Redditch manufacturers launch MANifesto as wait for Industrial Strategy goes on

Two Redditch industrial specialists have joined forces with six other SME manufacturers to launch their own MANifesto to address the ongoing lack of a coherent industrial strategy in the UK.

CNC machining experts Muller Holdings and tube bender James Lister & Sons, both of whom are part of the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN), have responded to the Government’s faltering strategic vision for industry by delivering their own blueprint for making the country globally competitive.

Bosses at the two firms believe the four pillars of Investment, People, International Trade and Sustainability & Net Zero should form the overarching approach and will form the guiding principles for the individual businesses inside the eight-strong collective.

They’re now calling on the powers in Whitehall to do their bit to facilitate growth by providing tailored support and in removing some of the bureaucratic barriers currently in place.

Adam Cunningham, Managing Director of Muller Holdings, commented: “UK manufacturing has come through Brexit and Covid-19 in remarkably good shape, but this is more to do with our innovation, our technical expertise and our quality than it has to do with a clear Industrial Strategy.

“We got tired of waiting for Government to develop a vision like they benefit from in other countries, so decided to create our own MANifesto that will guide the future development of the eight firms in the MAN group and, in our opinion, the sector as a whole.”

He continued: “These four pillars have been developed in partnership with members and focus on People (developing skills, attracting the next generation of engineers and ensuring safe and supportive workplaces) and boosting International Trade through easier access to funded export support, a Government commitment to boost reshoring and ringfencing infrastructure spend so the UK benefits.”

The third pillar of the MANifesto is a commitment to Investment, and this covers specialist assistance to accelerate automation, digitalisation and technology, not to mention more funding support for R&D/product development and dedicated assistance to aid energy-intensive industries to upgrade equipment.

Sustainability and Net Zero is the final element of the vision and arguably the biggest talking point in business at the moment.

There are two main strands to this pillar, including supporting UK manufacturing to commercialise greener products and technologies and the potential for a specialist fund to make factories more sustainable and to accelerate decarbonisation.

Peter Davies, CEO of James Lister & Sons and Co-Chair of the MAN Group, said: “This isn’t eight manufacturers coming out with a begging bowl for Government to fill, in fact it’s the opposite.

“We believe the MANifesto outlines clear, short and long-term objectives and many of these we can achieve on our own. We’re just asking for a level playing field to compete on and some simple enablers to ensure our competitiveness.

“In fact, we’d love nothing more than Ministers to get in touch and work with us on developing some of our pillars into something more sustainable for industry as a whole.”