This year, we celebrate five years of The Manufacturer Top 100, the annual programme that honours the individuals who help make UK manufacturing such an inspiring and resourceful sector. It has become a cornerstone of activities that celebrate the very best among us.
Grace Gilling, Managing Director of Hennik Research, publishers of The Manufacturer, explains how we will be marking this very special fifth anniversary.
We launched The Manufacturer Top 100 in 2014 after numerous studies identified a lack of role models in the sector as a key cause of the skills gap. By celebrating and publicising outstanding individuals, we wanted to encourage young people into the well-paid, richly rewarding careers that manufacturing offers.
What we didn’t quite anticipate was how The Manufacturer Top 100 would grow year by year into an elite alumnus community within the manufacturing sector.
How did this happen? It is all down to the characteristics that we seek from nominees, who are selected by our readership, or by their colleagues or customers. We offer five categories: Inspiring Leaders, Unsung Heroes, Drivers of Cultural Change, Young Pioneers and Investors in New Markets.
There is something for everyone there, from shop floor to top floor, but if I could identify a single characteristic, it is that successful nominees are those who have always gone the extra mile to help their teams, their companies, or their communities.
Selection is not automatic. We ask our highly-esteemed judging panel, drawn from heads of institutions and leading industry figures, to take several weeks to winnow down the hundreds of nominations into a stellar collection of one hundred outstanding individuals.
We then celebrate their achievement in two ways. We create a beautiful coffee table-style publication which profiles the individuals and the twenty standout selections whom we call the Top 100 Exemplars. This book is sent to primary and second schools, government ministers, institutions and The Manufacturer subscribers, and of course the companies who were involved in the process. It is also publicised throughout the year via The Manufacturer’s digital platforms and events, and the broader media.
We officially reveal the cohort and launch the publication at a special ceremony during our flagship Digital Manufacturing Week, this year taking place in Liverpool 13 – 16 November, where the Top 100 are invited to celebrate and be presented with a trophy.
The Top 500
This year the Top 100 community will grow to 500, and to mark the occasion we will present The Manufacturer Top 500 Hall of Fame during our Digital Manufacturing Week in Liverpool Exhibition Centre’s atrium, where over 6,000 visitors will pass across four days.
The launch of The Manufacturer Top 100 2018 and The Manufacturer Top 500 Hall of Fame will take place on the evening of the 14 November from 18.00 – 21.30, where the identities of this year’s winners, and the Hall of Famers, will be revealed and celebrated at a drinks reception. All previous Top 100 alumni will be invited to attend.
This community of Top 500 manufacturing professionals represents the very best in UK manufacturing, and in the coming weeks we will be surveying them to create an insightful research report which will also be released as part of the celebrations.
So do please join us at Digital Manufacturing Week to celebrate!
Who’s in the Top 100 community?
The Top 100 can only be nominated if they have an active role in a manufacturing company with operations in the UK. They can be nominated against one or more of the following criteria: An Inspiring Leader, Bold Investor in New Markets, Driver of Cultural Change, Unsung Hero, Young Pioneer.
The 2018 cohort will be revealed on 14 November, 2018.
You can view the current 400 here!
What does it mean to be a member of The Manufacturer Top 100?
The Manufacturer Top 100 has a vital role in achieving the change the sector desperately needs. We encourage Top 100 figures to use their achievements to raise the profile of manufacturing by taking part in at least two of the following:
- Nominate two individuals for The Manufacturer Top 100 2018
- Become a STEM ambassador
- Open your factory doors to schools, universities and the local community
- Employ an apprentice
- Join The Manufacturer’s Editorial Board
- Write an article for The Manufacturer or agree to be interviewed
- Host a stand at a career fair
- Join us at one of The Manufacturer’s events, or even better, take a speaking slot
On a personal level, being a member of The Manufacturer Top 100 means you are recognised for your outstanding achievements in manufacturing and profiled publicly in celebration, both in the printed publication and on the website, and in regional and business press.
The Top 100 individuals are presented with a trophy and their own copy of the report on the launch evening, they receive lifetime VIP passes to The Manufacturer Summit events, and the opportunity to win a Manufacturing Director’s Scholarship in association with Cranfield University.
What is Digital Manufacturing Week?
This year Digital Manufacturing Week returns to Liverpool 13-16 November and consists of four core events held at the Exhibition Centre on the banks of The Mersey, and over 10 additional satellite events across the city.
More than 6,000 senior figures from the manufacturing sector in the UK and worldwide are expected to attend events such as Smart Factory Expo, the Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit, and The Manufacturer MX Awards, the highpoint in the national manufacturing calendar.