Insights4Mfg

Featured guest, John Pearce, CEO of Made In Britain, speaks with Jeff about the benefits for UK Manufacturing Members of using the Licensed Made In Britain Mark. Where is the future of British Manufacturing heading? Why is it important for British Manufacturers to promote themselves through an organisation like Made In Britain? How significant has Brexit been to Made In Britain members? What is th...

Featured guest, Peter Hobbs, talks to Jeff about the challenges and opportunities within sub-contract manufacturing and the role played by the BTMA. What is the BTMA? How important is it for British turned parts manufacturers to focus on the latest technology? What are the main challenges facing turned parts manufacturers? What are the biggest opportunities for British Turned Parts Manufacturers c...

Featured guest, Steve Parker, Owner & Director of Steve Parker ICD - International Company Development, talks to Jeff about the abundance of opportunity and some of the challenges for UK Manufacturers who are looking to export for the first time or break into new territories. Where are the hot spots of opportunity for developing international business? What are the biggest challenges for UK Ma...

Guest host for this bonus episode is Miranda Birch, Founder & Director of Miranda Birch Media. Before running her own media consultancy, MIranda worked for many years as an Executive Producer and Senior Producer for BBC Radio 4 programmes such as Desert Island Discs, Woman's Hour, Start of the Week and Front Row. Miranda talks to Jeff Beacham, Owner & Director of Authentica Resourcing and...

Featured guest, Alastair Crawford, Managing Director of LMAC, talks to Jeff about Continuous Improvement & Business Growth, including how Culture plays an important part in your improvements or growth strategy. Why do so many business growth and lean strategies go wrong? What are the barriers to SME manufacturers embracing Ind4.0, Smart Manufacturing & Digitisation? How important is Ind4.0...

Featured guest, June Hogan - Outplacement Specialist and Director of Wildwood Coaching, talks to Jeff about the importance of Outplacement Services and the many benefits that outplacement can provide for your organisation. What is Outplacement Support? Why does it matter? What is the ROI? Why spend the money when the business is trying to reduce costs?

In this special episode of Insights4Mfg, there is a historical bias to the discussion. Featured guest, Prof. Carl Chinn, the renowned Social Historian, Author, Newspaper Columnist, Broadcaster and Media Personality, talks to Jeff about the rich heritage of Manufacturing within the Birmingham and West Midlands region. How important is Manufacturing to Birmingham? What does Manufacturing mean to Bru...

Featured guest, Jack Semple, Secretary of EAMA, talk to Jeff about some of the key challenges facing UK Manufacturing today and the vital role EAMA and its member Trade Associations play in supporting UK Manufacturing & Engineering. Who is EAMA and what are its aims? What do Manufacturers need support with the most regarding Energy, Skills and Net Zero? What does UK Manufacturing need from UK...

Featured guest, Chris Windley, Chairman & CEO of the Cyber Security Association, talks to Jeff about the importance of Cyber Security within the Manufacturing sector and why it doesn't need to cost a fortune to ensure your business is protected. What is the current state of Cyber Security readiness in the UK? What is the Cyber Security Association? What are the top myths around Cyber Security?...

Featured guest, Andy Sandford, Editor of Engineering Capacity magazine, talks to Jeff about the UK Sub-Contract Engineering and Contract Manufacturing sector. What are the biggest opportunities for UK Sub-Contract Engineering? What's the current state of the OEM / Sub-Contractor relationship? What are the advantages for UK Manufacturers to Outsource to UK-based sub-contractors? What are the curren...

Featured guest, Katie Durie, Founder & Owner of The Buyer Coach talks to Jeff about how intrinsic Procurement is to the success of Manufacturing & Engineering businesses. What are the main challenges for SME Buyers? How does Procurement mitigate risk? What is Buyer's World? What makes an elite Buyer?

Featured guest, Sam Baynham, Managing Director of Conex Portal talks to Jeff about how UK Manufacturing companies are sharing ideas, projects and best practice in Conex Portal, the new online interactive community. What is Conex Portal? Who is it for? What are the benefits for Members? What are the current challenges for UK Manufacturers?

