Manufacturing Technologies AssociationTranslation site

The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA), formerly known as the Machine Tool Trades Association (MTTA) established in 1919, is the UK’s leading trade association representing the manufacturing technologies industry, sitting at the core of the country’s engineering-based manufacturing sector.

Core Positioning & Membership

It serves as a key bridge between the UK government (including the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, CBI, and UK Trade & Investment) and the manufacturing industry, with its membership open to UK-based companies involved in manufacturing technologies production and end users of such technology, currently covering around 240 member enterprises.

Its remit spans the full manufacturing technology ecosystem, including metalcutting, metalforming, automation and robotics, CAD/CAM, engineering lasers, measurement and inspection, tooling and workholding, welding and metal fabrication, and rapid manufacturing/prototyping.

Key Activities

1. Industry Advocacy & Intelligence: It lobbies for favorable policies for the engineering manufacturing sector, maintains close contact with government bodies, and provides members with targeted industry intelligence, economic health statistics for the British manufacturing market, and a member & product directory organized by geographic location.
2. Talent Development: It drives workforce upskilling by funding and supporting workplace training and education initiatives in schools, colleges and universities to cultivate talent for the advanced engineering sector.
3. Exhibition Organization: MTA owns and organizes MACH, the UK’s only major biennial manufacturing technologies exhibition held at the NEC in April, which gathers global leading enterprises and professional audiences to showcase cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. The 2012 edition marked the event’s 100-year anniversary, with the 2010 show attracting over 1,000 exhibitors from 30+ countries and nearly 100,000 professional visitors across 60,000 square meters of exhibition space.
4. International Cooperation: It operates as a semi-official industry body (functioning similarly to a trade union) that undertakes government-commissioned work such as industry statistics collection, standard formulation, and training program delivery, while receiving tax and project support from the UK government. It also provides secretariat services to the Federation of British Hand Tool Manufacturers (FBHTM) and the MTA Tooling Group (formerly the British Hard Metal and Engineers’ Cutting Tools Association).

Global Presence

MTA’s headquarters is located on Bayswater Road next to Lancaster Gate tube station in London. It has expanded its global service network, opening a Beijing office in 1995 as its sole representative body in China to promote UK advanced manufacturing technologies to Chinese enterprises and facilitate two-way cooperation between Chinese and British manufacturing firms.