The manufacturing sector gathered at Appris in Bradford on 20th February to celebrate British manufacturing, and listen to industry-leading keynote speakers on how their companies are Backing Britain. Non Made in Yorkshire members also had the opportunity to attend workshops on Content Creation, Best Practice events and the Made in Group Microsites.
The fourth Backing Britain event proved to be successful in Yorkshire last week as Made in Yorkshire members and fellow manufacturers gathered in one room to Back Britain. The event took place in Bradford at Appris training centre - specialising in the delivery of Engineering Manufacturing apprenticeships.
With access to three rooms in the training centre, one room gave guests the opportunity to network and access refreshments. Another room was used for the presentations held by the keynote speaker and the other for a series of workshops held by the MIY team.
Presentations began at 9 am, where the speakers had the opportunity to talk about what Backing Britain means to them and how being part of Made in Yorkshire has benefited them.
Guests heard from industry leaders: Apar Maheshwari Plant Director at Schneider Electric, Jamie Bentley CEO at The Stephenson Group and Richard Armour Head of Manufacturing at PPG Agricultural Coatings. As well as additional speakers Dean Coleman-Walker, Business Development Director at Appris and Charles Addison and Jonathon Taylor from the Made in Group.
Dean Coleman-Walker kicked off the speeches by welcoming guests to the company's facility and talking about the Backing Britain initiative, Dean said:
“I wanted to talk to you about what Backing Britain means to us, this is something that has been implemented for the past 50 years. I have brought along today two apprentices from a Made in Yorkshire member.
It is vital that we have a skilled workforce as engineering and manufacturing is a massive sector in this country.”
The presentation focused on the importance of apprentices in the workplace, especially when current leaders within the business leave, current apprentices are likely to run businesses in the future. Dean invited two female apprentices to talk at the event to highlight the gender imbalance in the manufacturing sector. He added:
“There is a serious gender imbalance in the UK. It is essential that we attract everyone to the industry and be as diverse as possible.”
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Jamie Bentley from the Stephenson Group took a different angle with his speech, highlighting that in order to Back Britain we must think on a global basis. Jamie said:
“We are Backing Britain because our factory and skilled workers are here. However, we live and work in a totally global environment and what I would like to do is share stories with you that show how we do this.”
The Stephenson Group was established over 50 years ago and has since opened up new markets with new creative chemistry and innovation.
Ric Armour from PPG, a global brand, spoke about why they are part of Made in Yorkshire and how this contributes towards Backing Britain. He said:
“We invest in the local community and apprenticeship schemes to invest in the future. PPG has just become a super site due to the recent £14 million investment. Though there are sites all over Europe, the Yorkshire branch has seen investment because we manufacture more efficiently and cheaper because of our workforce.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an SME or a global business, you will succeed by having skilled employees.”
After the presentation, non-member guests were invited to attend workshops with Made in Yorkshire’s Yasmin Banner, Joe Myko and Aneta Giedzinska on Content creation, the Microsite and Best Practice events. Members of Made in Yorkshire were invited on a factory tour around Appris premises.
The workshops which took place in the Arconic suite, saw the group of non-member guests split up into 3 groups. Each group then attended the given workshop for 10 minutes until they moved to the next workshop. The MIY team introduced themselves and what they do in their role before moving on to the workshop to learn about what the membership offers in terms of brand exposure, networking and an online presence.
Want to help Back Britain? Become a Made in Yorkshire member today, click on the link below to find out more.
https://madeinyorkshire.com/benefits