The House of Lords was the venue as the great and the good of the manufacturing sector braved the London Underground strikes, protest marches and inclement weather to come together for the official launch of TMMX Awards 2023.
Delivered by The Manufacturer in partnership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), The Manufacturer MX (TMMX) Awards have a combined heritage of over 50 years and are widely regarded as the gold standard in industry awards (and have even been described by one former winner as the Oscars of manufacturing).
TMMX Awards exist to encourage, benchmark and celebrate manufacturing excellence, with every stage of the programme providing value for participants, whatever their excellence maturity.
With a keynote from Lord Karan Bilimoria and contributions from across the sector, including current TMMX Awards Manufacturer of the Year, Gripple, the event marked the official opening for entries for this year’s awards, which will take place on 15 November in Liverpool. Enter today!
As the Founder of Cobra Beer, Lord Bilimoria has long promoted the virtues of the UK manufacturing sector and spoke about how vital it is to champion the innovative companies and individuals who help create, maintain and drive it forward. He said: “What’s wonderful is when we have this event every year, we bring the manufacturing community together. In my view, it’s always been an overlooked part of our economy.
“As a country we have neglected manufacturing and leaned towards services. As such manufacturing has dipped from providing 30% of GDP 50 years ago to 10% today. The good news is it still provides almost £200bn of output, two and a half million jobs and good wages.
“Over 50% of goods exported from this country comes from manufacturing. The sector accounts for 64% of all business research and development and 15% of UK investment. And we are still one of the top ten manufacturers in the world in absolute terms.
“The positives in today’s budget, from the manufacturing industry’s point of view, is that we have the investment in place. The 130% super deduction has been taken away, and it has been replaced with a 100% investment capability. We were fighting for this very hard at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the government listened.
“The bedrock for growth in this country should be our manufacturing industry. We’re still one of the largest manufacturers in the world, and most importantly, the quality of our manufacturing is really something to be proud of – from Cobra’s point of view, we have over 130 gold medals and the majority were awarded here in the UK.”
Offering a fascinating insight into what it takes to win a TMMX award, Gordon McRae, Special Projects Manager, Gripple, shared some of his company’s experiences of the awards process. “We were humbled and truly honoured to be nominated, and ultimately to win The Manufacturer of the Year award. It means such a lot to everybody in the business,” he said.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to The Manufacturer and the IMechE for running these awards. From our perspective, a key reason for entering is the learning journey you go on, and what we’ve discovered over the years is entering actually enables us to benchmark ourselves against the best businesses. The scoring system from the awards actually forms part of our digital transformation programme.
“The awards will challenge you, because they force you to really understand your business and processes. They are also a lot of fun and the learning that we had from the awards last year was truly exceptional.”
In addition to the awards, the event provided a showcase for The Manufacturer’s other 2023 activities, including Industrial Data Summit, Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit, Smart Factory Expo and the Top 100.
Taking place as part of Manufacturing & Engineering Week in June, the Top 100 awards is a collection of the sector’s most dynamic leaders and innovators, as nominated by The Manufacturer’s 265k-strong audience, the wider industrial community, and judged by our esteemed judging panel featuring leaders of industry, academic institutions and manufacturing associations. The programme celebrates its tenth anniversary this year and entries close on Friday 24 March. Nominate today.
The event also marked the official launch of The Manufacturer Opus, an annual report profiling the shortlisted and winning companies from The Manufacturer MX (Manufacturing Excellence) Awards. Distributed throughout the sector and to education, this free report takes a deep dive into what makes these incredible companies tick and the reasons behind their success.
“I think it was a really great opportunity to bring together people from all different sectors of manufacturing . Listening to Lord Bilimoria gave us some interesting insights on what challenges the sector faces as well as the importance of what we as a community can do to ensure that the sector continues to grow and drive forward opportunities throughout the entire country.
“The events team did a great job, and it gave us some invaluable time to network with people with a huge range of experience and expertise. The Manufacturer has started to create a really strong community and one we’re thankful to be a part of.”
Andy Napoleon Hill, ACIM Sales & Marketing Manager EMEA, Philadelphia Scientific UK
“It was fantastic to be part of the launch of The Manufacturer MX Awards 2023 at the House of Lords.
“From someone who personally works with many manufacturers, to hear speeches from Lord Bilimoria CBE and past winners and judges, that all held such passion for growing UK manufacturing was truly inspiring.
“The community that The Manufacturer has created, within the manufacturing industry and beyond, has provided networks and contacts that have helped me personally, and many UK manufacturers, and this again was the case at the 2023 event.
“The drive from so many to see manufacturing grow, and support growth in the UK economy, makes me proud to be involved in UK manufacturing.”
David Roddis Senior Advisor Digital Transformation, MTC
“I was delighted to be invited to and attend the launch of The Manufacturer MX Awards 2023. The House of Lords made for a wonderful setting, the event organisation was excellent and despite the London underground strikes and travel disruption on the day, it was great to find the event still so well attended.
This high attendance really is testament to both the renewed strength within the UK manufacturing sector and The Manufacturer’s position as a leading and respected voice within the manufacturing space.”
Paul Currie, Director, MPE
“Despite the challenging travel, the Manufacturer MX Awards 2023 launch event was a fantastic experience. Hosted by Lord Bilimoria CBE at the House of Lords, there were multiple interesting and insightful speeches that highlighted the success of British manufacturing. It was a pleasure to meet and engage with some of the best in manufacturing, alongside delicious afternoon tea and drinks at the pub after. The Manufacturer has done it again!”
Joshua Simpson, Apprentice & Adult Training, BMW Group
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