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The Make it in Britain Campaign, formally launched by MPs Vince Cable and
Mark Prisk has selected Stephen Blatchford as one of the Captains of Industry
who will champion the campaign to highlight the best of modern British
manufacturing. This group will take formal roles to support the venture and
encourage young people to consider a career in manufacturing.
Shown left to right are:
William Butler-Adams, Stephen Blatchford, Ford Comms. Manager,
Deputy CEO Science Museum, Vince Cable MP, Mike Prisk MP
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The Campaign
Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk formally launched the Make it in Great Britain campaign, which aims
to transform outdated views of UK manufacturing and dispel the myth that Britain ‘doesn’t make anything anymore’.
The campaign has recruited a number of Captains of Industry to champion the initiative and Stephen Blatchford, CEO of Chas. A.
Blatchford Ltd, has been nominated by the EEF Manufacturers Organisation and officially recruited by the Department of Business,
Innovation and Skills to act as a champion supporting the campaign.
Launched in November 2011, Make it in Great Britain is a campaign aiming to transform the image of modern UK manufacturing and to
raise awareness of its importance for the economy. Starting with The Make it in Great Britain Challenge, a national competition to find
the most promising and cutting-edge pre-market products or processes, it will culminate in an exhibition which celebrates the best of
British manufacturing, held at the Science Museum during the Olympic and Paralympic Games time. The exhibition will highlight the
successes of the manufacturing sector, show the true face of British manufacturing and encourage young people to consider a career
in the industry
The UK is one of the world’s largest manufacturers. The sector contributes £140bn pa to UK economy
The champions
The call for industry champions to take part in the campaign was made on 24 October 2011. There will be up to 30 industry champions
who will take part in, and support the campaign.
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The full list of industry champions appointed so far are:
Steve Uden Head of Skills, Microsoft Computing
William Butler-Adams Chief Engineer, Brompton Bicycles
Michael Ankers Chief Exec, Construction Products Association
Stephen Blatchford Chief Exec, Chas A Blatchford
Joe Greenwell Chairman, Ford of Britain
Ian McCubbin Senior VP, GlaxoSmithKline
Michael Ryan VP, Bombardier Aerospace
Mark Prisk also announced that the campaign will be looking to recruit 30 rising
stars of manufacturing under the age of 30, ‘30 under 30’, to inspire young
people with their own experiences and support the campaign
Make it in Great Britain - the exhibition
The exhibition will take place at the Science Museum and will run from 24 July
to 9 September 2012. The campaign builds on the already successful
Manufacturing initiative and will celebrate the successes of the manufacturing
sector and encourage young people to consider a career in the industry.
There will also be a specific element, the Make it in Great Britain Challenge,
focusing on new innovations yet to be brought to the market.
Synonymous with advances in technology and home to examples of some of the
greatest manufacturing feats in the world, the Science Museum has been selected
as the perfect venue at which to display British manufacturing excellence next
summer.
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About Stephen Blatchford
Stephen Blatchford, Chief Executive of Chas A Blatchford, took over as
the fourth generation owner in 1985 and under his leadership the
company has become a global provider in prosthetic and orthotic
products and services.
Educated at Oxford with a BA in maths and MSc in computation, Stephen
also gained an MBA with the Open University.
Blatchford is one the world’s longest established prosthetics companies
which is growing rapidly by using effective service and product innovation.
The corporate headquarters is located in the UK, with additional clinical,
manufacturing, research and development and sales locations in the USA,
Germany, France, India and Russia. In the UK we are delighted that we
have once again won the very important contract to supply Prosthetic
services to the MOD at Headley Court and we have over 35% of all UK
NHS prosthetics contracts .
Recent manufacturing innovations include the Echelon Foot, a unique
hydraulic foot nominated for a Mac Roberts Award, our biomimetic
Endolite Foot Range which won the Queen’s Award for Innovation last
year and our microprocessor controlled, self-programming knees; previous
winners of Prince of Wales and Design Council Awards.
Blatchford employs in excess of 600 employees in clinics and offices
worldwide.
See www.endolite.co.uk and www.blatchford.co.uk for more details |
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