MEPCA is delighted to celebrate Chris Greenough, MD at Westley Engineering, as our Manufacturing Champion for May. Talking with our editor, Chris shares insights from 30 years in the industry and discusses the importance of reshaping the narrative of UK manufacturing.
Over a career that has taken him from the shop floor as a press operator, to the board room as CEO, Chris Gre enough has become a passionate advocate for UK manufacturing, helping to drive strategic partnerships, innovation and a shared sense of purpose across the industry.
During this time UK manufacturing has weathered many storms, from the recession in 2008, to Brexit, then COVID, and more recently the disruptive effect of the conflict in Iran. It seems to begetting harder all the time, but as are sul the believe s the industry has grown ever more resilient:
“I think UK manufacturing is even more agile and specialised than it was when I first started. I think now we’ve almost got resilience to the headwinds. Every year a new headwind comes and every year we deal with it differently.”
As part of the Support UK Manufacturing Campaign–helmed by another of our Manufacturing Champions, Andrea Wilson–he has helped raise UK manufacturing’s profile and provide it a voice, particularly for SMEs, which have been overlooked by government policy, and he has long been vocal on the need to re-shape the narrative of UK manufacturing in the face of broadly negative media coverage.
Of course, UK manufacturing is facing substantial challenges, but the growing skills shortage is one of them, and by presenting the industry as struggling when its success rests on encouraging new talent and raising its global profilei s counter productive. As Chris put it,
“Why would I want my child to go into UK manufacturing when all I see in the mainstream media is doom and gloom, and re dun dancies?”
He believes atonal shift of how UK manufacturing is treated needs to be adopted across government, education, media and industry. As the founder of MTDSME Focus Podcast, which he hosted for 5 years, exceeding200 episodes, Chris has provided a regular place to celebrate UK manufacturing; on LinkedIn, he shares good news stories every Monday.
“Some weeks it’s really hard to find something positive,” he admits, but by looking past the head line and uncovering the real story, there are usually positive takeaways to be found that speak to the resilience of UK manufacturing.
Has this push to re-frame the narrative had a positive impact? He believes so: “I think there is as witch now, certainly in terms of government and in terms of the mainstream media. They knowhow important manufacturing is fort his country.”
This change has been gradual, but whether that’s because of current events showing the benefit of a strong domestic manufacturing base, or due to the efforts of Chris and other industry advocates, it’s hard to say. Whatever the reason, the message is clear: if we want UK manufacturing to grow and succeed, we must recognise how it already is, and make a habit of sharing these stories.
