Firms unite in Shropshire for MoD talks

More than 100 business bosses came together in Shrewsbury as the town hosted a major conference for companies interested in supplying equipment to the Ministry of Defence.

With more than 55 companies represented at the event, hosted by engineering giant Caterpillar at its Lancaster Road base in the town, the conference represented the biggest ever event that export body UKTI's defence arm has hosted outside London.

Various business bosses addressed the conference, as did county MPs Daniel Kawczynski and Philip Dunne, who is also the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology.

Mr Dunne told delegates that defence spending is set for a £164 billion fillip over the next 10 years, as a new Equipment Plan comes into force to end a period of constrained spending.

"People talk about budget cuts and that's true, but we are now at a point where we expect the equipment side to show growth going forward.

"There's a strong military reason also to encourage other countries to adopt similar equipment, as there's a lot of co-operation between forces – thee were 43 countries involved in Afghanistan – and what that might mean is the opportunity to piggy back on UK capabilities to find access to other markets.

"The MOD is open for business, and we are here to help British industry to develop its markets overseas."

Mr Kawczinski added: "I'm delighted more than 100 people were here today. The reason I'm so interested in exports is the while the economy is doing well, we have a trade deficit that will be £70 billion next year.

"Only countries with a trade surplus have a really good standard of living, but at the moment only one in five of our SMEs is exporting. If we can even get that to one in four, we could wipe out our trade deficit."

Caterpillar reconditions old engines to be pressed back into service at its Shrewsbury base, where it employs 350 people, and managing director Matt Bulley said: "We are a large employer in the town, and wherever Caterpillar operates across the globe we try to ensure we are a good partner to the local community which is why we wanted to host this event.

"Our ongoing work here is remanufacturing, where we receive used engines back into the facility. There's a high value in those used engines, we strip that down to every last nut and bolt, give it a thorough and controlled clean, and rebuild it to rigorous standards of remanufacturing."