Every September, judging teams fan out across the country to visit manufacturers who have been nominated for The Manufacturer MX Awards, in order to measure their claims of excellence against reality. Editorial director Nick Peters led the team that judged nominees for the World Class Manufacturing award.
My job as team moderator was essentially to drive the categories three judges around the country, keep them fed and watered, and pay their bar bills.
We were one of eight teams on the road during the month. Each company visited is subjected to the most rigorous inspection process of any awards systems in the sector – actually, as far as we know, the only inspection process.
Why does it matter? What we hear from the scores of companies who nominate themselves for these awards is that the judging offers external validation and benchmarking across the range of categories up for grabs – see the complete 2017 shortlist here.
Companies enter as much for this critical process, if not more so, than they do for the chance to stick a trophy in reception – not to mention the magnificent annual awards dinner! Reserve your seat here.
I regret I must be as silent as the grave on the actual judging process. The outcome is a strict secret until that glittering evening in November. But I can tell you that we visited some extraordinary companies, which all shared the same passion for innovation, engineering and continuous improvement. The judges and I were open-mouthed by what we were privileged to witness, which demonstrated the sheer brilliance of UK manufacturing at its best.
As I handed the hire car back, I was left with one overriding thought by judge Steven Barr, whose consultancy work with Hennik Edge is increasingly channelled through The Manufacturer Collaboratory: how brilliant would it be if these great companies could set an example to the rest of UK manufacturing by swapping ideas about best practice (so long as competition is not threatened), send key teams to go and learn from each other, and pass the ethos on.
Here endeth the lesson. Now let’s make it happen!
What is The Manufacturer MX Awards?
The Manufacturer MX Awards is an annual programme delivered by The Manufacturer, in association with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
With a combined heritage of more than 40 years, The Manufacturer MX Awards is the year’s biggest celebration of UK manufacturing, attracting more than 1,000 attendees.
This year’s programme has been supported by headline sponsor, Santander, and co-sponsor, Meggitt.