Featured guest, Sarah Farmer, Director of EMR Consulting and Founder & Co-Host of The Business Brunch talks to Jeff about how individual C-Suite and Executives can transform their leadership and mindset to improve the success of their business. What are the benefits of working with an Executive Coach? What is Imposter Syndrome? How can an Executive Coach add value to the onboarding process? Wh...

Featured guest, Kate Stranks, Director & Owner of Beanstalk Learning, talks to Jeff about how Learning & Development is crucial for individual and business success. What are the key challenges for businesses when it comes to Learning & Development? How does L&D help to create and sustain a great Culture? How important is Emotional Intelligence in Leadership? What are the benefits o...

Featured guests, Dr Nike Folayan - MBE, PhD, CEng & Co-Founder of AFBE-UK and Dr Ollie Folayan - PhD, CEng & Co-Founder of AFBE-UK, talk to Jeff about how Diversity is a powerful value that can help UK Manufacturing & Engineering thrive. The Association for Black & Ethnic Minority Engineers had a fantastic team of leaders, who for the last 15 years, have worked to raise the profile...

Featured guest, Anita Davenport-Brooks, Chair of Apprenticeships in Manufacturing and Group HR Manager at Lander Automotive, talks to Jeff about the successes, challenges and opportunities posed by Apprenticeships. Why are Apprenticeships so important to UK Manufacturing? What are Apprenticeship Ambassadors? What's working and what's not working with Apprenticeships? Could large businesses do more...

Featured guest, Rob Dando, Co-Founder of Finally Agency talks to Jeff about the opportunities for UK Manufacturing to boost its image through an effective marketing strategy. Digital, Social Media, Websites and SEO can all play their part for individual businesses and the sector as a whole. What are the most common challenges Manufacturers are having with Marketing? How do you build a good Content...

Featured guest, Prof. Kate Black, CTO of Meta Additive and Professor of Manufacturing at the University of Liverpool, talks to Jeff about the advancement of Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing, the benefit of the AM process and the gap between academia and industry. What are the biggest benefits of AM to Manufacturers? What are the current challenges in Additive Manufacturing? What materia...

Featured guest, Chris McDonald, CEO of the Materials Processing Institute, speaks with Jeff about the importance of innovation in Steel & Metals processing to meet the requirements of Decarbonization, the Circular Economy and Digitalization. Who is the Materials Processing Institute? How important is Metal processing to the UK economy? What are the main challenges in Materials Processing? What...

Featured guest, Stephen Morley - President at the Confederation of British Metalforming, speaks with Jeff about some of the challenges and opportunities for the UK's 'Metalbashers'. Who are the CBM? What services and support do they provide for their Members? What are the current challenges for UK Metalformers? What is Steel Safeguarding?

Featured guest, John Cooper, Director of Cooper Cooper Media, speaks with Jeff about the opportunities for UK Manufacturing businesses to raise their profile through the creative use of Photography & Video. “If you have an amazing product or service that helps people, you have an obligation to promote it” How can businesses use their own heritage in promoting their products and services? How c...

Featured guest, Floriane Fidegnon-Edoh, Head of Industry, Innovation & Technology at Policy Connect, speaks with Jeff about some of the challenges for UK Manufacturing and how the research, roundtables and discussions the thinktank has with Manufacturers, Support Organisations and Trade Bodies feed into Government policy. Who is Policy Connect and what does it do? What policy areas are current...

Featured guest, Bethan Jepson - Founder of Allied Women in Engineering and Partner at Allied Global Engineering and UK Business Capital Partners, speaks with Jeff about the opportunities within UK Manufacturing & Engineering to solve Leadership and Skills challenges through diversity. What is Allied Women in Engineering? What are the biggest challenges for females in the Engineering & Manu...

Featured guest, Vanessa Ashworth, Marketing Director & Manufacturing Advocate speaks with Jeff about how Marketing can supercharge the growth of UK Manufacturing. What's most important when setting marketing strategy? What marketing channels give the best value or ROI for Manufacturing businesses? Should small businesses outsource their marketing? How can Manufacturing SME's create their own V...

Featured guest, Mike Wilson - Chief Automation Officer at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) speaks with Jeff about some of the challenges and opportunities for UK Manufacturing, surrounding Research & Innovation. Who is the MTC? What services and support do they provide? How does the MTC act as the bridge between Academia and Manufacturing? What barriers do SME's need to overcome to ad...