Meet the sponsors...

Q Why are you backing the Best Factory Awards 2013? These awards are recognised for their quality and being industry leading, which are standards that we ascribe to also as a business. We want to be involved in an event where UK manufacturers are proud to put themselves on the line, in pursuit of being recognised for their excellence. This is how we look to engage with such organisations ourselves and the BFAs allow us to continue that tradition. Q How would Britain's best factories fare in a worldwide Top Factory competition? To be honest, I think they would do very well. But there is that British thing, sadly, where we tend to put ourselves down, believing we're not as good as other manufacturing organisations around the world. And yet, from my experience, the best-performing UK factories stand up very well against anyone, anywhere. I know there are many more out there that have the potential also to excel. The best performers look beyond their competitors and focus on where they will be 'down the road' in five years' time, because the globalisation of manufacturing is already with us; no one can really afford to 'think parochial' any more. Q What's the key challenge for UK manufacturers in the next 12 months? One of my concerns is that we are holding back on investment when it comes to continuous improvement and efficiency. So, when we emerge from recession, we may not have kept pace with the rest of the world. Yes, I appreciate that cash is tight and that securing loans from banks, etc, is not always easy in these tough times. But the general lack of much-needed capital investment right now may well mean that, instead of being up on our feet and running as the recession comes to an end, we will be crawling out. I see many US-based companies in the UK starting to spend more as we emerge from the worst, so my fear is we will be playing catch-up by not investing in new equipment as well. Q What should manufacturers know about PEME? We're very much a long-established company, with engineering and maintenance our core business. We evaluate engineering capabilities, identify gaps, and provide appropriate training and personnel support. Our primary focus is on providing clients with a partnership service that's integrated with their own engineering operations, helping them to achieve their business goals by allowing them to maintain a complete focus on key business areas and activities. The objective is to help them ensure that their plants run better by improving productivity and profitability. We try to engage closely with our clients, both at the business and personal level. As well as raising over £30,000 for the CLIC Sargent charity, which cares for children and young people with cancer, this was one of the motivations for a mixed team of senior PEME managers, client partners and suppliers to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa recently, following a gruelling nine-day trek. We wanted to solidify our relationships and deal with one another at the human, not just work or business, level. It's good for everyone to understand that, in business, you are dealing with real people, too. Q What's your favourite UK-manufactured product and why? The Jaguar motor car. It's quintessentially British, designed and built here, even if we don't own it any more. I love the way that, in recent years, the company has reinvented itself to be a world leader, manufacturing a product to the highest standard. It shouts out design and build quality, and shows exactly what UK companies can – and could – achieve on this island. We often beat ourselves up about what the Germans and Japanese can do, and yet here is a clear example of us doing just that ourselves! Q What do you wish was made in GB? Easy – the Dyson. It epitomises British manufacturing success. A great design that is now made in Malaysia. Our investment and manufacturing support policies in the UK should be such that it would make it absolutely conducive for products like the Dyson to be built here. When the recession first hit, the UK government fought tooth and nail to support the financial institutions and service industry. And while I recognise their importance, it would be nice to see the same amount of effort happening in manufacturing.