Meet the sponsors...

Why are you backing the Best Factory Awards? This is our third time sponsoring the Health & Safety Award, because, as a health and safety organisation ourselves, we are really committed to helping businesses get this right, especially as there are many areas in manufacturing where things can go wrong, which affects both staff and the bottom line. The perception is often that health and safety is all about stopping things happen when actually it's about making things happen – eg, implementing high standards. It's also about showing that health and safety is not just for the industry and health and safety professionals, but that people throughout an organisation can be involved and take this on as well. IOSH offers courses that we believe can make a difference to the culture of a business and improve standards, which is reflected in the improved HSE statistics. There's still some way to go, but it's encouraging. What's the best bit about the awards? That health and safety is a part of several other awards. In other words, it doesn't stand alone, but is considered a real business benefit, in the same way as all of the other awards. What makes British manufacturing great? I believe we do stand for quality in the UK. Where we make things ourselves, we make them well. The shame is that, over the last few years, we've exported much of that ability elsewhere, but lost our way in the process. But we are innovative and still have that capability. It would be good to see this resurrected more widely, particularly as we look at the supply chain where standards are not necessarily as high overseas as they might be. Which was the first factory you ever visited? A dye house at the start of my career. Back then, you were greeted by floors wet from spilled chemicals, pressurised machines and a hot and steamy workplace. That's just how it was to get the job done. It was the hard edge of manufacturing, where the processes all had the potential to cause problems, health and safety wise. What is the most memorable factory you ever visited? The first memorable one was a blind dye house, where all of the chemicals were under computer control. These were cleaner, brighter, more pleasant places to be, albeit many have now moved overseas. The operation was slick and fast. This computerisation of the industry is very impressive where the right investment has been made. What is the best business advice you have ever received? I'm a textile chemist and started out with ICI. My first boss was something of a mentor. When you delivered a report, for example, he would never openly tell you what might be wrong, but just said: 'Plan B'. You had to work out for yourself what needed to be changed and improved; the lesson being that you can't always get things right first time and there's no harm in doing something again. Which manufacturing company do you most admire and why? Last year, Carl Zeiss won the Health & Safety Award [as well as the Best Electronics & Electrical Plant and People Management Awards]. This is a company where health and safety was very much part and parcel of its everyday activities. It doesn't just think health and safety; it is health and safety. I admire any company that makes a brilliant product, while maintaining its responsibilities to staff, in terms of their well-being. If you could run a factory, what would it produce? I love ornamental glass, so I would run a Murano-style factory, because there's such craft involved in this and the end product is amazing. It's always about raising the standards and going for quality.