| UK. British Marine Federation Manufacturing Forum at the Heritage Motor Centre |
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| Friday, 07 July 2006 | |
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Association news: The BMF Marine Manufacturing Forum on 5 July at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon, Warwickshire was a great success. The National Composites Network generously supported the event, and there were many favourable comments about the value of the day. Delegates gained new insights about how to improve their business's performance and develop new opportunities, and the speakers were able to explain and discuss how they could work more closely with the marine industry to assist in the key areas essential to its continuing growth and success. The 40 people who attended were entertained and inspired by speakers covering topics under the themes of Competitiveness, Knowledge Transfer and Collaborative R&D, and Manufacturing and Business Improvement. The programme illustrated how improving business performance and competitiveness can be achieved using the many support initiatives and services that are available from the public and private sector. The DTI Sector Competitiveness Analysis of the UK Leisure Boatbuilding Industry presented by Nick Heyes of DTI was used as a starting point to show how the industry can and must compete to develop and respond to the many competitive challenges. In the morning session that followed Dr Marcus Warwick outlined the NCN Technology Roadmap for marine and the NCN support available to help industry, Martyn Pearson of MAS SW put the case for lean processes and manufacturing improvement, Professor Ajit Shenoi explained the work at the University of Southampton on R&D in small craft structures and design, and James Brennan gave some surprising and impressive examples of how the Defence Diversification Agency can offer advanced technical solutions to marine businesses of all sizes through its own resources and the EU Innovation Network. In a change of theme after lunch an inspiring keynote presentation from Rebecca Battman showed why branding and customer focus are essential to business success and how they drive all aspects of a business, with several examples from the marine industry. Dr Treve Willis of the Innovation Advisory Service SE described how this recently established initiative can help transfer ideas from the knowledge base into industry and signpost businesses to other sources of support for innovation. Innovation in practice was illustrated by Peter Furby of 3M UK that makes a large range of products suitable for marine applications, offering innovative solutions to everyday manufacturing and leisure boating problems. The final very well received presentation was delivered by James Cooney and Andrew Sims of Cooney Marine. They provided clear evidence of how a successful UK marine manufacturing business can grow and look optimistically to the future by applying as much as possible of what the previous speakers had said. The Heritage Motor Centre proved an ideal venue and during the breaks there was plenty of time for networking and a tour of the museum. Many of the speakers and delegates found new contacts that will lead to mutually beneficial business opportunities, making this event a very worthwhile experience for all who attended. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 07 July 2006 ) |
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