Since the Made in Group was set up more than ten years ago, our key focus is on developing the interests of the manufacturing sector and helping to digitalise industry marketing via our digital platform and microsite as well as through in-person networking.
We began the company during the 2009 recession as an editorial campaign. As you will see from our recent questionnaire, we are also busy formulating a response to the government which we will be submitting the All-Party Group for Manufacturing this week. If you have not already submitted your answers to this, please complete using our private survey.
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Our office is fully working from home for the remainder of March but contactable on all of our channels.
We have asked all of our colleagues to work around the clock and outside of normal hours to support the group and we're really proud to have assembled such a diligent and hard working team to support UK manufacturing. If there are any ways we can support you other than what has been said in this letter, please reach out to us, if we can’t help directly, then we may know someone who can.
VIRTUAL COUNCIL MEETING
The Made in Yorkshire council and Made in the Midlands advisory board members will be receiving invitations this week to participate in a video conference, this is aimed at sharing knowledge and ideas, in turn, to disseminate to the broader community.
The ideas that are drawn from these meetings are powerful and we can facilitate the meeting using our software meaning that participants can attend the meeting even from home.
OUR COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
Yasmin in our editorial team has a specific project to reach out to manufacturing companies and other trade associations in countries such as Taiwan who we believe are handling the crisis better than others. So far, we have made contact with ten companies and are awaiting interview dates. We will disseminate the information from these interviews to members.
Alessandro is a digital marketing specialist with expertise in data research, we have tasked him with developing our industry questionnaire in response to COVID-19 and lobbying the All Party Manufacturing Group and all of the MPs in that group to support British industry more strongly.
OTHER COMMUNICATIONS
As you will see from the online platform there is plenty of news and advice on Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire regarding COVID-19 and its impact on business. We are also publishing more frequently on our social channels. The idea being to give you the most amount of relevant knowledge and best practices of how other firms are handling the issue to give you the best chance of making good decisions.
MADE IN YORKSHIRE EVENTS
We are postponing our breakfast mornings until the exhibition on the 21st of May. We are confident that any lockdown measures will be temporary and with sufficient extra steps, we will go ahead.
DIGITAL EVENTS & CONTACTLESS NETWORKING
We are burning the midnight oil developing video conferencing into the backend of the Made platform. Usually, a project that would take months we believe we are only a matter of days from being able to relate this.
We are exploring the possibility of creating virtual events online and also significant enhancements to the microsite to make this more effective as a remote working tool. We have held a number of meetings this week with members and potential new members and the benefits of spending some time with motivated company leaders in this format has been noticed by both parties. In an environment where so much is being responsibly shut down or cancelled, we are proud to state that we will be able to deliver quality industry networking events from your kitchen table.
YOUR MICROSITE
We have had not surprisingly an increase in visitors to the Made platform, it is important that in your user admin area you update all of the content, ensure you have what you buy and sell completed and all other information up to date. Feel free to reach out to other members at this time for collaborative opportunities and help. If you feel we can directly connect or facilitate a meeting then please let us know.
The Made team are on hand to deal with any of your questions; please contact us via online chat, email or phone. Thank you for your continued loyalty to Made in Yorkshire, without which we couldn’t support our members and maintain a strong presence during these difficult times.
FUTURE
While we go through this massive challenge, we need to maintain calm heads and also spend a few moments looking at where we will be six months from now. The companies that emerge from this will do so by being agile, not panicking but being prepared. No matter how bad it appears or gets this current situation will not last forever.
Yours sincerely
Jason Pit