Made in Group members can get involved in discussion groups to share insights with other manufacturers on current and relevant issues. Made in Group consists of Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire, industry associations hosted on the Made Platform. We are a private digital network for manufacturers and their industry influencers to share experiences.
In the latest Made in Group Virtual Breakfast Morning, multiple business individuals from a variety of sectors took part in a group discussion on Entering New Regions in business. This included leaders from a multitude of sectors including from the leading manufacturing firms based in the Midlands and Yorkshire.
Around 40 other members of the Made in Group also took part in roundtable discussions on topics: Automation, up/re-skilling and circular thinking. The discussions give members the opportunity to share their challenges/successes, and to inspire and educate each other. All of the roundtable are condensed into short blog posts for other business leaders to consider and for Made members to reflect on. All of the blogs are published to the Made in Group websites - madeinthemidlands.com and madeinyorkshire.com.
In this week's discussion on Entering New Regions participants shared their experience around successfully supplying to international businesses and establishing these relationships regardless of language barriers. Many participants reflected on attending global exhibitions that help establish relationships with international suppliers. Others discussed how being recommended by clients can help businesses initiate relationships with suppliers.
How do businesses establish relationships with reliable distributors abroad?
This question was contemplated for quite some time due to a statement made by one of the participants. It was suggested that help to expand into other countries can be achieved by finding reliable distributors in that region. This helped one UK business to turnover £1 million with the help of distributors aboard, when they previously turnover £100,000.
In summary, members are looking to supply their products more internationally, however some are finding it difficult to establish relationships aboard. Whilst exhibitions are a great way to meet businesses, there are hundreds of exhibitions a year and many may not be relevant to a business looking for suppliers. As for being recommended by current customers, employees in which a company establishes a relationship with can change regularly causing a bottleneck for recommendations.
Here at Made in Group, we have a vision of bringing together people passionate about the success of British industry through sharing, educating and promoting industry best practices. To do this, we need your help; if you are a manufacturer in the Midlands or Yorkshire who wants to share knowledge with your peers, join us as a member today and feel free to enquire about membership by providing us here, we will get back to you once your enquiry has been logged.
The Made in Group is on a mission to unite British industry, connecting industries through a network of intelligent microsites that promote, champion and share best practices.