Exhibitions and sharing best practice have both been monumental parts of our membership experience since the beginning of Made in Group. Like many of you will have experienced, the current pandemic threatened a key aspect of our business operation, however, we have responded to this by providing a state-of-the-art, groundbreaking solution to our membership: Backing Britain 2020 Live.
No one knows how far the trend of virtual networking will stretch into the future, however, the reality is that the current global situation has meant that networking in the physical realm as we did previously is no longer possible. Despite it not always being everyone's ideal preference, virtual networking also provides many benefits over the physical alternatives, through being more inclusive and having the ability to bring people together from different regions. We wholeheartedly believe that the manufacturing sector needs to embrace this change in order to develop and those who refuse or are unable to follow suit with this are likely to suffer. Backing Britain 2020 Live will offer 30 events spread over two weeks - with Virtual Roundtables playing a huge part in this exhibition.
For these Virtual Roundtables, participants are drawn from our exhibitors, who are platinum, gold and silver tiered members. Our unique virtual roundtables format sits alongside our virtual exhibition, which allows delegates to visit member companies and learn more about the Midlands and Yorkshire supply chains. Some of the topics and themes for our Virtual Roundtables, which can be viewed on the Made site, include:
Business Growth:
Our business growth discussion group will discuss ideas and solutions around marketing and selling in a new world. As we look at a global contraction it is important that UK businesses get their sales strategy right. This needs to include growth and expansion of reach for our companies.
Manufacturing Finance:
This roundtable discussion will talk about access to funding and financial management and investments across the manufacturing sector. This discussion is for financial directors, business owners and financial service companies affiliated to our network. We are looking to create actionable ideas that will help companies to access the financial resources they need as well as better management of existing resources.
People and Skills:
The focus of this roundtable will focus on employee engagement, improving people productivity and retaining skills as we enter a period of high unemployment. This discussion group is for business owners, HR directors or skills and legal experts who feel they can add to the discussion.
Supply Chain Localisation:
Our unique virtual roundtables format sits alongside our virtual exhibition, which allows delegates to visit member companies and learn more about the Midlands and Yorkshire supply chains. Our 'supply chain localisation' discussion group will look at ways of localising the supply chain and effective reshoring; we will discuss risk, opportunities and strategy around this theme.
Smart Factories:
The focus for this roundtable will be making our workplaces smarter, in terms of the internet of things, automation and any use of technology that drives improved performance. This is for companies already supplying into this space and companies who are either investing or looking to invest in making their workplaces smarter.
Green Manufacturing:
We expect environmental awareness to become even more prominent in the coming years, as we enter a period of evaluating supply chains in countries where environmental standards are not respected or adhered to, coupled with the consumer and government drive for green alternatives in their own lives such as electric vehicles. This discussion is for people who are actively investing in this space, looking to invest in members with expertise in green manufacturing.
Creation of a British Sovereign Investment Fund:
This discussion group expands on a survey published by the Made in Group in May where members overwhelmingly backed the creation of an alternative funding vehicle that focussed on not only financial returns but the national social yield that is generated from investing in British companies. People interested in this discussion be business owners form our membership, we are especially interested in members that have developed an end product or would benefit from such a fund. In addition we will be inviting the All Party Parliamentary Group for manufacturing to join this discussion.
Creation of Ethical Tariffs to Level Up Global Standards:
This discussion group expands on the survey published by the MAde in Group which looked at ways in which UK companies could operate on a level playing field. Using smart and ethical tariffs it would be possible to have open trade for companies who adhere to high standards whilst reducing and removing poorly run international suppliers that are able to compete unfairly with the UK by not adhering to environmental standards or overlooking employee earnings and welfare. This discussion is for company owners, those interested in improving global standards and those in the ethical space. In addition we will be inviting the All Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group to join this discussion.
Beginning 17th August 2020, Made will launch a digital exhibition "with a big difference” called Backing Britain 2020 Live - an immersive experience between the digital and physical which will take place over two weeks:
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