Meet the sponsors...

Q Why are you backing the Best Factory Awards? If you look at other awards and similar activities, for us at EAL this is the one to be involved with. It showcases the best of UK manufacturing talent and celebrates all that's best about the industry, which is something that aligns closely with EAL, and the qualifications we support and recognise. UK manufacturing doesn't get the pat on the back it deserves and it's very good at being modest about itself, too. The awards help to show what a great industry this is and the huge contribution it makes to the UK economy. Q What's the best bit about the awards? For me, it's the celebrating of success and the smiles on the faces of the winners. The awards also raise the profile of manufacturing, especially when you hear the case studies of the remarkable things being achieved. For EAL, it's a great way to learn what manufacturers have done to improve their businesses and we are able to apply the same principles to our own practices, especially in areas such as lean manufacturing. QWhat is the best business advice you've ever received? It was something Sir Alan Jones, chairman emeritus of Toyota in the UK and former chairman of Semta [the sector skills council], once said to me: "Be the flea on the monkey's back." You can grow slowly as a business and unnoticed, until you get to be a certain size and a force to be reckoned with. That's what we've sought to do at EAL as an awarding organisation: go from strength to strength, focusing on what manufacturers and employers need to help their businesses. Q What makes British manufacturing great? Its contribution to the UK economy, of course, but also I would say, as someone who has worked for manufacturers both small and large, the strength of spirit and fierce pride in what it does, providing things of quality and often first class. That's something you don't always see in other sectors. QWhich manufacturing company do you most admire and why? If I had to pick one, it would be Nissan, for its absolute commitment to skills and how fantastically well the Sunderland plant competes against all the Nissan plants around the world. We work closely with Nissan and, through the 'Pre-employment in Manufacturing' qualification we've introduced, have seen 1,100 unemployed people placed in permanent positions on the Nissan production line. It's an innovative scheme that's made a huge contribution to the local economy – and one that's applicable elsewhere as well. QWhich was the first factory you ever visited? Pipeline Induction Heat – my first real job after university. It's a small, highly specialised company in Burnley that supplies anti-corrosive coatings for oil and gas pipelines. After two years, I moved on to work for Davy International in Sheffield, with the sheer scale of operations giving me a whole new perspective. That was the starting point of my fascination with the industry, small and large organisations alike. For example, it's an amazing sight to see pipe being rolled out and laid, almost as if it was on a cotton reel. It's what makes manufacturing so special. QWhich is the most memorable factory you've been inside? There's the gracefulness of the Nissan production plant and the sheer scale of Rolls-Royce. But I'd have to say Taylors of Harrogate. You would never believe how much work goes into making the common-or-garden teabag and the engineering equipment needed to produce these. And now Taylors are leading the way in speciality coffee as well. Q If you could bestow one gift on UK manufacturing, what would that be? If I had a magic wand, I'd use it to get the public to support British manufacturing in one fell swoop, eliminating the idea that it is dirty and greasy, when it has really become very high tech. I would like to open people's eyes to today's reality, which is not the same as 30-40 years ago, so they might encourage their sons and daughters into what is a great career.