Seminar helps North firms engineer growth

Jan 18 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

FUTURE opportunities for the 500-plus engineering businesses in the region will be outlined at a forthcoming seminar.

Partners4Engineering 2008 is a one-day regional business event that will be held on March 12 in The Wynyard Rooms on Teesside.

The focus of the event is to provide companies operating in the North-East engineering sector with an opportunity to better understand the needs and issues surrounding the future growth of the regional engineering and process industry. The event is being organised by Washington marketing and event management company Allancia Limited in co-operation with The North-East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

Stan Higgins, CEO of NEPIC, said: “In the North-East of England the process engineering industry is targeted to grow from £9bn to £15bn over the next eight years.

“However, for the 500-plus businesses that are involved in the sector to achieve this fantastic projected growth, it is vitally important that the region quickly identifies and understands the capabilities and expertise that is available, and possibly more importantly, what is missing amongst the many hundreds of suppliers and business intermediaries that are located in the North-East.

“The Partners4Engineering 2008 event will be a great opportunity to focus the minds of the regional businesses and support organisations on the needs and future capability issues surrounding the growth and development of the engineering sector.”

Phil Eadon, project director of Partners4Engineering 2008, said: “At the heart of the event will be a number of presentations by key regional and national figures.

“The presentations will be followed by several workshop sessions on key areas such as staff skills shortages, SME development, supplier chain gaps and how companies can find and develop new markets, both geographically and technologically.

If you would like to find out more and to book a place contact Allancia Limited on (0191) 415-7340.