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UK SUBCONTRACT MARKET CONTINUES TO FALL, WITH OEMS LOOKING FOR CLARITY BEFORE MAKING DECISIONS
fallers, with construction, construction machinery and electronics dropping significantly. There were, however, some encouraging trends, with medical equipment, automotive, and oil and gas increasing; and furniture manufacture was up by 144%. Compared to the third quarter
of 2018, the market has dropped by almost half (47%), despite a relatively strong performance in the first quarter of this year. It is now 30% lower than when the EU referendum was held in 2016. The CMI is produced by sourcing
The UK subcontract manufacturing market continued to fall in the third quarter of 2019, down 15% on the second quarter, which itself saw a 37% drop compared to the first three months of the year, according to the latest Contract Manufacturing Index (CMI). While the overall number of projects is at quite a
high level, these are mainly from smaller companies and the large OEMs are not putting out any new work. Machining has seen the biggest drop, down over 30%
on the previous quarter, while fabrication is actually up by 5%. Machining now accounts for 35% of the value of the market, with fabrication at 50% and other processes, such as moulding and contract electronic manufacturing, accounting for the remaining 15%. The biggest sectors in the index were the biggest
specialist Qimtek. Qimtek owner, Karl Wigart, said: “Until April the market had been fairly steady but it has seen a significant decline since then. “We are hearing from the market around the UK
that uncertainty over the outcome and impact of Brexit is certainly a factor and there is a fair degree of spare capacity waiting for new projects. “There are actually more projects out to tender
than there have been all year, but it is the small companies that are looking to outsource rather than the larger OEMS. This suggests that the OEMs are looking for clarity before making strategic decisions, whereas for the smaller, more nimble, companies it is more or less business as usual.”
www.qimtek.co.uk
‘WORM ROBOTS’
DEVELOPING SENSORS FOR
During natural or man-made disasters, urban search and rescue teams and other first responders race against the clock to locate survivors within a critical 72-hour timeframe. A new Europe-wide project is
devising novel technologies to improve detection of people using drones, miniaturised robotic equipment and advanced sensors. The CURSOR Search and Rescue
Kit features robots equipped with chemical sensors that detect a wide range of chemical substances indicating human presence, which are carried from operational headquarters to a disaster site by a drone. On site, the robots work independently in clusters searching for survivors. Researchers from The University
of Manchester’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science are developing chemical sensors for the small ‘worm robots’ which can enter through small crevices in debris, and send a signal to people above ground if live persons are detected.
www.manchester.ac.uk
DESIGN SOLUTIONS | OCTOBER 2019
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