Manufacturing and Engineering Magazine Volume 425 - January 2016 | Page 10

AEROSPACE MIDLANDS AEROSPACE ALLIANCE

A UNITED
MIDLANDS
AEROSPACE
INDUSTRY
Founded in 2003, the Midlands
Aerospace Alliance (MAA) was the
last of the aerospace alliances to be
established. Prompted by a downturn in the aerospace industry back
in 2001, the MAA's goals were, and to some
extent still are, “To make sure that we create
a community of aerospace companies to
improve communication along the supply
chain in particular, and to ensure that we are
adding to the support we provide to the
industry on a regional level, and not just
nationally,” as explained by Andrew Mair,
Chief Executive of the MAA.
Through the delivery of support programmes, the sharing of industry-important
knowledge, research and providing a clear,
coordinated strategy for the Midlands aerospace industry, the MAA is positioned to both
support and guide aerospace supply chain
members for individual and shared prosperity.
Through doing this, the MAA is not only able to
support local businesses and their respective
communities, but preserve the existence of the
Midlands aerospace industry as a whole; something which it has achieved most admirably.
Of approximately 120 technology projects

4

8

in the National Aerospace Technology
Exploitation Programme (NATEP) being run
across England, some 30 are being undertaken
within the Midlands specifically, and as such
there have been great efforts to support aerospace supply chain members, increase communication and disseminate knowledge and individual findings for the benefit of all within the
chain. This is traditionally done through networking events run by the MAA directly, allowing companies and key suppliers to meet, compare experiences, notes, findings and more – a
simple, yet increasingly effective measure.
But of course it is not a case that members
of the MAA are in any way behind or struggling
to keep up with the latest technological developments, and instead are typically pioneers in
technological innovation for the industry, within their own subsectors and areas of specific
expertise – the case is simply that, though collaboration and the sharing of information,
members of the Midlands aerospace supply
chain are able to tap into a resource of sectorwide information which they can then develop
yet further.
As Mair explains: “If our companies are to
compete with lower costs and offer novelty to

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