By Ged Henderson
STRENGTHENING THE CHAIN
Paula Gill has just returned from a successful air mission – helping showcase Lancashire and the wider north west’s advanced manufacturing excellence to a global audience.
The chief executive of the Nelson headquartered North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) was leading the team promoting and showcasing the region’s capabilities and potential at the Farnborough International Air Show in July.
Unsurprisingly, given the global tensions that exist, much of the focus in the display halls was on defence and fast emerging technologies in that arena.
And with the new incumbent in Number 10 looking to centre his defence policy on reindustrialising the UK, Paula believes that creates opportunity for the sector in Lancashire and its supply chain.
She says: “Andy Burnham, his new chancellor and defence secretary are very much aware and focused on what the UK needs are.
“Lancashire and the north west are well placed to take advantage of this. We have the know how and capabilities to meet that demand. We are already working to develop the next generation of air defence and submarines are being built at Barrow.
“There has never been a better moment for UK supply chain businesses to scale, innovate and lead.”
However, she warns building supply chain resilience will be vital in order to take full advantage of the opportunities coming its way.
And one of the challenges will be having the ability to ramp up the speed of delivery the aerospace and defence sector needs, not only to fulfil a backlog of current orders that exists but to meet the demands of new work.
Paula adds: “We have to make sure that we have the skilled workforce in our supply chain as we grow.”
Founded in 1998 as a grouping of aerospace businesses looking to bring more work into the region, today the NWAA has more than 300 members, many of them in Lancashire.
The original approach of the organisation of ‘being stronger together’ remains central to its future direction. Paula says a major aim of the organisation is to build capability through the development of collaborative consortiums.
She says: “It is about being able to fulfil the growing needs of our sectors, bringing resilience into and developing the supply chain and retaining the level of skills we need.
“It is making sure we have the growth in our local and regional manufacturing from
It is another area the NWAA has been focusing on – encouraging banks to have more trust in businesses in the sector and launching programmes that help strengthen transparency in the supply chain.
She says: “The only way forward is for the supply chain to grow, but how does it invest when there is no money available to do so? There are grown up conversations to be had.”
Paula, 56, took up her role at the NWAA in 2022, having worked in a wide range of innovative sectors and in a variety of senior roles that included business and people development. She also has experience of running her own businesses, having set up her very first enterprise at the tender age of 18.
Go along the M65 and every other building
is some kind of engineering business, often aerospace or automotive
the opportunities that exist because we can do more as part of a group. There is strength in numbers.”
A native of Burnley, Paula points to what already exists in her part of Lancashire. She says: “Go along the M65 and every other building is some kind of engineering or manufacturing business, often aerospace or automotive.”
It is that strength she is urging the government to recognise and build upon as it looks to deliver on defence.
Paula also talks of the ‘massive financial pressures’ that supply chain is under, with money to invest in the future hard to come by.
She explains the dilemma many businesses face, needing to make investments in the tools, technology and people to meet the demands of work that has yet to trickle down into the supply chain to them.
The daughter of a mechanic, her working life began as a signwriter for a Burnley engineering company, although that was not the path she really wanted to take.
She explains: “I wanted to be an engineer, but that opportunity wasn’t available because I was a girl, so I was put in another department and trained to become a signwriter.”
The signs look promising for Lancashire’s advanced manufacturers, and Paula’s role involves pointing decision makers and potential inward investment opportunities in the right direction. That includes working closely with senior figures in the industries as well as sitting around the table with senior government ministers.
She says: “We are here to make sure the skills and capabilities that exist here are front and centre in the industry and our businesses are seen and heard and taken seriously.”
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