East Midlands Chamber’s annual Manufacturing and Trade Conference took place on 26th March 2024, bringing together keynote speakers from organisations across the region with workshops and panel discussions.
The conference at Loughborough University unpicked the four “I’s” outlined in East Midlands Chamber’s Manifesto for Growth 2024: Investment, Innovation, Infrastructure and International Trade.
Speakers at the conference included those from the Chamber, East Midlands Airport, East Midlands Freeport and educational establishments in Loughborough, Leicestershire as well as a representative from the Department for Business and Trade.
One of the other speakers, Director of SME Engagement at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Steve Morris said: "We’re the eighth largest country in the world in manufacturing output and then we’re 24th on the index in robots. The difference between the two is a lack of productivity because we’re not embedding robotics and automation into manufacturing production process.
“East Midlands Chamber have done a phenomenal job bringing the eco system of manufacturing in the region together. We’re all in it together and we’ve all got a part to play and the more that we can join up the dots of all the different eco systems and partners in the region, optimise the assets we’ve got, we’ll get to number seven very quickly.”
Professor Shahin Rahimifard from Loughborough University said: “No action is no option. I believe at some point every manufacturing company is going to say material costs are going up, I won’t have access, I can’t get it. During COVID we had this, because of the supply chain interruptions. Imagine those supply chain interruptions were about the lack of availability of the material so you’re not actually able to do business.”
East Midlands Chamber Head of Special Projects Richard Blackmore said: “In a year of political and economic change, the Manufacturing and Trade conference was a chance for businesses to explore the opportunities in the East Midlands and maximise growth potential, while also looking at the challenges faced by these changes.
“The key focus of the conference this year was breaking down the asks in the Manifesto for Growth 2024 that we presented to Westminster this month, going into each of the asks and looking at the interaction between what those asks are and what the manufacturing and trade industries need.”