Date: Thu 23rd October, 2008
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 70
An audience of manufacturers got up before the lark to hear four sparkling presentations on strategies to cope in the downturn, at Insider’s Manufacturing Breakfast in October 2008.
Lee Hopley, head of economic policy at event sponsor EEF, set the scene by saying North West manufacturers had outperformed the national and European averages on profitability and output, but that confidence was ebbing. “There is a role for the modern manufacturing sector in supporting recovery,” she said, “but there must be a focus on continuous improvement, cost reduction and investment.”
She also explained how EEF was lobbying government to secure a longer-term commitment on a strategy for taxation and to secure an affordable energy supply.
Andrew Jones, managing director of Klarius Group, kicked off the presentations by leading regional manufacturers. Something of a lean manufacturing guru, he described how productivity and performance targets had been achieved by giving team members ownership of problems and their solutions. Klarius has also invested in a Technical Centre at Cheadle in Staffordshire.
Mark Houlton of Optare described how his busbuilding business was achieving performance improvements thanks to a move to sub-assembly operations to supply partners, faster cycle times and better management of inventory.Phil Humphreys from Military Air Solutions at BAE Systems, finished with an overview of how the extensive supply chain in the North West works.
He explained how the North West is by far the most important region for BAE Systems in the UK, accounting for about half of its 35,000 UK employees. These include 9,300 skilled technical jobs, and 6,000 managerial and professional jobs. And for every ten jobs directly supported by BAE Systems in the North West another 13 are created in the supply chain.