Category Archives: Press Releases

Press Releases

Engineers Sit at Top Table in FTSE Companies

Engineers are not widely recognised as business leaders yet new research commissioned for the Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society (SMF) reveals that engineers are now represented on the boards of almost 60% of FTSE100 companies. The research, conducted by EngineeringUK, also showed that almost 15% of FTSE100 executive board members have an engineering degree. This increases the diversity of skills on the board.

SMF, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, helps UK engineers develop into industry leaders by providing MBA scholarships that equip them with the skills to take board positions.

In 1987, Lord Sainsbury, one of the UK’s leading philanthropists, created the Sainsbury Management Fellowship Scheme to increase the quantity and quality of senior executives with engineering qualifications at the top of UK organisations. SMF now has 300 Fellows, including directors and c-level executives at major organisations such as DTZ, Deutsche Bank, AECOM Europe and Jersey Electricity.

David Falzani, President of The Sainsbury Management Fellows explained SMFs’ work: “Every year SMF awards 10 scholarships to talented young engineers to study at world class business schools. Today, sixty of these Fellows have built successful businesses in heavy engineering and manufacturing, biotechnology, green technology, wireless/telecoms and internet sectors. Other Fellows hold senior management posts and multiple non executive directorships. One hundred of them work for FTSE companies, and 15 are directors of FTSE 100 companies.

“This is an excellent start, however, we must continue to build on this number to ensure that more engineers sit at board tables and make key decisions. Engineers with management and business qualifications offer businesses an invaluable blend of skills. They make a real difference to the performance of companies and help our economy to grow.”

At the recent annual dinner of The Sainsbury Management Fellows, Lord Sainsbury said: “Science and technology are vital to the country’s economic future. The Government is now strongly supporting the setting up of University Technical Colleges. Also, as a result of the setting up of the STEM ambassadors scheme, the STEM Clubs, the Big Bang Fair and the revival of GCSE triple science in England, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of young people doing ‘A’ level STEM subjects. Between 2006 and 2011 we have seen an increase of 17% for the biological sciences, 25% for chemistry, 3% for physics, 52% for mathematics and 75% for Further Mathematics. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of young people doing Triple Science went 43,000 to 134,000.”

At the Annual Dinner, the President also announced that the Charity Commission had just confirmed SMFs’ status as a registered charity. Falzani said: “SMFs’ vision remains the same; to promote and demonstrate the value of a combined business and engineering education to improve the performance of the UK economy. We will do this by promoting continuing business education for those in the engineering profession; creating and operating a charitable fund to help support their continuing education; and developing a network of engineers who illustrate the merits of such education for the public benefit.”

Press Releases

Are HR Bosses Right to Lack Confidence in Engineers at Board Level?

Only 66% of HR directors believe engineers possess the necessary skills and attributes to make a valuable contribution on a board of management, according to a new study being debated by an organisation set up to develop engineers as leaders in UK industry.

The research was carried out by Sainsbury’s Management Fellows (SMF), a not-for-profit organisation that enables UK engineers to acquire the knowledge and skills to make the transition from a technical to a senior management role. SMF, which provides talented engineers with a £30,000 MBA bursary to achieve board level status, interviewed 100 FTSE250 HR directors to get their views on the importance of input from engineers at a senior level. The results show a lack of confidence in professionals who do not have legal, financial or marketing backgrounds or experience.

SMF’s survey showed that the career backgrounds most valued in the boardroom are accountancy, sales, marketing, HR and legal, with professional engineering coming way down the scale. Yet when asked if professional engineers with MBAs are suitably qualified for board positions, 80% of the HR directors agreed that they are.

SMF President, David Falzani, comments: “Engineers, by their very nature, have a wide range of skills that offer so much more than just technical knowledge including problem-solving and the ability to oversee complex project management tasks. Engineers who undertake MBAs through our scheme assist businesses to minimise risk and make them more profitable. The findings from our report show there is a still a long way to go in convincing UK industry that engineers have what it takes to make it to the board and many excellent candidates are being overlooked simply because they are not from a legal or financial background.”

