Date: Wed 4th November, 2009
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 70
Just under 70 business people turned up at the Wolverhampton Science park Midlands Business Insider’s latest forum, debating the future of manufacturing in the region.
They heard a lively question and answer-based discussion chaired by Insider editor Andy Coyne and featuring Bromford Industries chairman John Hudson OBE and Simon Griffiths, chairman of the Manufacturing Advisory Service, West Midlands (MAS-WM), among others.
The debate ranged from the impact of the recession on the region’s manufacturers to public sector initiatives and a worrying trend amongst companies to put research and development on the back burned during difficult times.
Jane Lodge, partner and Midlands manufacturing industry leader, at accountancy firm Deloitte in Birmingham, told the audience that the underlying problem remained a lack of access to finance and credit insurance.
“There are 19,000 SMEs in the Midlands and they rely on credit insurance and to being able to access that type of finance. You hear horror stories of credit insurers withdrawing overnight. A number of the credit insurers were foreign owned and have withdrawn from the market,” she said.
Hudson said that a mistake many firms make is to not build up reserves.
“Over distribution of profits and not building up reserves is a problem,” he said. “In Germany they build up their reserves and don’t distribute it so in a downturn it affects us a lot more.”
Talking about publics sector initiatives, Griffiths said: “The biggest programme that we’ve got at the moment is the £4.5m Automotive Response Fund. That has seen some very significant results. That is open to everyone from the smallest companies to the Jaguar Land Rovers of this world.”
Jason Aldridge, a director of Coventry-based aerospace company Arrowsmith Engineering, said he expects the difficult operating environment to continue and sees his sector changing shape.
“There is going to be demand for aerospace products but it will be an increasingly international marketplace. We now have worldwide competition so we have got to raise our level,” he said.
“I think it will be a very hard 12 months. It is important to diversify but you can’t just do it. You need a five year plan.”
Read the full debate in the December issue of Midlands Business Insider.
