Made Mastermind held their fortnightly virtual panel discussion where members discussed business in the current climate, apprentices and current problems with the supply chain.
13 members of the Made Mastermind gathered on a Zoom meeting today to discuss current business issues and how they can overcome these. Those present at the discussion were Claire Robinson from Wrekin Sheet Metal, Edward James from Citizen Machinery, Garth Christie from Hazel 4D, Stephen Hemming from Liberty Pressings, Susan Marlow from Microminister, Paul Hodgetts from In-comm, Nick Godfrey from Central Scanning, Charles Boneham from Boneham & Turner, Paul Clark from Atlas Copco, Andrew Eastwood from Carrs Tool Steel along with hosts Jason Pitt and Charles Addison from the Made in Group.
The general outcome of the discussion was that whilst some members are struggling to bring in sales and therefore have had to make some staff redundant, others are seeing growth due to adapting to changing times and sales picking back up.
However, members agreed that the reason why some businesses are seeing growth and others aren't is due to the sectors they supply to. For example, whilst automotive stills seems to be stagnant, industries such as oil and gas are seeing normality return.
In addition to this members who have invested in their company in some way, whether that be increasing capabilities by buying new machinery or investing in marketing efforts, are seeing the most growth. Whilst the pandemic is still having some effect on the speed of these implementations, these firms are seeing business carry on as usual as a result of an investment.
Members also discussed where apprentices come into all of this because of the effects the pandemic has had on manufacturing and engineering businesses. One member mentioned that whilst things are picking back up in terms of new training providers and apprentices going in for training, some students are concerned that there may not be many job opportunities following the pandemic.
Finally whilst members have noticed the supply chains moving faster than when lockdown began in the UK, 23rd March 2020, there are still some disruptions with goods going missing and not arriving at all.
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