Hennik Group, publishers of The Manufacturer and organisers of The Manufacturer Top 100, has announced the launch of its latest initiative in support of UK manufacturing, an exclusive Manufacturing Directors' Scholarship in Association with Cranfield University.
The Hennik Group Manufacturing Directors’ Scholarship in association with Cranfield University supports and promotes strategic manufacturing leadership and capability by offering one full (excluding accommodation) scholarship – worth £10,000 – to any senior executive working in any sector of UK manufacturing and is named within the past four The Manufacturer Top 100 reports – 2014-2017.
Cranfield University’s Manufacturing Directors’ Programme is an executive development programme delivered over a six-month period, helping individuals to lead, shape and create sustained productivity, innovation, resilience and overall competitive advantage for their manufacturing businesses. It offers the opportunity to step outside your business to put new insight and fresh impetus back in.
Additionally, there are also three part-scholarships, each equivalent to 25% of the total fee (excluding accommodation) – worth £2,500 each. It’s worth noting that the cost of the Cranfield University’s Manufacturing Directors’ Programme is tax deductible.
This year’s Manufacturing Directors’ Programme runs from 27 April to September, and anyone interested in applying for this scholarship can email [email protected], attaching their current CV and covering letter.
Those nominated and named in The Manufacturer Top 100 2017 report will be eligible to apply for the 2018 Hennik Group Manufacturing Directors’ Scholarship in Association with Cranfield University.
Continuing Professional Development
The importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in today’s fast-moving, competitive industrial manufacturing environment can’t be overstated. The job landscape has changed beyond recognition in little more than two generations. The average time someone spends in each job has dropped significantly and currently stands at just 2.7 years per position, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). The days of 50-plus years being spent in one company may have passed, with less than half (47%) of people in employment said to be in non-permanent working arrangements, as opposed to full-time positions.
Setting this disruption aside, CPD is still a valuable undertaking and should form an integral part of everybody’s plans for career progression. Executives and directors, in particular, should be aware of how new knowledge can be gained and existing skills refreshed. Many of those in senior positions within manufacturing and engineering have considerable experience and a first-hand understanding of industry, but often without formally recognised qualifications or training documentation. What qualifications they may have could also have been obtained some years ago and are in need of updating.
Who is the programme for?
The Manufacturing Directors’ Programme is Cranfield University’s flagship manufacturing course for senior managers and directors who have direct responsibility or influence over manufacturing strategy and business performance. To Cranfield’s knowledge, it is currently the only manufacturing executive programme in the UK that combines strategy and leadership expertise from its world-leading business school, alongside the industrial prowess of manufacturing fellows that Cranfield is globally famed for.
Comprising three modules, coaching sessions and a strategy presentation, the programme design enables executives to learn and apply the latest in manufacturing leadership thinking to build their organisation’s capability. The approach can be summed up as: diagnose, build, develop and harness.
This programme will help executives:
- Develop a future manufacturing strategy
- Improve their leadership skills through coaching and review sessions
- Learn how to devise, develop, implement and lead agile manufacturing strategies for better performance
- Learn how to evaluate and understand the risks that are inherent in all the business decisions that you make
- Gain awareness of recent advances in data insights for responsive execution
- Learn how to apply Open Innovation principles and tools aimed at maximising the returns of innovation by integrating customers and suppliers in the process
Programme Director of the Manufacturing Directors’ Programme, Professor Harris Makatsoris explains: “A unique benefit of the programme is that participants have the opportunity to develop a breakthrough manufacturing strategy for their business that will be reviewed by our industry experts and peers. It’s like having a free strategic consultation built into the development programme. Furthermore, delegates will be taught a variety of tools and techniques currently available to address a multitude of challenges that accrue when developing manufacturing strategies.”
The Manufacturer Top 100
The Manufacturer Top 100 aims to change the image of manufacturing by recognising the best dynamic leaders, innovators and role models within the industry. Launched in 2014, the project aims to dispel the myths and change people’s perception of manufacturing. The Top 100 comprises of an annual report and event recognising an elite group of individuals identified as manufacturing champions. The report helps to provoke more widespread competitiveness within the sector, highlighting not only best practice but inspiring others to follow suit.
Shortlisted individuals are nominated by readers of The Manufacturer, the wider industrial community and the public, for their contributions in changing the face of industry; finding new markets; making marked investment in people, processes and customers; and for those making an impact disproportionate to their years.
Out of the winners 20 people are profiled in depth, to underline their outstanding contribution to the sector.
Nominations are currently open for The Manufacturer Top 100 2017 report – due to be unveiled in Liverpool on 15 November. Click here for more information.
