Farnborough Air Show 2018

It was a privilege, as well as great fun, to be able to attend this year’s Farnborough Airshow with the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) and AE Aerospace. We spent most of the day on the stand with 22 MAA member companies who were exhibiting. The stand, designed to welcome people to visit and stay and chat, was busy all day. And with high profile visitors such as Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, Farnborough 2018 was a great chance to take the pulse of the aerospace industry and talk to the people at its cutting edge. 

I took the opportunity to talk to the MAA’s Bridget Day and AE Aerospace’s Peter Bruch immediately following their discussions with Mark Carney to get their view on key issues facing the Midlands aerospace sector .

Peter and his team have seen AE Aerospace grow rapidly in recent years, and they are currently on a mission to embrace Industry 4.0 so they can fully implement their glass factory servitized model of machining by the hour. AE Aerospace is a company that prides itself on being at the leading edge of aerospace manufacturing practices and Peter’s position as MD gives him a unique insight into the changing landscape of the aerospace sector. I spoke to Peter about a range of industry issues. He was very interested in the effects of post-Brexit fallout for manufacturing. While Brexit had created a cloud of uncertainty, that cloud had a silver lining in terms of increased export rates. Peter explained that his company was currently negotiating a contract in Germany, one example of the increased demand shown by Europe for UK products. We also discussed the challenges of recruiting skilled workers in the aerospace sector as well as the difficulty SMEs face in being competitive with larger companies.

Bridget Day is an integral member of the MAA team. Since starting in 2008 she has played an instrumental role in managing projects such as NATEP and advising companies on supply chain technology development. Bridget explained that the aerospace sector was going through a period of immense growth at the moment owing to increasing demand from mainland Europe and countries such as China. This has also been mirrored in the recent figures from the latest MAA survey which is showing strong growth in the sector in the Midlands region. She commented that the uncertainty created by Brexit had companies worried, but despite this, there were still a lot of positive messages. SMEs, including members of the MAA, had to adapt quickly to the changing economic landscape and what was important was business knowledge, intelligence and the ability to create high quality products and services that satisfy the stringent demands of customers not only in Europe but in the rest of the world too. British companies in the aerospace sector continue to be well placed when it comes to having these attributes.

A highlight of Farnborough was the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney coming on to the stand to answer MAA members’ questions. He was keen to find out how small businesses were faring in the current economic landscape and how the country’s economic policies had affected them.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see the whole of the show as we were only there for a day, but what we did see while walking around the different halls was impressive. If the stands are anything to go by, then there is indeed a lot of confidence in the aerospace sector, which is very positive given the turbulence being felt globally as well as in the UK. For those SMEs embracing the latest technologies, and getting the most from their supply chain relationships, the future looks bright in aerospace.

We really enjoyed the show, and are looking forward to getting over to the next show in Paris in 2019.