new model in the firm’s range of cars, to begin in 2010 when production of the current Micra ends.
03 Jun 2008 9:59
Superior Group votes for UK manufacture
Dorset-based seal and moulding maker Superior Group has made the decision to retain its UK manufacturing, rather than transferring operations to China.
03 Jun 2008 11:39
Brookfield Foods sheds 70 jobs
Flintshire-based Brookfield Foods has been forced to reduce its workforce by 70 due to soaring input costs.
02 Jun 2008 16:49
EEF paints brighter picture of manufacturing
While the CIPS/NTC Purchasing Managers’ Index reported a halt in output production, EEF gained more positive results from its Engineering Outlook Report, sponsored by Grant Thornton.
02 Jun 2008 16:24
Llanelli firm wins Wimbledon roof deal
3Ks Engineering has won a £1 million contract to make panels that will open and close the new Wimbledon centre court retractable roof.
02 Jun 2008 8:57
Output production halted while charge inflation increases for UK manufacturing
Manufacturing output production in the UK stalled in May after almost three years of sustained growth, says the latest report from the CIPS/NTC Purchasing Managers’ Index.
02 Jun 2008 11:35
