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Manufacturing Precision

21st August 2014

Sales by manufacturing firms across Northern Ireland totaled £17 billion annually. Competition from emerging markets means more must be done, says Darren McVicker, Managing Consultant Vickerstock Recruitment if we are to achieve our potential globally.

In 2012/2013 sales by our local manufacturing companies rose by almost 2%. Sales to Great Britain rose by 6.2%, to the Republic of Ireland by 5.3% and to the rest of the world by 2.0%.

This in the face of increasing globalisation and fierce competition is to be commended. However, more can be done if we are to reach the Executive’s Programme for Government n ambitious aim of raising manufacturing exports by 7% by 2013/2014.

The focus on driving forward manufacturing from government level is great and we have some fantastic firms doing great things on a global scale.

Did you know for instance that Northern Ireland is home to the firm that designs, tests or manufactures a quarter of the world’s marine energy devices or that locally we manufacture 40 per cent of the world’s mobile quarrying equipment?

Look at Bombardier, Wrightbus and the likes of Almac and Randox doing leading world in the pharmaceuticals/life sciences industry. It is clear to see that our manufacturers have the products and expertise to export internationally, but competition is growing from emerging markets such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the MINTs (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey).

Larger firms dominate our private sector manufacturing exports, but what of our smaller firms? What can they do to ensure that their products and services, which are world-class, reach a global audience? Especially in light of these fast-growing emerging markets.

Further investment in research and development must also be a priority going forward. The construction of the new Northern Ireland Advanced Composites & Engineering Centre (NIACE), is a great contribution that local firms should tap into.

Designed to be the focal point for advanced materials as well as engineering research and development in Northern Ireland, it will offer smaller firms the opportunity to develop technologies that will maintain their competitiveness and support their future business needs.

We have amazing firms, fantastic talent and potential, but we must do more to capture the opportunities that exist. These opportunities aren’t just available to the big firms and we must widen our focus past Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

With a talented pool of graduates coming through our leading education system, there is a resource there that can be tapped into and fully utilised. Manufacturing firms need to ensure that they make a career in engineering an attractive option for students.

This needs to be an option not just for the 4,000 business and technology graduates our universities produce every year, but also for our younger generations. This will help to ensure that the engineering and manufacturing expertise we have honed since Dunlop tyres, Ferguson tractors and Short Brothers planes first hit the market continues.

Encouraging signs are there, with the continued development of cutting edge, commercially successful new products, but without a concerted effort to increase our skills base and a drive to push for increased spend on research and development these might be lost.

These collaborations will protect and grow business in Northern Ireland especially within the manufacturing sector, which is key to our future economic recovery.

VickerStock, Northern Ireland’s leading specialist technical engineering recruitment agency, offer recruitment solutions and expert engineering advice to candidates and companies within the construction and civil engineering sector as well as a range of engineering sectors including; aerospace, manufacturing and production, supply chain, ICT, electronics and electrical, civils and infrastructure, utilities and renewables.

Based in Belfast, offering both permanent and contract employment with NI’s most sought after employers in the engineering sector, the organisation’s overall goal is to match highly skilled engineers with the specific demands of each individual organisation they represent.

For further information visit www.vickerstock.co.uk or telephone 028 9031 3720.

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