SMFs’ view on the importance of a varied skill set on a board including engineers is backed up by the Institute of Directors (IoD), which believes a strong board extends beyond gender diversity, and is one that welcomes people from all walks of life.

With over 250,000 engineers employed in the UK, it is important that organisations utilise their skills and knowledge and that HR managers are aware of the benefits of including engineers in decision making. To help, SMF has published the findings of the survey in a booklet for HR professionals which encourages them to consider the role of professional engineers on the board. The booklet includes a skills matrix to assist in the assessment of an organisation’s needs and how a business-qualified, professional engineer can add to the effectiveness of a board.

The survey also uncovered some promising statistics for the future; 86% of those asked were open minded about recruiting directors with non-financial or legal backgrounds and where engineers have MBA qualifications and business experience, 80% of HR directors felt reassured that engineers had the skills worthy of a place in the boardroom.

David Falzani comments: “Historically, engineers have not been seen as a natural choice for the boards of blue chip organisations. But this research shows recruiters are discovering that once they gain legal, financial, and marketing training, they have a vital contribution to make.”

The booklet – Re-engineering the Board to Manage Risk and Maximise Growth – for HR professionals can be downloaded here. ADD LINK
 

Press Releases

US Firm Acquires Irish Start-up

US sleep therapy group ResMed has acquired Irish start-up BiancaMed in a multi-million euro cash deal. The University College Dublin spin-out has developed a sensitive motion sensor that can detect movement and respiration without being connected to the body and then convert the data into measurement of sleep and breathing patterns.

A major application for such technology is in the diagnosis of sleep apnoea – where breathing is interrupted during sleep.

The companies will not disclose the value of the deal but venture capital group Seventure, which led a €6 million fundraising for BiancaMed in July 2009, said it had made an excellent return on its investment.

Altogether, BiancaMed has raised €11 million since it was founded in 2003 to commercialise research from UCD’s School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering.

ResMed, which is a major player in the global market for therapies for sleep apnoea, was an early investor. Other investors are Enterprise Ireland, UCD, InvestNI and venture capital group DFJ ePlanet Capital.

The US group does not currently have a “contact-free” means of diagnosing the condition, with most monitoring requiring electrodes and chest bands. The BiancaMed technology is seen as considerably less intrusive, cost effective and convenient.

BiancaMed expects to launch its first product – a sleep monitor for adults – over the next year, initially in Asia and the United States. It is also developing a monitor for infants

The technology is also being trialled at Vincent’s Hospital for patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

The trial, which monitors patients at home for sudden weight gain, a factor that can signal a problem then sends the data to the hospital via mobile phone. The hope is that the technology will be able to cut hospital readmissions significantly.

BiancaMed co-founder Conor Hanley said ResMed was particularly excited by the potential for the technology in the area of congestive heart failure. ResMed has recently restructured its management roles specifically to target this area.

Founding directors Dr Hanley, Dr Philip de Chazal and Prof Conor Heneghan are among those to benefit from the sale of the company.

Dr Hanley said all three would remain with the company under its new owners, who have committed to retaining, and hopefully, adding to its Irish presence. The company is based at UCD’s NovaUCD incubator centre.

Dr Conor Hanley is a Sainsbury Management Fellow.

Press Releases

The Vital Ingredient in Creating a New Brand of Crisps – An Engineer?

When the opportunity came along to develop a local crisp I jumped at the chance. The client, Quex Foods, manages 2,000 acres in Kent. After years of supplying the multiples they wanted higher value add products and suspected that crisps could do the trick.

How would you have proceeded? Would you perchance come up with a few flavours, make some initial samples and try them in the market?

In the beginning, before the mid 20th century, manufacturing technology developed products at never before seen quality and cost. This facilitated the “if you build it they will come” philosophy of building stock then worrying about selling it.

