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Editor: Emma Clarke
ISBN: 1-84168-056-7

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The total UK market for metalworking machine tools, parts, accessories, installation and repairs/maintenance was estimated at £725.5m in 1999— an 18.4 percent fall from the 1998 value. This decline is due to a downturn in the investment cycle in the engineering sector of the manufacturing industry.

The metalworking machine tool sector is subject to significant swings in market value, arising from a combination of the presence and absence of major new plant facilities, contracts (e.g. for motor vehicles or aerospace projects), and the general climate for investment in the manufacturing industries. Between 1995 and 1999, the value of imports exceeded exports in each year, and the value of the overall UK market peaked in 1997.

The term ‘metalworking machine tools’ embraces a wide range of machinery used for cutting, removing or forming metal to produce components which are subsequently assembled into engineering products. Important sectors of the engineering industry include the manufacture of motor vehicles, aerospace products and general industrial equipment. The sectors, together with the subcontractors that supply them, make up the customer base for supplies of metalworking machine tools. Suppliers of machine tools to the UK market are mainly international companies, with facilities in the UK, or are subsidiaries of overseas companies. This is a consequence of the globalisation of the metalworking machine tool industry, and the failure of many UK suppliers to maintain their overall businesses due to periodic weaknesses in their home market.

Over several decades, this has been caused by insufficient encouragement for manufacturing investment in the UK. Although there have been some encouraging signs for the prospects of manufacturing investment in the UK recently, it is not yet clear whether this will spread to the engineering sector, which forms the main market for metalworking machine tools. Due to the high value of sterling, some end-user companies, both British and overseas owned, are questioning whether they should continue to regard the UK as a main manufacturing base. There are also other factors which could influence such decisions, such as the EU’s support, or otherwise, for any financial assistance that may be offered by the UK Government, to local manufacturing companies.

The total UK market for metalworking machine tools is forecast to reach £1.04bn in 2004 — a 34 percent increase over the forecast 2000 value.

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Last updated by Duncan Nottage 5th November 2000