As featured on BBC Midlands Today on 1 July 2020, a new commission is helping to build the region's manufacturing resilience in the wake of recent COVID-19 epidemic, and the subsequent expected economic impact.
The automotive and aerospace sectors in the Midlands appear to have been impacted most over the past few months, whilst defence, food, and drink appear to be resurgent. With estimates showing that up to 20 percent of workforces could disappear in some industries, a new Midlands Manufacturing Resilience Commission, known as M2R, has been set up and aims to address and support manufacturing in the region.
Dr Clive Hickman, Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Technology Centre, recently took on the role as head of this important Commission. During a Midlands Today Manufacturing focus report from BBC Business Correspondent, Peter Plisner, he explained the importance of being able to re-skill our workforce and transfer those skills between different sectors.
“We need to be able to re-skill our workforce so that we can transfer those skills from one sector to another, as one sector becomes more buoyant whilst another is in slight decline.”
With the right skills, support from the Commission, and future growth across different and emerging sectors, we can secure jobs and the future of manufacturing could be more resilient than ever.
To explain more about the commission, the reasons behind its creation, and its overall purpose, an extremely interesting and informative short Q&A session with Dr Clive Hickman is now available online.
Chris White, Director of Policy and Insight Centre for the MTC explores more about the man behind the commission and his passion for the Midlands and manufacturing.
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