After a relaxing break over the Christmas period, the team here at Donwood Glass are hitting the ground running in 2017.

We’re finding that after the well-deserved downtime, January is, as always, a good opportunity for us to look to the year ahead and assess the outlook for the next 12 months. How the industry is set to perform is something we all need to seriously consider, as this is something that will affect us all.

More generally, the UK and North East manufacturing industry is looking strong which is fantastic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said manufacturing output increased by 1.3pc month-on-month in November 2016, indicating upwards trends.

Plus, the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 56.1 in December from 53.6 the month before. This means it reached a two year high as a figure above 50 indicates expansion.

It’s great to be starting 2017 on such a strong footing with trends going in the right direction, hopefully this will give organisations the boost they need to start the year with an upbeat attitude that will help drive business success.

Talking with customers, clients and suppliers we’re also finding people closer to home are taking an optimistic mind-set to 2017. In the glass trade press too, we’ve also seen a lot of businesses continuing to grow, expand and even mergers and acquisitions to aid further development. Considering the political landscape of the previous year, it’s very uplifting to read these good news stories.

Having confidence in the industry and approaching the year with a positive standpoint can count for a lot. Henry Ford even said “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right”. As an industry, we all have a responsibility for driving growth and output in order to benefit the wider sector, as well as ourselves, employees, suppliers and customers. Taking a bullish approach is better for business for everyone.

For us at Donwood, we have a lot of activity in the pipeline for 2017 and we hope it will allow us to build on the success of the last 12 months. With the addition of new technology and equipment, growth within the team and our new personnel block, we’re proud to say we’re in a strong position to continue have a positive impact and support the North East and UK economy.