Small island, big gains

AMJun19Features - iomac2
AMJun19Features - iomac2

With its rich engineering heritage, the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster continues to ensure that aerospace manufacturing remains at the heart of the Island’s economic vision. Adrian Moore, Chair of the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster reports.

The Isle of Man is a leading international business centre renowned for its innovation, professionalism and long-standing policy of positive engagement with international initiatives and standards. The Isle of Man has its own democratically elected parliament and judicial system. In addition, the Isle of Man has a stable and diverse economy, with advanced infrastructure, a financially rewarding business environment, and an enviable quality of life. The Isle of Man recognises that the most effective way to create a successful business environment is to engage with its stakeholders and form positive relationships with the private sector.

In terms of the kinds of incentives available to interest UK and European companies in investing and relocating, The Isle of Man has generous financial support for businesses and a clear and simple taxation regime giving a broad range of practical advantages to those who operate internationally; 0% Corporation Tax, world-class infrastructure, bandwidth and power resilience coupled with excellent data hosting facilities and extensive clustering of the aerospace and engineering supply chain.

Living on an island: The Isle of Man offers an excellent quality of life

Relocation is a big commitment for any business or individual to undertake but the rewards can be great, especially if you are moving to the Isle of Man. The island offers an excellent quality of life: residents enjoy relatively short commuting times, low personal taxes and one of the lowest crime rates in the British Isles making it an ideal place for families and for those seeking a safe environment in which to live and work.

Any aerospace or precision engineering company needs to ensure that the infrastructure is aligned with their needs and ideally have a cluster of companies around them to support their operations. The Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster was formed in 2006 to support the existing local industry which has thrived here for over 70 years. With companies such as Triumph Actuations Systems, The RLC Group, Swagelok and Expleo at the heart of the cluster the foundations for innovation and growth are historic but also progressive and ambitious.

Going for growth

The current growth targets for the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster indicate that we will need even more delivery partners going forward. We are strategically aligned to every major civil and military aerospace programme in the world which means with the growing build rates there are opportunities for supply chain companies to set up on the island to support not just the 20 cluster member companies but also over 200 other manufacturing businesses based here.

The IOM Aerospace Cluster partnership with the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) goes back to the formation of the Cluster in 2006. This long-term partnership helps us to work to represent the interests of our members; supporting them in growing and developing their businesses not just in the Isle of Man, but across the UK and beyond. Through this relationship we can ensure our members gain access to one of the most influential ‘aerospace hotspots’ in the UK. We collectively support our members through the delivery of a range of Business Improvement, Skills and Technical Programmes as well as marketing, exhibitions and cluster co-ordination.

Manx Precision Optics accessed FAS in the form of a grant to assist in the purchase of a new coating chamber

In being able to respond to the OEM’s demand signals for new and advanced technological innovations in the future, the Isle of Man Government’s Department for Enterprise (DfE)’s Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), in the form of a grant, allows companies to invest in new technology and production methods. An example of this Manx Precision Optics (MPO) accessed FAS in the form of a grant to assist in the purchase of a new coating chamber. This not only doubled the company's coating capacity but added new technical capabilities and was an investment of over £500K. Some of the company's specific areas of expertise are in the manufacture of high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) coatings, specifically for use in ultrafast lasers.

The funding and support schemes are kept under continuous review and if required can be amended within a very short period (2-4 weeks) to ensure businesses are supported.

Train to gain

An overarching issue for the whole UK and IOM engineering sector is that we still need to attract more young people and to get them to consider a career in manufacturing and engineering. The Awareness of Careers in Engineering (ACE) programme started eight years ago within the Cluster. In partnership with University College Isle of Man, the Chamber of Commerce and the sector companies, we have been educating pupils, students, teachers and parents regarding the extensive range of job prospects available in engineering on the Isle of Man. This programme has been so successful that four years ago the Isle of Man Government invested £5 million in upgraded engineering training facilities, with improved factory-like environments and expanded capacity to train more students to a higher standard than ever before. We are now better prepared than ever to take on the growing order books and to develop and diversify our capability for the future.

In 2019 we will launch Isle of Man Airport Technology Gateway (ATG) which is an IOM Government-led initiative to regenerate and provide a world-class landing zone for inward investment for technology business. This will be a parkland-style enterprise zone within the airport surrounds, with existing aerospace and high-tech companies and new plots available for development across three zones. ATG will make investing in and doing business from the Isle of Man to the rest of the world even easier for aerospace and technology companies.

www.aerospace.co.im

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