By Jason Pitt CEO of the Made in Group
It's 2023, and we're more determined than ever to have a successful year and continue our mission of uniting British Industry, and I want you to have the success you deserve for captaining your respective ships through stormy waters.
The last few years have been incredibly testing, but in a Churchilian way I hope we all live up to the mantra of never giving up.
I approach the new year with tremendous optimism, and am inspired by resilience and innovation from the membership and how a large part of the community stayed connected through our events and publishing their stories on the platform.
I am also excited to share a new project we have in store for 2023 that will inspire, educate and raise your voice and your sector.
What's new in 2023?
Exciting things are happening in the manufacturing sector this year. The Made in Group has started a new monthly podcast called 'Your Finest Hour' and a Quarterly survey called Manufacturing Focus. Both of these activities are designed to raise the visibility of the manufacturing industry, as well as giving an insight into what is going on behind the scenes.
YOUR Finest Hour
A play on the iconic words of Winston Churchill, our new podcast will be filmed on the first Thursday of the month with three guests who will share their finest hour in their careers and share their knowledge and wisdom, which will then be distilled into video content.
The exclusive events are structured with two guests in the morning, lunch with sponsors and patrons, and our final filming begins early afternoon.
The event is restricted to 12 people each month. We will be reaching out to potential guests in the coming weeks.
All members can also support this project by supporting our main events calendar. In 2023 any member who attends 6 events or more will receive a FREE- limited edition ‘finest hour’ Tee Shirt inspired by the artist and UK Art Ambassador Mark Sloper.
Manufacturing in Focus
This is our new quarterly survey, written by contributing editor Jonny Williamson. The survey contains ten questions, with the first five being standardised and the second set of questions themed around our discussion topic of sustainability, people and skills, smart factories and international trade.
By creating this content, we can add to the voices that are feeding back to policymakers but, more importantly, provide our members with information and insight.
Each survey will be graphically enhanced and compiled in a visually appealing document. Every MP will be added to the mailing list to receive this document, so we aim for this to be an effective and consistent message that can, over time, help MPs and policy decision-makers understand the manufacturing sector's needs.
Whenever we've done a Westminster event or had success in lobbying, we've always had good feedback. People feel they have contributed to something more significant than the ordinary membership goals.
That said, lobbying whilst important collectively is not the top issue for most members. This is one of the reasons we wanted to create content that would be equally useful to the membership for their understanding of industry trends and insights.
Despite the perception that the manufacturing sector is adequately represented nationally, that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Representation is disproportionately in the hands of the OEM titans. We want to stimulate discussions and ideas around 'social yields' over time, and champion the private SMEs who often provide this long-term continuity, we want to give them back their voice. To put yourself forward as a guest speak at one of our events please email [email protected]