Tag Archives: Economy

16 Oct 2013

In the current economic climate, when all the news we see is about job losses, decline and closures it’s easy to forget that the UK has some great success stories.

Take the UK aerospace sector. A recent article in the Engineer by Jon Excell and Stuart Nathan highlights the fact that the UK has the world’s second largest aerospace sector, yet no-one really seems to recognise it.

The UK aerospace sector has bucked the trend of the economic downturn and continues to grow. UK firms design and manufacture some of the most talked about feats of engineering and the UK aerospace industry is recognised internationally as being one of the best in the world.

15 Jul 2013

Although the current recession has created difficulties in business, PRV Engineering has spent the last year establishing a platform on which they can confidently support their ambitious plans- 2013 is about building for the future.

CEO Simon Jones has invested £1.25million in the company over that 12 month period, primarily to increase the size and capacity of the unit from 29,000 to 38,000 square feet. As part of the overall development, PRV Engineering have also installed a state of the art crane with a 10 tonne overhead capacity. “These are exciting time for us,” said Simon, who confirmed that PRV has also returned to the construction industry from which they retracted several years ago.

21 May 2012

Throughout Great Britain, and actually around the world, governments –both national and localised- have been seeking out signs of economic recovery and growth. Investors and legislators have been carefully watching all economic reports and indicators, interpreting data and attempting to provide assistance to companies and industries that show signs of strength. Thanks to PRV Engineering in New Inn, there are signs that manufacturing and engineering in the country are beginning to expand.

17 May 2012

When the country is looking for any signs of economic growth and stability, during the past few years those signs have been meagre, to say the least. Today, though, PRV Engineering has announced that due to considerable growth during the past two years that we will be expanding its capacities and operations, with the intent of creating up to thirty new jobs over the next few years.

11 Apr 2012

Keeping costs down is generally considered an important caveat of a healthy industry, but when it comes to industries such as the railroad system, there are more issues at stake than merely keeping the cost of tickets down. Safety in an age of threats, both foreign and domestic, as well as the high rate of copper theft that has been affecting the railway industry are just two examples of the issues that are affecting the commuter railway world.

The idea of cutting costs is certainly one that will be agreeable to a number of people, but the plan has to pass a number of criteria before it can be determined to be effective in the long run.

Anthony Smith, who is the Chief Executive of Passenger Focus, a watchdog group that has the interest of the riding public in mind, believes that there is certainly a need to have a more cost-effective railroad for the consumers, but he isn’t convinced yet that the simple act of cutting costs is going to have the right impact on the public at large.

He states, ‘How will it affect the way we travel? [The plan] need[s] to pass two tests: will passengers find the changes both affordable and acceptable?’ If consumers don’t find these cost cutting plans to be either, or preferably both, the long-term effects, such as reduced ridership, revenue, and more can have a greater bearing on those long-term costs that the government is aiming to save.

Regulations that will go into effect in the future under this cost cutting plan will also be a factor in impacting how the major companies deal with the shared costs of operating their rail lines. Some of the proposed regulations also indicate the potential for mismanagement and misuse, such as allowing individual operators to charge more for busier times. During the commuter rush hours, there are currently no provisions in place with this cost cutting plan to limit or cap the amount that can be charged for specific fare times.

However, it is important to note that while the government plan is to cut 3.5 billion pounds from the cost of operating the railway throughout the UK, as reported by The BBC, they are exploring all of the options available to them in order to ensure that they not only achieve the greatest cost savings, but that it also benefits the riding public as well. One final doomsday note comes from RMT general secretary Bob Crow who admonishes this proposed legislation, stating that it will return the industry to the days of disasters, such as Hatfield and Potters Bar.

The coming months of debate will highlight the full potential impact of this proposed cost cutting legislation.

29 Mar 2012

While the world continues to struggle with thin future employment prospects, the world of power generation in the UK is looking brighter every day (pun definitely intended).

Here’s a piece from The Telegraph detailing bleak job prospects for 2012, especially for young people, as corporations refuse to hire new staff.

There are many changes through regulations, requirements, and demand that are lining up to transcend the potential of energy production that had been imagined only a few short years ago. Countless people from around the country and around the world had been demanding that society take a closer look at the way it produces energy and find alternative solutions that could be more cost effective and, perhaps more importantly, safer for the environment and the consumer public at large.

The Catalyst That Changes Everything

Yet few individuals are truly willing to make changes when it comes to energy production until there is a breaking point. What has been good enough for a while will continue to be good enough. Then, suddenly, the global economy takes a hit, falters, and reels into a recession that it continues to struggle to climb out from under to this day. Energy, more specifically electricity, is one of those ‘luxuries’ that most of us have taken for granted for far too long.

Now we have to take a long, hard look at how we produce the electricity, how to transmit it effectively to a growing population, and how to do so with an ever-increasing demand for that energy.

Have a read of this article, also from The Telegraph, detailing how energy from swimming fish could be captured and fed into the national grid in order to power homes in the UK.

Welcome to the World of Engineering

This becomes the pivotal moment where engineering becomes crucial. For far too long the general public has either been taught that engineers are a luxury or individuals who are not worth nearly as much as they claim to be. Yet now society is beginning to realize the importance of engineers to make preparations, design plans for the future of energy production and transmission, and do so with that growing demand for power.

The energy production industry is seeking engineering minds that have the desire to work hard, be innovative, to think outside the box, and are willing to dive into the world of energy production. The industry leaders are not as concerned with experience within the field as they are with the transferable skills that each engineer would possess. The growing field of nuclear generation is merely one example of where these vital engineering minds are required.

Here’s a piece in The Engineer that discusses the bright future of Careers in the Energy Industry in more detail.

Wind turbines, most of which are housed offshore, are another example. Solar energy is yet another example of the sectors within energy production where the right engineers can put their experience and desire to make a difference to work in the world of energy for millions of consumers. With a wide open future, anything is possible.

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