Northumbria University’s Marketing,
Operations and Systems department within the faculty of Business and Law has
held a knowledge exchange breakfast event in collaboration with its strategic partners
the Advanced Manufacturing Forum (AMF) and Open North Foundation (ONF) to help
North East businesses understand the impact of the spring Budget.
Expert speakers from organisations
including the Bank of England, Azets Accountancy & Business Advice, and Schroders,
gave a series of presentations and took questions from AMF and ONF members. Promoted
as the Bacon and Egg-onomics breakfast briefing, topics covered rising energy
costs and interest rates, tax changes, skills shortages alongside national and
global economic growth forecasts.
A community of industry experts,
the AMF brings together
the North-East of England manufacturing and engineering sector to engage with
members and partners within the wider business community. A key remit of the
AMF is to exchange ideas and knowledge to generate business growth, share
opportunities and to champion advanced manufacturing in the UK. Members can
also work closely with Newcastle Business School academics and gain insight
into valuable business-focused research.
AMF Chair Richard Swart commented: “As
one of the leading manufacturing and engineering membership organisations in
the North East, we run a number of briefing events in partnership with
Newcastle Business School, and the feedback is always extremely positive. Whether
our members are looking to invest, recruit, raise productivity, or drive down
costs, the economic landscape remains uncertain at best - so hearing from banking,
business and accountancy experts on what the latest Budget can mean for them is
highly beneficial. I am grateful to all our speakers for offering their
expertise and knowledge.”
Dr Adrian Small, Associate
Professor of Operations Management at Newcastle Business School, added: “By
collaborating with the AMF and its members, through our high-quality research and
knowledge exchange programmes, we hope to find solutions to the many challenges
faced by North East manufacturers. It’s about working closely with businesses
so that our research is relevant to them and can have genuine and positive
impact. Engaging through events like this breakfast briefing is an ideal way to
start this process.”
