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   Changing the image of manufacturing
ePolitix.com speaks to Nick Hussey, director of Manufacturing Insight, about its role in influencing parliamentarians. Could you tell us about Manufacturing Insight and the work that you do? Manufacturing Insight was established at the behest of industry. For many years manufacturers and engineering companies have been struggling with the image of manufacturing being low-grade within the wider public's perception, and the idea of manufacturing as not being a valid career option. A particular concern is the way that manufacturing is perceived by young people thinking about their careers. Manufacturers have for some time recognised this and have tried to change this – but largely by working in isolation, as single entities. These manufacturers have started to say to their trade associations and to government that something needs to be done in a wider, more coordinated way to attract young people to the industry. The department for business, innovation and skills and EEF got together and established Manufacturing Insight in September 2009, specifically with the intention of changing and improving the image of manufacturing to encourage more young people to think about manufacturing as a career option. Manufacturing Insight aims to alter how the manufacturing sector is perceived. How do you attempt to do this? How can the image of the sector be changed? Changing the image of manufacturing is a long-term project that will take a considerable amount of time and involve working with various stakeholders to get our message across. One of the principal things that we identified very early on is that, in order to change the perception amongst young people, you need to change the perception of the wider public, in particular parents and teachers. Seventy-three per cent of 11-16 year-olds state that the principal influence on their career choice will be their parents. We can do great work in schools, in encouraging people to think about careers in manufacturing and make the prospect of learning a skill enticing. However, if their parents still harbour the wrong impression of manufacturing or have themselves worked in the industry and have lost their jobs through economic downturn, then they will not influence those children to think about the sector as a career choice. One of the main problems we have is the wider public perception – and changing that is important. A specific example of this is that we got together with six or seven manufacturers and produced a supplement that went into the Daily Telegraph – to nearly a million people. That identified and detailed excellent case studies about young people who had gone into manufacturing and had fantastic careers developing for them. That is the sort of way that we will try to change the way that the general public perceives manufacturing. Has the manufacturing sector been adversely affected by the economic downturn? The manufacturing sector took it very hard and very fast when the downturn came. The press particularly picked up on the effect on the automotive industry, but across the board manufacturing was hit very hard, very quickly. The flip side of this is that it is beginning to come out of recession extremely quickly and very steeply. Most manufacturers, when you speak to them, are relatively optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. We have some fantastic manufacturing businesses in the UK that do things that simply can't be done anywhere else in the world. They are world-class – they need to be in order to be competitive – and we just don't talk about them enough or tell people about them enough. The vast majority of manufacturers have come through the recession in reasonable health and are growing rapidly again now. This is not a story that newspapers like to pick up on. I can identify that there is a change in the way that manufacturing is presented: the government, politicians of all hues, the industry itself, is very focused on the fact that manufacturing needs to be a core component of a growth strategy for the UK. The government must ensure that it supports manufacturers by allowing them the freedom to invest, grow and create jobs. Do you believe that parliamentarians do enough to champion manufacturing in the UK? What more can be done in this regard? There is always more that can be done. Historically, over the last ten years, politicians could be accused of having not done enough. However, over the last three or four years they have started to identify that manufacturing is good in the UK; it is a strong sector and it is absolutely vital that we maintain a strong manufacturing sector. Most MPs are now very aware of the value of manufacturing. They are very focused on the manufacturing facilities, across the UK, but particularly in their own constituencies. It would be very good if we could encourage MPs to go and see those manufacturing plants. They may imagine an old-style, low-grade sector, but it is simply not like that – it is dynamic, hi-tech and an advanced industry. I would urge any MP, who has a manufacturing plant within his or her constituency, to go and visit it. They will find that it is a very different sector to what they may have expected. What message would you like to convey to the coalition government on the importance of manufacturing? The coalition government is very focused on manufacturing, which is good. There needs, however, to be more and more emphasis on that. In terms of just one or two key economic influences that manufacturing can have, the balance of payments deficits that we continue to run in this country, is not sustainable long-term. Politicians must be focused on the fact that we need a good, strong manufacturing industry within the UK. We must start making more things and selling more things; we must do this to bring our balance of payments into line. It is not sustainable in its current position – the coalition government is focused on this, but it needs to be specifically focused on the manufacturing sector. I believe that the Gross Value Added by a manufactured pound is far more valuable than that of a financial-services, retail or a service-sector pound – all MPs should be aware of that. If MPs can do anything, then they need to 'simplify the landscape' in which manufacturers have to operate. This means reducing the red tape, operating a legislative environment that helps industry (not stifles it), introduces health and safety rules and employment legislation that can be implemented easily and be of benefit to everyone involved. We need to free up our entrepreneurs, our innovators and our manufacturers. We must provide them with a level playing field to compete with European partners and on a more global scale. Source: epolitix.com Copyright Dods Parliamentary Communications
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