00:00I'm Chris Barlow, I'm a partner with MHA. So Chris, MHA are sponsoring Made in the UK.
00:15That's right. Why was it important for you to get involved in this celebration of British
00:21manufacturing? I think a couple of reasons. I think firstly manufacturing industry is so
00:27vitally important to the UK, has been through and is still going through some great headwinds,
00:33all sorts of things being buffeted into the manufacturing. We've worked manufacturing
00:39businesses for many, many years. We've done reports, surveyed their opinions, taken those
00:44into government to represent the sector and we work with those manufacturers on a day-to-day
00:48basis, advising them how they might want to take their buildings or even their business forward.
00:52And what are some of the ways that you help manufacturers?
00:57I think firstly, it's somebody who will listen to them, somebody who will talk to them,
01:02somebody who will challenge them about where they're taking the business, but then creatively
01:07help them. So is it tax relief? Is it just looking at the individual margins and the way that their
01:12business is working? Just ask them those questions and support them along that path.
01:16And you have, obviously people will know you as accountants, but you have definite experts with
01:23sector expertise in manufacturing, don't you? So do you find these days that people will come
01:28to you for perhaps more general mentorship as well? Yeah, absolutely. We have specialists in all sorts
01:34of areas across the business, from customs and duty all the way through to ESG and everything in
01:40between. And it's those individual experts who can help the business in those particular issues
01:45that they may be having. Yeah. And so we've got Made in the UK. Obviously, these are all of the
01:50winners from the regional, Made in the Northwest, Made in the Midlands, Made in the Southwest and so on.
01:55So these guys are all winners in in their regions. And now they're going forward to the to
02:00the national awards. And I know from Made in the Northwest, there's some amazing businesses and
02:06amazing kind of diversity of sectors, isn't there? There is absolutely. I've seen a bit more of Made in the
02:12Midlands being my base. Yeah, some great stories about how things have been taken, changed,
02:19innovated, and just made better by that. There's some fantastic businesses out there.
02:23Manufacturers are an innovative bunch and you see that every day of the week. Yeah, yeah. And so we've
02:29just had three round tables. We've had ESG, we've had international, we've had AI. Which one were you
02:36sitting on? I was talking about skills and AI. AI, right. Okay. Skills, the challenge that's been
02:42perennial in manufacturing for years and how AI can help and embrace that and not take jobs, but just
02:49take that whole part forward really. So what were some of the themes that you discussed on your
02:54round table? What were some of your findings? I think, firstly, the image of manufacturing,
03:00why we've got that skills gap. So what more can be done with schools and colleges? What more can come from
03:05government to change that image? Um, and then how can AI be brought into those businesses? And there
03:10was, uh, one of the, one of the businesses is up for an award tonight, uh, on our table talking about
03:15how they have taken AI into the business, how they're, they're reducing the test times from three
03:21hours down to two hours and so on. And that's made a huge difference to their business and you can see
03:25the impact that's made. And he talks about the, um, the impact there where you've got perhaps,
03:31they've got like a digital team. They, they happened with the younger people in the business,
03:35wasn't necessarily the plan. And you get that potential conflict with the older people,
03:41seeing it as a more of a threat. And it's some very interesting stories as part of that.
03:44Is it a messaging thing you think, you know, to the team straight away, are people going to say,
03:49oh, AI is coming to take our jobs. And, but, but, but you're saying that's not the case.
03:55Absolutely not the case. It's, it's automating those very repetitive tasks, doing them perhaps
04:02more efficiently, doing them quicker, perhaps reducing the, uh, the error rate within there.
04:07But there's still the human role, there's the testing, there's the checking part of that. So
04:11no, it's not, it doesn't take jobs. Um, it automates those processes.
04:15And potentially frees people up to do, I suppose, more, more specialized things.
04:19Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, um, I mean, it's a, it's a great celebration of,
04:27uh, of manufacturing. And we certainly, um, you know, appreciate you guys being on board.
04:34It's really nice to, to work with you on, on this. I mean, is it, do you have any sort of,
04:39I suppose, closing observations on British manufacturing and kind of where there's been,
04:45as you said, there's been so many international headwinds, you know, where, where is brand
04:49British manufacturing in the world?
04:51British manufacturing is still huge, especially in the world. We're waiting with some bated breath
04:57for, um, an industrial strategy, I think. And it's exactly what that strategy will say.
05:02But as I said, manufacturers are an innovative bunch.
05:06The work you see them do on a day to day basis, British manufacturing is in a good place,
05:11but it could be so much better with additional help and support as part of that process.
