The Manufacturer MX Awards (TMMX) has been launched for another year, to recognise the remarkable achievements of some of the companies and individuals within UK manufacturing.
Organised by The Manufacturer in partnership with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), TMMX Awards are widely considered the gold standard in industry awards and are the only peer reviewed and judged programme of their kind for UK manufacturing.
The awards exist to encourage, benchmark and celebrate manufacturing excellence, with every stage of the programme providing value for participants, whatever their excellence maturity. With categories ranging from recognition in innovation and sustainability, through to supply chain, leadership and staff engagement, there are plenty of opportunities for UK businesses of all sizes and sectors to be recognised.
A look back at TMMX last year
Our UK manufacturers have experienced a significant amount of unrest over the past few years. World events beyond their control are still contributing to rising costs, supply chain headaches and the ongoing problems around labour shortages.
This industry also battles with something of an image issue. Wider society still has preconceived ideas about the sector and that manufacturing and engineering still takes place in the dirty, dangerous, smoke billowing factories. Therefore, many young people are unaware of the breadth of opportunity that exists in the sector, as well as the huge span of real world problems that manufacturing helps to solve. Like for example, the mission of decarbonising the planet.
There are currently around 70,000 live vacancies in the sector, with shortages expected to worsen, according to Make UK figures.
Despite this backdrop of concern and challenge, manufacturers are achieving amazing things. There has never been a better time to shine a light on industry success, and we want the sector to take the position it deserves, which is centre stage.
Be it world class examples of sustainable manufacturing or innovative products, right the way through to people management and wellbeing, we want the industry to shout about its successes.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
A new award category is being introduced this year. Our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion category is perfect for any business that puts these traits front and centre. Manufacturing has often been a white, able-bodied males’ industry, yet we’ve seen some fantastic examples across the industry where this mold is being broken.
Even if your business is only just getting started on this journey, in our newest category or in our existing ones, we urge you to put yourself forward. Our awards judges have a huge combined, aggregated knowledge and experience of the sector. They are eager to see examples of excellence, and are eager to share their ideas and suggestions with you.
Considering entering this year’s TMMX programme?
Grace Gilling, Managing Director, The Manufacturer shares her top tips for entering TMMX Awards.
- Review the categories – pick out areas that you have been focussing on over the last 18 months, or will be focussing on for the next 12. Although you might not be at the top of the category for your future business priorities – the peer-reviewed judging criteria will give you a solid framework for business improvement in this area, and taking part will allow you to benchmark against peers.
- Involve as many colleagues as possible to input in to the entries – firstly, many hands make light work! But most importantly, everyone involved in a project or area of the business should share their perspectives to make sure the key points are covered in the entry. It also means that everyone takes the valuable time to reflect on what’s been achieved, and where to focus going forward.
- Add the key dates to your diaries and understand what’s involved TMMX Awards is unique in that there is a second round of judging after your online submission. Depending on your category, in September judges will make a visit to your factory for an “evidence tour”, or you will attend a judging day and present to the team your evidence alongside a Q&A session. With over 80 second round judging sessions to schedule this is a big logistical challenge! Ensure you have all the dates for your categories in your diaries – we’ll let you know which slot you have booked as soon as we can after the shortlist announcement. Finally – add the 26&27 November in to your diaries / time to celebrate with your team at the gala dinner and ceremony, and attend Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit as VIP guests – you can’t miss it!
Hear why you should enter from the current reigning TMMX Awards winners
Yunex Traffic picked up three awards last year, including the prestigious Manufacturer of The Year Award. Thea Watts, Business Development Lead at Yunex Traffic has this to say:
TMMX Awards process is extremely rewarding. It’s no secret that a lot of time and effort goes into submitting an entry, but it allows you to reflect on the previous year’s achievements and highlights what we should be focusing on going forward.
The judges’ visits are good fun as it’s great to show off and share best practice with our industry peers. We had a lot of very useful and meaningful conversations and the feedback from judges was invaluable – well worth the time spent in preparation.
As for the evening itself, is was a real party. The air was buzzing, and everyone was so fantastic in congratulating all the winners. I’d recommend it, even if you haven’t submitted an entry. It’s great to see what others are striving towards and excelling at. Not to brag, but we won three awards.
To win Manufacturer of the Year was a total shock, but wow, what a lovely one! We are all still pinching ourselves. The awards are a consistent reminder that we are on the right path, but we should always be reviewing our processes and progress, checking in with our peers and looking forward – not back.
The awards are just so rewarding. If you get feedback from the judges – whether it be there and then or after the awards – implement those changes, as those suggestions have come from the best in the business. Finally, get yourself to that party and let’s all celebrate UK manufacturing!
Whirlpool UK Appliances was the winner of the Achieving Customer Value and People & Skills category in 2023. Ian Moverley Director, UK Communications & Government Relations, Whirlpool Corporation said:
Participating in TMMX Awards process was really straightforward, with the added bonus of placing a really critical lens over our business, uncovering lots of positives that we might not often talk about.
The awards allowed us to share the experience with our colleagues which helped instil a lot of pride in what they do and why they make a difference. The awards evening itself was a great experience; of course winning twice helped with that.
Winning awards for People & Skills as well as Achieving Customer Value helped to demonstrate that others have recognised the positive difference our colleagues make to our customers and that the investments in our employee experience matters. My advice for anyone thinking of entering this year is firstly go for it, the pride in just being shortlisted is really positive, let alone winning. It also helps demonstrate what you do to all your stakeholders. It’s well worth getting involved.
Druck, a Baker Hughes Business, was the joint winner of the Product Innovation and Design category last year. Claire Aitchison is Executive Operations Leader at Druck, and believes the whole process of entering is hugely beneficial for businesses:
Druck found the awards process a great mechanism for self-reflection. To pause and consider the answers to the questions in a category you are entering is a good tool for learning.
How often in a fast paced business world do we pause?
Where there were questions we honestly had to give ourselves lower scores for, it highlighted potential opportunities for improvement.
The awards evening is fun and a chance to unwind with colleagues and network with like-minded manufacturing teams. Winning felt great; an external validation that unbiased assessment saw strength and goodness in your business but win or lose, the process and the evening were a very positive experience.
For anyone thinking of entering I’d say, dive in. Follow the questions in your chosen category carefully and build up your evidence as a team to lead the judges through the story you want to present to demonstrate your excellence in the subject.
You can hear from our winners on the stages of this year’s Smart Manufacturing & Engineering Week, in the meantime, if you think your company would be a good fit for any of our award categories, then enter here.
We would love to see you at this year’s awards ceremony in Liverpool, taking place in November. The awards are the culminating event in our calendar, and finishes off The Manufacturer Live, which also includes the prestigious Manufactuing Leaders’ Summit, the annual gathering of top-tier industry visionaries, senior executives, decision-makers, and thought leaders within the manufacturing ecosystem.
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