The Manufacturing Technology Association has affirmed its stance on remaining in the European Union.
The MTA has organised the MACH exhibition series over a number of years and is made up of makers and suppliers of manufacturing technology, such as CADCAM, metrology, workholding, tooling and machine tools, while the association also has some members involved in the subcontracting sector.
In its official statement on the European Union vote, the organisation expresses its support, along with backing from its member companies, for staying in the European Union.
Furthermore, it says that the manufacturing technology industry is global, with more than 80% of the UK’s manufacturing technology sector output exported, of which EU countries account for almost half.
It says that it is essential to continue the competitiveness of the UK manufacturing industry and the key to that is efficient and cheap access to the market.
In a global industry, many of the companies in it are multinational, which includes organisations outside of the European Union, particularly Japan and the USA â both of which have formed European Headquarters in the UK.
The establishment of these headquarters, the MTA says, brings with it increased economic activity, as well as resulting employment opportunities in a various amount of business functions, such as finance, management, marketing, and applications engineering- rather than merely a UK based sales team.
However, the association insists that their stance to remain in the EU is about more than simply market access, rather it is about the UK being able to have an impact on the economic and political climate in Europe and around the world by being a full participatory EU member.
The MTA also say that the EU is in a better position than the UK to negotiate agreements on international trade, with their reasons for this coming from its knowledge of international standards.
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