INDUSTRYNEWS
SPONSORED BY SECURITY HARDWARE
UK MANUFACTURING COMPANIES MISSING
OUT ON JAPANESE ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Surface Generation, an SME
composite manufacturer based
in the Midlands, believes that UK
manufacturers are missing out huge
opportunities in Japan resulting from
Abenomics – the plan of Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to shift
the country out of a two decade
deflationary slump.
Analysis by Surface Generation reveals
that the value of UK manufactured
exports to Japan in 2013 was around
16.5% lower than in 2012.
The company, which generates some
90% of its revenue from overseas,
says that around 25% of its annual
turnover in 2012 was generated in
Japan, but this year it could rise to a
third. Ben Halford, Chief Executive,
Surface Generation said: “Under its
restructuring, the Japanese government
has already spent around £60 billion on
public projects and it plans to spend a
further £30 billion in 2014. At the same
time, the Bank of Japan aims to double
the country’s monetary base within
two years, which should also fuel the
economy.
“Everyone gets excited about the export
prospects in emerging markets, but they
forget that Japan is still the third largest
economy in the world with a GDP twice
the size of the UK, and its GDP per person
is 10 times that of China. More British
manufacturers need to wake up to the
growing opportunities in Japan which is
coming out of its period of stagnation and
in many ways should be seen as a new
emerging market.”
Doorstep crime in focus during
National Consumer Week 2014
The Trading Standards Institute has
announced that National Consumer
Week (NCW) 2014 will start on Monday
3 November and year’s theme will
be doorstep crime - with a focus on
encouraging friends, neighbours and
carers to intervene when they suspect
vulnerable neighbours and relatives
are, or could become victim of doorstep
crime.
At the launch of Scams Awareness
Month in May, the TSI blog featured
a case study about a Cambridge man,
‘public video competition’
Chris Jones, who worked with other
family members to stop scammers from
contacting his father. By the time Chris
Jones and his siblings were able to stop
the detriment his father had already
lost £12,000. This is the type of outcome
TSI wants to encourage during National
Consumer Week.
TSI is organising a public video
competition with 90 second video entries
in which entrants will compete to most
effectively demonstrate how neighbours
and friends can prevent vulnerable
consumers from falling victim to do