David Wright, chairman of Made in the Midlands, spoke to James Pozzi about the record breaking success of its annual expo and its plans going forward.
JP: The recent MIM event saw over 1000 delegates and 100 exhibitors of regional manufacturers in attendance. Are such healthy figures an illustration of a regional upturn in manufacturing?
DW: This was our 5th annual Made in the Midlands expo and it was our biggest and best to date. Its grown exponentially during this period and its no coincidence that its reflected whats happening economically, mirroring the PMI data. Manufacturing in this region is driving the national growth figures and our members are gaining the confidence to showcase their successes and demonstrate the real stories behind the headline figures.
JP: The Midlands is renowned for its strong automotive heritage. Which other industries were particularly well represented at the event?
DW: Most of our members have the luxury of operating in a number of well performing sectors with broad customer bases, so we targeted and saw strong aerospace, medical and nuclear industry representation at the event. Aerospace is particularly exciting for the Midlands with its projected market share to increase by hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade, reflected by the global commitment to orders for new civil and military aircraft, the majority of components for which are manufactured within a 40 mile radius of Wolverhampton.
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