R&D JANUARY 2018
THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL
IMAGES SIMON JONES
The fi fth annual Manufacturing Champions Awards saw the
best of UK industry come together to celebrate the teams and
individuals who make the nation’s manufacturing world-class
A typically rainy December day in
Manchester didn’t stop nearly 200 of
the UK’s leading manufacturers braving
the weather to attend the fi fth annual
Manufacturing Champions Awards at
the city’s historic Midland Hotel.
With the strongest fi eld of entries in the event’s
history, the tension in the room was palpable
as this year’s shortlist waited to discover the
winners. Already, October’s judging day had
been too close to call, with several of the eight
categories up for grabs coming down to the wire.
Once again, the entries covered all four corners
of the UK, and every conceivable industry
sector – from shoemakers to breweries, and from
aerospace suppliers to sausage skin makers. Ahead
of what promises to be a turbulent 12 months,
there was an air of defi ance about the day: yes, UK
manufacturing is a great industry to work in, and
one that the whole country,
not just those who are part of
it, should be proud of.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the
case, said MM editor, Chris
Beck, who warned of the level of
apathy that UK manufacturing
faces. Pointing to a recent
EEF report, entitled Why does
manufacturing matter to the
British public?, Beck highlighted
the worrying fact that public
opinion of the industry is
severely lacking.
“As we hopefully all know,
the UK is the ninth biggest
manufacturing nation in the
world,” he told the room. “We
produce $244 billion of output
per year, only just behind France
and Italy in seventh and eighth
places respectively. And yet,
the public perception of UK
manufacturing? 56th. That’s the
position actually occupied by…
Kazakhstan. We’ve been 11th or
higher for the past decade, but
only 13% put us in the top 10.”
This contrasts to the fact that
the public see manufacturing
as a trusted, forward-thinking
industry, ranking highly for
AI adoption, the ability to
counteract climate change and
develop new ways to transport
goods and materials.
“On the one hand, the
public perception of UK
manufacturing is more on-point
than maybe we thought,” said
Beck. “It’s rightly seen as a
progressive, high-tech industry
that provides jobs and is welltrusted.
However, it clearly still
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