The Manufacturer has started its search for the most inspirational individuals in manufacturing of 2016.
TM’s Top 100 project, now entering its third year, aims to provide a platform for the recognition of industry role models.
By publicising the commitment and enthusiasm of the talented individuals behind the great successes in manufacturing, TM hopes to help raise the bar for competitive best practice across the UK industrial base and inspire young people with a zest for business and engineering to pursue careers in manufacturing.
The lack of visible role models in manufacturing underlined by Professor John Perkins in his review of engineering skills still exists, to an extent the old perceptions still remain and despite the concept that manufacturing defines and continues to define the very fabric of our surroundings, many still consider it to be dirty, dangerous and dull.
Albeit slowly, the status quo is changing. The progress in raising the profile of manufacturing is neither automatic nor inevitable, however, our ambition is that The Manufacturer Top 100 is part of a step towards the ultimate goal.
Those outlined in each year’s report are catalysts for change in the sector. They strive for innovation, the newest technologies and pioneering business models. They acclimatise, pivot and plunge forward as markets and competition develop.
They are the driving force behind the UK manufacturing renaissance and to understand their journeys is to understand why it is truly exciting to be manufacturing in Britain.
2015
On the evening of November 25, as part of TM Live, the most inspirational figures in UK manufacturing gathered at The Manufacturer Top 100 2015 report launch to raise a glass of champagne to their outstanding contributions to the industry.
The support for last year’s event was unprecedented, with more than 250 guests from the manufacturing community coming together at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to sample British-sourced canapes and British sparkling wine.
Shortlisted candidates hailed from all over the country, from a range of sectors and occupied various roles in manufacturing.
In 2015, TM Top 100 report embraced a new category following several discussions with the judges, who highlighted a gap in the criteria for those facilitators who remain in the background but are nonetheless instrumental in engineering the success of those around them and the company as a whole.
From this, ‘The Unsung Hero’ category was born, recognising those individuals who are constants in the business, who relentlessly provide support and knowledge both upwards and downwards within the professional hierarchy.
2016
TM is once again scouring the length and breadth of the UK to find 100 of the greatest people working in manufacturing today; 100 unique stories of struggle, grit, determination and success against all the odds; personal tales of individuals helping to change popular perceptions of careers in manufacturing; and tales that act as shining examples to draw young people into the sector.