In today’s consumer brand driven market place the exact opposite is true. The critical success factors of products are the emotional and communicative elements of the offering rather than the tangibles. New products need a strategy to build emotional resonance between the potential users and the new product’s values.

In these markets, manufacturing and supply are commodities without significant competitive advantage.
The product design process (which I call marketing) is complex and includes both emotional and functional components: core values were defined, a list of marketing concepts were devised such as ‘traditional’, ‘home made’, ‘nature’, ‘super premium’, ‘alternative’ and ‘landmarks’. Each had a set of messages and visual translations e.g. black & white rural scenes, ribbon tied Gingham check, wildlife shots, and Kentish icons such as the white cliffs of Dover.

Concurrently, food trends, retail channels, and Kent associations were examined. A similar process focused on the brand name, tag line, and the choice of initial flavours.

The resulting bundles were then tested with target consumers. The ‘New Coke’ debacle in the 80s demonstrated the dangers of directly asking consumers what they most like. Instead, such testing can only attempt to fire shots across the bows of the decision making process.

75% of UK sales are cheese & onion, ready salted, and salt & vinegar. Having developed Kent versions of these, Whitstable’s heritage led us to Oyster & Vinegar crisps – the first in the UK to contain real oyster (If you are curious: they taste wonderful, the way a fish & chip wrapper smells).

The final Kent Crisps (tagline ‘From the Garden of England’) are a handmade premium crisp celebrating Kent landscapes and flavours. Product sales romped through 100,000 packets within 5 weeks from launch via farm shops and continue to grow fast. Kent News summed them up as “an edible tourist guide”.
Too many British manufacturing companies today still follow “If you make it, they will come” instead of “Find out what will make them come, even if they don’t know it yet themselves, then make it”.
This latter approach means constructing a ‘virtual machine’ comprising research, questionnaires, emotional analysis, market creativity and a final pinch of serendipity in order to maximise chances of success.
At this year’s Manufacturing Summit it struck me just how many of the success stories demonstrated not only good manufacturing capabilities but, crucially, also superior market and commercial skills.

Press Releases

Re-Engineering the Boardroom

Reengineering the boardIn the late 1980s David Sainsbury (now Lord Sainsbury of Turville) became concerned that in comparison with the UK, overseas businesses had more senior executives with professional engineering and science qualifications in the boardroom. Over the years, and particularly in light of the economic folly of recent years, he has become increasingly convinced that in order to increase the UK’s international competitiveness there should be more directors in UK boardrooms who understand how things are innovated, manufactured and sold. He is not alone in his views.

Indeed, Akio Morita, Chairman of Sony Corporation, while delivering the inaugural Innovation Lecture to the Department of Trade and Industry in 1992, famously expressed his confusion at why British companies persist in appointing accountants to run their companies. He remarked pointedly, “For an accountant the central concern is the analysis of statistics and figures, of past performance. How can an accountant reach out and grab the future if he is always looking at last quarter’s results?” In other words, if you’re driving down the road, wouldn’t you look through the windscreen at the road ahead rather than staring into the rear-view mirror? Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are accountants and I’m certainly not on a financial-professional-bashing crusade, but there are some convincing arguments for ensuring that the skills often found in engineers and scientists are better represented in the boardroom.

Before we get into that, I should admit to being a product of Lord Sainsbury’s vision. I am one of the 270 British engineers who have been awarded a scholarship by the Sainsbury Management Fellowship (SMF) scheme to complete an internationally recognized MBA course. Lord Sainsbury has certainly put his money where his mouth is, paying out seven million pounds in bursaries since the scheme began. His protégés have been educated at the cream of international business schools in Europe and the USA. In 1999, I subjected my wife and young family to INSEAD’s intensive so-called “divorce course” (I’m still trying to make it up to them). The result has been a diverse cadre of British Professional Engineers with the relevant skills for contributing to UK plc. Have these professionals, returning from their intensive re-branding experience, educated in the dulcet tones of strategic marketing, profit and loss accounts and discounted cash flows, been embraced with open arms by British corporates? Well, the answer appears to be “not really”.

