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Special Metals Forum Launch

The Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP,  Minister for Digital Britain, also Financial Secretary to the Treasury
National Metals Technology Centre, Swinden House, Rotherham,  06 December 2007

It is a great pleasure to be here in the historic heart of the UK metals industry, to launch the Special Metals Forum.

This industry has been through some pretty lean times over the last thirty years. It was painful for those affected, none more so than the communities in South Yorkshire whose livelihoods depended on the industry. But today it’s looking different.

Over the last four years we have seen the biggest rise in living memory in global demand for materials.

Annual world crude steel production is now is over a billion tonnes – a historic milestone. Special Metals are increasingly important part in many manufacturing sectors - in sectors Alan set out a few minutes ago.

That opportunity has arisen just as the competitive challenges presented by changes in the global economy have never been stronger. Manufacturing is changing. Transforming across all advanced economies as it responds to intense international competition. India and China have wage costs around 15% of European Union levels – and are expected to account for nearly half of all global growth over the next 15 years.

So its tough – but painful changes have been made and it is increasingly clear that UK manufacturing today is in a strong position. Manufacturing generates a sixth of our overall wealth, two thirds of our exports and provides 3 million good quality jobs. Britain is the sixth largest manufacturing economy in the world. People look at me in astonishment when I tell them that but its true. We made almost twice as many cars in Britain last year as 25 years ago. More British-made car engines were exported last year than ever before in our history – since cars were invented. We have the second biggest aerospace industry in the world. After all the grim times, across Yorkshire and Humber, employment has grown twice as fast as the national average in the last few years.

In 2004 a report published by Hatch Beddows noted that South Yorkshire could boast a metals production and R&D capability that most other countries in the world would find hard to beat.

They also noted that, to face up to the global challenge, the metals industry in this region would need good leadership, good management skills, a highly skilled workforce, a flexible labour market marked by diversity and fair treatment, and high performance workplaces.

That was the way out of the downward spiral of continually slashing overheads in order to compete.

The report urged the special metals companies to collaborate with each other and their supply chain partners, to help develop and produce high value products, for the industry to prosper and grow in the 21st Century.

Since the report was published the Government has been committed to helping the industry fully meet this challenge. We wanted to build on the UK metals sector’s strengths and secure its position as the backbone of UK manufacturing, in this country through a new partnership with materials producers to promote technology transfer and drive up productivity.

The National Metals Technology Centre was the first major initiative to emerge from this collaboration, and it has more than lived up to expectations. It has established itself as part of the knowledge base of the country and provided essential support to a wide range of industrial companies.

Since 2005 NAMTEC has been delivering high level technical training programmes in partnership with the local Learning and Skills Council. And by extending its activities to the provision of Research and Development, NAMTEC has established itself as a technical, training and research facility for metals to match some of the best in the world. I congratulate Alan and his team for creating a genuine national asset that benefits not just the UK metals industry, but manufacturing as a whole.

The Centre is just one strand in our broader strategy to help the UK materials industry compete and thrive on a rapidly shifting global landscape. Since its launch last year, Materials UK has brought together all parts of the industry in partnership with my Department to address the key challenges facing the industry in a strategic and coherent way.

The new metals and alloys node of the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network, “Meta4”, Managed by NAMTEC, will be of particular interest to special metals producers. It will facilitate collaboration, best practice and knowledge sharing between companies, academia and others active in this sector.

Alongside all this activity I was pleased that special metals producers acted quickly on the recommendations of the Hatch Beddows report for a mechanism to harness the unrivalled knowledge and expertise in metals that exists in this region.

The Special Metals Forum was formed in 2004 with Tony Peddar as chair. Supported by Outokumpu Stainless, Allvac, Corus, and others, it set about addressing issues like skills and technology development. They were rightly keen to improve the image of the metals sector and encourage more young people to consider a career in it.

At the same time the special metals industry has been going from strength to strength. It has been investing in new technology and research to produce high-added value products to compete in the world marketplace. The sector is now the largest growth area in the metals industry.

So it is exactly the right time to be launching the Special Metals Forum today. I am certain it will quickly become a focal point for all those with an interest in securing the future prosperity of the special metals sector, right along the supply chain. Through knowledge transfer, signposting and networking opportunities for all those involved, the Forum will make a real contribution to economic development across the region and beyond. I do hope everyone in this room will sign up to the Special Metals Forum and take advantage of its services and activities.

Finally let me just pay tribute to Tony Peddar and Alan Partridge, who take the credit for driving the Special Metals Forum forward since its inception. Thanks also to Richard Wright for his hard work and encouragement along the way. By the way, I used to be the leader of Newham Council in East London. The Leader but one before me was the uncle of Richard’s wife. So it’s a small world. And thanks the special metals industry itself for the imagination and enthusiasm to bring this Forum about.

I wish the Special Metals Forum and everyone involved great success as we continue to work together in the future.
Thank you.