In this episode of Made to Grow, Rich Dale is joined by Andrea Wilson, founder of ManufacturingUK.org and one of the best known campaigning voices in UK manufacturing, for a conversation about where SME and micro manufacturers can actually turn for funding, guidance and honest advice.
After thirty-two years as Managing Director of Hone-All Precision, during which she became an unofficial advice line for other business owners looking for grants, contacts and direction, Andrea has turned that role into a free platform covering everything from education through to exit.
She and Rich talk through why grant funding so often passes smaller manufacturers by, why a fresh pair of eyes on your shop floor is the cheapest improvement tool you have, and why an exit needs planning years before you intend to make one.
Watch this episode now:
About Our Guest
Andrea Wilson spent thirty-two years as Managing Director of Hone-All Precision, the Leighton Buzzard precision machining specialist, completing a five-year earn out after the sale of the business so that the transition was handled properly and her team was looked after.
She is the voice of the Support UK Manufacturing campaign for a dedicated Minister for Manufacturing, serves as Ambassador for SMEs at the Confederation of British Metalforming, and has now launched ManufacturingUK.org, a free to access resource hub for the whole of UK engineering and manufacturing, built with tools, templates and guides donated by the industry itself.
Key Topics in This Episode
- Why grant funding is so hard for smaller manufacturers to access, from the language of the guidance to the postcode lottery and the schemes pitched at a level that excludes micros and SMEs before they start
- How the regional support map on ManufacturingUK.org brings local grants, growth hub contacts, sector clusters, trade associations and networking groups into one place
- The Starting Smarter page, where industry experts and companies including Flowlens have donated guides, toolkits and templates that show what good looks like
- Why owner managers should invite every visitor onto the shop floor and ask what they saw, including the feedback that stings
- Asking for help without ego, fear or shame, and why the manufacturers who came through the last six or seven years strongest were the ones willing to listen and adapt
- Knowing your end goal as an MD, whether that is a sale, retirement, a family handover or a management buyout, and starting to plan for it around five years ahead
- What earn outs, due diligence and inheritance tax mean for family-owned manufacturers thinking about succession
- How SMEs are forming their own clusters to win work from OEMs and primes, and what communities like ConeX make possible
- Andrea’s motto of being the best, not the biggest, and why sales is vanity and profit is sanity
What’s Next?
ManufacturingUK.org is live now and free to use, and Andrea is asking the industry to tell her what is missing and what else they would like to see on the platform as it grows. You can follow Andrea on LinkedIn where she will be asking for resources and feedback, email her at andrea@supportukmfg.co.uk, or send submissions for the platform to info@manufacturinguk.org.
For more conversations like this one, subscribe to Made to Grow on your podcast platform of choice and share this episode with anyone in your network who is trying to work out where to go for support.
Further Reading & Resources
- ManufacturingUK.org, the free resource hub for UK engineering and manufacturing
- Download your free copy of the Fearless Digital Transformation book, also available from the Starting Smarter page on ManufacturingUK.org
- ConeX Portal, the UK manufacturing community Andrea mentions
- Made To Grow S04 E04: From Startup to Scaleup
- Made To Grow S04 E06: Five Perspectives On Change Management Success
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