DEBATE MANUFACTURING
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
Celebrate Lancashire Day with the county’s business community!
Date: Friday 27 November 2026 Time: 12.00pm – 5.00pm Venue: Burnley Football Club
• Network with like-minded leaders from businesses of all size and sectors
PRESENT:
Richard Slater, Lancashire Business View (Chair) Paula Gill, North West Aerospace Alliance Kate Houlden, Like Technologies Claire Shore, Blackburn College Bryan Welch, Perspex International Karen Keighley, Tapeswitch Darren Grantham, Make UK Melissa Conlon, Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre North West Sara Gaskell, Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub
SHAPING SKILLS FOR INDUSTRY’S FUTURE
We brought together industry and business leaders at Blackburn College to discuss what Lancashire’s next generation of manufacturing might look like
Bryan Welch Perspex International
I see a number of challenges we need to overcome, particularly in our industry, which is very energy intensive. It is about finding our way forward in a high energy environment and managing the cost of energy, but also moving towards automation. There’s a strong need for more automation and the skills we need must be adjusted into that world where we have higher levels of automation in manufacturing.
Addressing recruitment challenges is possibly down to schools and parenting. Historically, manufacturing was something you did if you weren’t doing well at school. Parents might say: “You’re going to end up in that factory.” But the reality is completely different, it shouldn’t
be the case any more. Wages are higher in manufacturing on average across the board.
In a manufacturing business like ours, so many people who joined in one area are now doing something completely different. Our company is full of people who started as plant operators and they are now accountants or production schedulers. I started as a sales rep and now I’m operations director.
We have someone who started in our accounts payable department who is now a plant manager and when people express an interest in going into something new, then we retrain them. We provide the training for them to go back to college on a part time basis and they get the skills and then they develop through the company.
Continued on Page 68 LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK BOOK NOW Become a patron
Put your business at the heart of Lancashire Business Day.
Show your support for the county and raise your profile across Lancashire’s business community.
Contact Joanne Hindley on 07442 949697 or email
joanne@lancashirebusinessview.co.uk.
Brought to you by #LBD26
In association with:
Patrons:
Charity Partner:
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