The SMF has just published an interesting document summarizing the findings of a survey they have carried out with 100 HR directors. The findings make sobering reading for engineers. The backgrounds HR directors value most in the boardroom are accountancy (still number one after all these years!), sales, marketing, HR and legal, with professional engineering still firmly “off the back”. However, 80 % of the same HR directors agreed that professional engineers with MBA’s are most definitely qualified for board positions. So, qualified but not valued; it brings a tear to the eye. The report then sets out in a pretty comprehensive matrix all those sterling qualities one can expect to find in a professional engineer. A few of the skills struck a chord with me.

The first skill is one that even the most hard-nosed HR director must surely concede. Engineers understand how stuff works and are generally interested in staying abreast of the latest technology. They are typically early adopters of technology and as a result are useful at being able to predict potential alternative future outcomes. Our world is changing at an unprecedented rate, much of it driven by new technology, globalization and environmentalism. Most professional engineers I know have a strong opinion on these issues which can help UK boards future-proof their businesses and exploit new opportunities for growth.

The second skill that is often strong in engineers is that of being able to quantify risk. From an early stage in their careers engineers are taught to make an estimate. It starts at a young age with judging how thick the legs on a Lego bridge have to be and develops into an interest in financial models that work out a balanced investment portfolio to provide for a comfortable retirement. It strikes me that a few of the things that have gone off the rails in our economy in recent years could have benefitted from a few judicious estimates on likely outcomes.

The third skill-set that engineers bring to the boardroom is an insight into effective project management. This is the bread and butter of a career in engineering, combining the short and long term viewpoints in order to bring a complex project successfully over the finishing line. While engineers can be creative, it’s their ability to see something through to a working reality that brings profitable results faster.

So, what is it that I’m advocating? Positive discrimination in favour of engineers and scientists at board level? Hopefully not even engineers are naive enough to join that particular queue. We live in an increasingly competitive world where people need to put their best foot forward and be prepared to be judged on their merits. If Professional Engineers want to be appointed to the board of a company, they had better be prepared to deploy their freshly-honed sales skills because it certainly won’t be presented on a plate. What I am asking on behalf of Lord Sainsbury and the SMF is that when the interview shortlists are drawn up, HR directors take a leaf out of the book of their overseas counterparts and think twice before relegating applications from engineers and scientists to the bottom of the pile.

Press Releases

MBA Scholarships Open Business Doors to Engineers

MBA Students

Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMF) has set a further eight talented professional engineers on the road to senior management following their MBA graduation. This brings the number of SMFs to 283, with a further eight currently undertaking their MBA study.

The graduates had to persuade a panel that they were the best of the competing young engineers in order to be awarded a £30,000 bursary each to offset their MBA study costs at a leading business school.

Founded by Lord Sainsbury, the not for profit organisation champions the value of a combined business and engineering education and has, to date, awarded over £7m worth of bursaries for MBA study.

The funding enables engineers to add business, finance and marketing expertise to the skills gained through their engineering training and experience. Most graduates go on to secure posts in blue-chip companies, while 10% of SMFs set up innovative businesses.

Already, graduate Kimbal Virdi has been appointed by Samsung to work in the company’s corporate strategy team in Korea.  Fellow graduate Phil Westcott has joined IBM’s General Management Leadership Programme and is working in the Smart Grid Consulting Division in London.

“The SMF-sponsored MBA opens doors to exciting new careers for engineers,” says David Falzani, SMF President. “SMFs hold 220 directorships, including non-executive director posts. It is our ambition to see many more engineers sitting at the boards of British companies because we know they make a significant contribution to their performance.”

Every year up to ten top young engineers receive the bursary after going through a rigorous assessment process run by the Royal Academy of Engineering on behalf of SMF. On securing their MBA, the graduates become members of SMF and gain access to an international network of contacts, continued professional development and mentoring by captains of industry.

