Miranda Barker OBE Chief executive
@elancschamber
BECOMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
FOR THE WORLD The rest of the UK is now being told what Lancashire has always known – that manufacturing plays a huge part in the UK’s economy.
continue to give it a cutting edge, including 3D printing.
Garry says: “This technology enables us to produce lightweight, highly accurate and robust airframe parts and tooling which are delivered at pace, whilst also helping to reduce carbon emissions.”
The business has also been actively investing in developing its workforce, which now
numbers 27. Chief executive and business founder Jerrod Hartley, who began his career with BAE Systems, says: “We strive for business excellence in all of our dealings and our people are at the heart of that.
“The teams working on our specialist components span an age range of five decades with skills in design, analysis, certification and additive manufacturing.”
ENGINEERING NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Nelson-based Graham Engineering (GEL) has strong foundations in nuclear product development and long-term agreements with big players in the sector.
It has taken advantage of Lancashire’s Watchtower programme to seek opportunities to diversify into other industries, including aerospace.
The aim has been to find other highly regulated markets requiring high integrity stainless steel or other exotic metal fabrications.
The business, which has a 168-strong workforce, believes its participation in Watchtower is now opening new doors.
The £1m initiative, launched in 2022, has worked to support development and growth in aerospace and advanced engineering and manufacturing industries across the county.
The Watchtower programme worked with GEL to assess its current diversification capabilities and areas or sectors of interest in which to take its core competencies.
It then worked through the North West Aerospace Alliance’s network of advanced
engineering and manufacturing contacts to make warm referrals.
Pat Garth, a member of GEL’s business development team, says: “It has been a fantastic programme and we are making inroads in potential new markets as a result, including discussions with other companies on potential collaboration.
“We’ve been able to tap into the intimate knowledge Watchtower and its people possess. They have been our resource for research. It’s the people involved that make it work.”
GEL has grown and developed out of its nuclear work, including playing its part in the massive Sellafield decommissioning project in West Cumbria.
Pat adds: “Nuclear and aerospace, especially in defence, have common denominators. They are both highly regulated, which is something we have cut our teeth on.
“We’ve looked to diversify because we know what we are capable of delivering through our engineering experience and knowledge. We have the skills that can be transferred.”
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
“The True Impact of UK Manufacturing” shows industry is worth £518bn and supports 7.3 million UK jobs across the communities it operates in, making up nearly a quarter of the UK’s GDP.
The secret is in the supply chain and that is what we have locally in Lancashire in spades. The mantra from BAE has always been – we are here and we stay here because of our supply chain of 500-plus SMEs.
To co-locate with their supply chain has been a major driver behind so many recent inward investment journeys of businesses coming to Lancashire. To make their suppliers not just arms length, lowest price vendors, continents away, at the mercy of covid and Red Sea fragility of transport routes, but to be close at hand – local, reachable, partners in product development.
This report from The Manufacturing Technologies Association and Oxford Economics gives us the ammunition – power to our voice, statistics on a national scale - and we need to use them.
We must lobby our future government and combined authority. The UK must have an industrial strategy with ambition. We must look at our overseas competitors, build on our best sector strengths and capitalise on all those talents – we can be the supply chain for the world.
For the Lancashire economy, for our supply chain of manufacturers across so many sectors, our business communities and our future jobs – we must.
To download the report please scan the QR code.
Call us on 01254 356400 or visit
chamberelancs.co.uk
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IN VIEW
AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE
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