Manufacturing Technologies Association

The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) is a UK trade association representing the manufacturing technologies industry. The MTA sits at the core of the engineering based manufacturing sector and as an association works tirelessly to ensure member companies are as commercially successful as possible.

The association's key activities include: - Representing engineering based manufacturing and supporting the advanced engineering sector through lobbying, media contact and networking. - Providing relevant and specific industry intelligence - Encouraging talent through funding and support for workplace training and education initiatives in schools, colleges and universities. - Delivering the UK's only major exhibition focused on manufacturing technologies – MACH (owned and organised by the MTA)

Membership of the MTA is open to companies involved with the manufacturing technologies sector and end users of such technology.

Function

The MTA represents UK companies, their associates and affiliates who drive UK manufacturing technology, innovation and quality.

M.T.A. (song)

"M.T.A.", often called "The MTA Song", is a 1949 song by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes. Known informally as "Charlie on the MTA", the song's lyrics tell an absurd tale of a man named Charlie trapped on Boston's subway system, until 1964 known as the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). The song was originally recorded as a mayoral campaign song for Progressive Party candidate Walter A. O'Brien. A version of the song with the candidate's name changed became a 1959 hit when recorded and released by the Kingston Trio, an American folk singing group.

The song has become so entrenched in Boston lore that the Boston-area transit authority named its electronic card-based fare collection system the "CharlieCard" as a tribute to this song. The transit organization, now called the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), held a dedication ceremony for the card system in 2004 which featured a performance of the song by the Kingston Trio and then-governor Mitt Romney.