 

Press Releases

Manufacturing Company Performs Strongly in Higher Value Sector

Manufacturing and engineering company Ilika plc has recently been floated on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s international market for smaller growing companies. The listing comes just days after Lord Sainsbury’s address at the annual SMF (Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society) dinner, whereby he stressed the importance to continue to move the UK’s manufacturing and service industries into higher-value areas to help them to compete in global markets.

Ilika is an advanced materials company which accelerates the discovery of new and patentable materials that are used by the energy, electronics and biomedical sectors. Experiments carried out by the Ilika can be executed 10 to 100 times faster than using traditional techniques.

IIika’s chief executive Graeme Purdy is a Sainsbury Management Fellow. . As such he received a scholarship to study for an MBA . SMF was established in 1987 by Lord Sainsbury to position engineers as UK business leaders. Each year up to 14 scholarships are awarded to top class engineers.

“Ilika is the perfect example of how a UK manufacturing company is performing strongly in a higher value sector. The SMF Society strongly believes that to increase the competitiveness of the UK economy more directors are needed in UK boardrooms that have the knowledge of how products are imagined, designed, made and work, combined with complementary business and management skills set within a global mindset. Graeme Purdy’s has proven this with the success of Ilika,” said SMF president David Falzani.

“We are delighted by the strong support new and existing shareholders have shown for developing the business through an AIM listing. Ilika is already generating revenues from its own two successful biomedical products and has a pipeline of materials partnered with large multinational companies. This listing marks the beginning of a new phase in the Company’s development, where its technology will help meet the need for advanced new materials, particularly in the energy and electronic industries,” said Ilika chief executive, Graeme Purdy.

The income generated through the floating of Ilika will be used to fund the further development of identified materials for the energy, electronics and biomedical sectors.

Press Releases

Re-engineering the Board

Reengineering the boardHR directors must re-engineer the board of directors to both mitigate and capitalise upon an increasingly ‘crash’ prone global marketplace

Many of the news events of the last two years and the damage done to company balance sheets and brands show that the traditional focus on financial, legal and accountancy qualifications and experience within UK company boards are not enough to avoid business disaster, according to SMF (Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Society). The organisation is urging HR directors to consider professional engineers with business qualifications and experience as an attractive complementary skill base for board director positions.

The call comes as new research commissioned by SMF demonstrates a discrepancy between perception and recruitment reality when it comes to professional engineers’ recognition as board-level appointees and the lack of diversity in the viewpoints represented around the table that this brings.

SMF believes that to increase the competitiveness of the UK economy more directors are needed in UK boardrooms that have the knowledge of how products are imagined, designed, made and work, combined with complementary business and management skills set within a global mindset. This will help drive organisations forward, maximising innovation and the opportunities of new markets while controlling and mitigating the inherent risks in rapid growth businesses.

SMF has undertaken a survey among 100 FTSE250 HR directors to establish the level of awareness within the HR community of the suitability of engineers to fulfil these important roles. Results show that, while 86% surveyed were open-minded about employing directors with non-financial or legal backgrounds, only 66% believe that engineers have the skills and attributes necessary to move onto boards.
“Our research shows a discrepancy between perception and recruitment reality,” says SMF President, David Falzani. “Over 250,000 engineers are employed in the UK, contributing to the
economic strength of the nation and it is essential that organisations understand the benefits they can derive from having an engineer among its management team.”

The SMF research goes on to reveal that while HR directors do acknowledge core competencies of engineers, including the ability to deal with complex issues (both financial and operational), to lead cross functional and cross geographical teams and to provide a rigorous yet balanced risk
management and governance function, only half of the companies taking part in the survey have board directors with engineering backgrounds.

Where engineers have MBA qualifications and business experience, HR directors surveyed felt reassured that engineers had the skills to move into the boardroom (80%).

“Historically, engineers have not been seen as a natural choice to be members of boards of blue chip organisations,” explains David Falzani. “Conventional wisdom means candidates tend to come from financial and legal disciplines. However, HR directors are discovering that once engineers possess the requisite legal, financial, and marketing training, they have a breadth of skills that can be used to help organisations grow faster and more reliably.”

