Second Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster Workshop opens up opportunities for local firms

Representatives of the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster (IOMAC) recently attended the second supply chain workshop led by the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) at the International Business School and learned of potential exciting new opportunities in emerging markets as well as benefiting from other developments and activities.

NWAA highlighted the opportunities for new contracts with significant news on their new regional office in China which the Isle of Man cluster will be able to participate in, plus their links to India and its rapidly growing aerospace sector.

Other significant progress was made in the following areas:

• IOMAC entered into an agreement with Castrol UK for the supply of oil products
• The Awareness of Careers in Engineering (ACE) project, which is rejuvenating interest and employment of local skilled and enthused people into the engineering and manufacturing sector
• The development of a new Isle of Man aerospace apprenticeship scheme which will see IOMAC member companies working together to provide high quality structured training programmes, tailored to the needs of 21st century advanced manufacturing.
• • Skills Capacity Modelling which will assist the forward planning for the sector and the skills required to support it in the future.

Richard Williams, Director of Civil Autonomous Systems with BAE Systems, was in attendance at the workshop and declared himself very impressed with the Cluster and its capabilities and was keen to discuss the opportunities for BAE systems and IOMAC in the coming months.

Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon David Cretney MHK, commented,

“My Department is committed to strengthening manufacturing in the Isle of Man so I am delighted that the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster is proving to be of tangible benefit to the aerospace sector. It’s also encouraging that our sector colleagues in North West England are recognising this good work and consider Isle of Man firms as an increasingly important part of the supply chain.”

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