Professional engineers, who by the very nature of their job are creative problems solvers are not seen as board material and are often lost to more forward thinking international organisations. HR directors can avoid this talent leakage by encouraging their professional engineers with leadership qualities to expand their existing skills by studying for a first class business education and degree qualification.

“Up and down the country, the collective skills and experience of the boardroom are being analysed,” concludes David Falzani. Board directors have traditionally not been trained to manage the risk of failure positively by working with variables where mistakes, unknown consequences or side-effects might develop. These risk analysis skills are an integral part of the skill set of engineers and we are urging HR directors to reflect this when assessing the skills mix of their board.”

SMF has produced a booklet for HR directors encouraging them to seek more information on the role of professional engineers in the corporate world. Within the booklet is a skills matrix to assist in the assessment of an organisation’s needs and how a business-qualified, professional engineer can enhance the board. Copies of the booklet are available from SMF.

Press Releases

Can Engineer Add Value In the Boardroom?

David-FalzaniDavid Falzani, President, Sainsbury Management Fellows

A company’s board of directors is like the bridge of a ship. It’s the forum where overall direction is set, major gauges are monitored, and risks assessed. The title director is often misused today, particularly in industries such as investment banking, where graduates appear to start as vice presidents and titles such as director, managing director, executive, and principal are compounded and interwoven to dazzling effect.

However, for clarification, a de jure director is an appointed officer of a company, holds a primary fiduciary duty to the company itself, and sits on the board of directors. Such directors can also, in certain circumstances, be personally liable for potential financial and criminal penalties related to the conduct of their roles.

Engineers have a unique mix of process and technical knowledge that can be applied in the boardroom to tackle many business challenges. This mix includes a suite of analytical skills combined with a pragmatic, structured and realistic approach. They are often trained risk assessors, trained decision-makers and project management experts. Additionally, they have hands-on experience, working with real people and real-time issues to bring together theory and practice. These attributes form uniquely strong foundations for senior corporate positions.

To be a truly effective board member a spectrum of skills and a wide perspective on business are required to balance the ‘big picture’ against the dynamics of business. This is particularly important as the unprecedented rate of change continues: globalisation, cross culturism, rising Asian markets, economic flux, and environmentalism.

In preparing for senior and board roles many engineers seek additional qualifications and experience. Some acquire skills organically over time, whilst others pursue an intensive formal qualification such as an MBA. I chose this route and fortunately won an MBA scholarship from the Sainsbury Management Fellowship (SMF) scheme.

In the late 1980s Lord Sainsbury recognised that in comparison with overseas businesses, the UK had fewer boardroom executives with professional engineering and science qualifications. Therefore to increase the UK’s competitiveness more directors should understand how things are innovated, developed and marketed. So far £7m has been awarded to 270 engineers to acquire MBAs from renowned business schools.

SMFs’ recent research of 100 HR directors from leading UK companies* shows 86% reported a willingness to hire directors with non-finance, accounting or legal backgrounds, but only 66% believed that professional engineers have the skills and attributes to be appointed to boards. This figure improves to 80% if the engineer’s qualifications are supplemented with business qualifications such as an MBA.
In my view, the shortfall in the statistics is related to the image of engineering and the misunderstanding of what engineering is.

Assuming engineers do acquire positions to improve UK industry there’s another hurdle: Will these engineers still be called engineers? If not, how do we identify them and measure success? They may be called marketing directors or development managers or finance directors. Qualifications like CEng may make it easier to identify and monitor their contribution to boards but otherwise it’s difficult to recognize, encourage and promote them when no ready-made label exists.

There’s also another possible view. If a greater presence of engineering approaches and pragmatism is what’s needed to improve decision-making and risk assessment at board level, then perhaps it’s the skills we should also be promoting rather than just the profession?

Many engineers do courses on accounting, marketing, and law. Why don’t accountants, marketers and lawyers do courses on engineering?

During my MBA, my non engineering classmates enthusiastically appreciated the new insights that subjects such an operations management provided.

I’m not suggesting that an accountant would be improved by knowing how to minimise the number of transistors in an oscillator. However, engineering concepts such as specification writing, bottleneck theory, operations management, and balancing fitness for purpose with value for money, are just a few examples of engineering topics offering real value to corporate management.
So, rather than just banging on about how engineers should be more appreciated and getting onto company boards, perhaps we should be arguing for other professions to get up to speed on engineering?
*The report ‘Re-engineering the Board to Manage Risk and Maximise Growth’ can be downloaded here.

Press Releases

The UK is in the Top Tier of Manufacturing Nation – Innovation, not Interest Rate Cuts will Keep us There

Not a month goes by without the CBI or a similar organisation putting out a call for a cut in interest rates. Apart from grabbing headlines what long term effect does it have on the health of UK industry? Not as much as investment in innovation I suspect.

Over the last five years UK manufacturing output has had its ups and downs as industry has dealt with high interest rates and overseas competition. According to the Office for National Statistics, manufacturing now accounts for 15% of the UK economy, down from 40% before WWII. The sector is now growing at a similar pace to other developed countries and overall has a record of which I personally feel proud. According to CBI figures there are 150,000 businesses that manufacture in the UK, accounting for 60% of UK exports in 2006.
Within the FTSE 100, 21 companies manufacture goods including pharmaceuticals, machinery and food. Mostly these items are highly sophisticated, bringing added value, high margins and make the UK a more prosperous nation in the process.

Why this helps the UK
Manufacturing jobs are increasingly less labour intensive but rather require higher levels of technical expertise, which is great for Engineers. Engineering is leading the UK into manufacturing in areas like cleantech where it can compete effectively against low-cost economies. All the labour intensive work in textiles and basic manufacturing has moved to the Far East due to the very strong competition in terms of labour costs, however the newer industries are proving surprisingly resilient.

What’s changed?
It has become clear that UK industry and individual companies have to continue to innovate with new processes and products, and invest in their businesses. In this continually changing global environment, some industries like medical devices and space science are growing, while others like clothing and metal bashing continue to decline and move to the developing world. I believe we will find the mix of manufacturing in the UK will be completely different in ten years time from how it looks today. I find this incredibly exciting, engineers will be at the forefront of directing and managing this changing manufacturing mix.

How do we stay in the top tier?
Once we accept that no particular industry inherently deserves to continue in the UK, and that individual industries will be started in the UK, grow, mature, and maybe eventually move onto other countries, we can be more rational about our manufacturing investment decisions as a country. We can operate UK plcs like a conglomerate which is constantly evaluating which business units to create, invest in and divest. We can identify future growth areas and increase education in those sectors, invest to derive maximum added value for a period during their growth phase. Finally we can proactively divest businesses where margins are dropping to lower cost countries and reinvest quickly, retraining those employees for the new hot spot sectors.

An attitude along these lines in the UK would free us to create a policy regime that concentrated on industries with high margins and growth potential, and focussed government policy on investment, education and taxation. It would lavish dedicated support on industries with growth attributes, rather than ‘manufacturing’ in general or a particular industry in decline with which we have an emotional attachment.
This is the ‘creative destruction’ that Joseph Schumpeter talked about all those years ago working on a global industrial scale.

In summary, it is now time for all of us who can influence industrial policy to start thinking about industry lifecycles and not just product life cycles – if we intend to keep the UK in the top six of manufacturing nations.

I work in medical devices and see the continued growth of this sector and the levels of engineering skill required to develop good products. I can also foresee industries like industrial automation and clean technology rising to replace ‘old’ industries which will move to lower cost economies when we can no longer compete. I for one welcome this dynamic environment. We are entering an exciting period when the industrial landscape of the UK will change into a more interesting, more technologically dependent age where Engineers will be leading these businesses from the front, keeping the UK in the first tier of manufacturing nations.