It's the last episode of the year, and so naturally we take some time to reflect on 2025.

We have some stories up on The Manufacturer website currently which look back over the year, with our 2025 in pictures feature as well as a round-up of thoughts from industry leaders.

Listen to some reflections from Karen Betts, CEO of the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) as she gives her honest opinions on the perceptions of the food and drink industry, and argues that it doesn't get the same publicity as other sectors.

Speaking of other sectors, we've spoken at length on this podcast about the difficulties facing the UK's steel industry. Hear some welcomed optimism from Max Goodall, Digital Transformation Lead at Sheffield Forgemasters.

We also get the thoughts of Asif Moghal from Autodesk, as he reflects on where AI and digital investments have made the biggest impact in manufacturing this year.

And stay tuned to the end, as we raise an issue that seems to reoccur at this time of year. Do we really enjoy Christmas crackers, tinsel, minced pies and Christmas pudding? Or, is Christmas actually 'Made by a Moron?'

A timely place to end our series on Leadership, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered her Autumn Budget this week.

While we've picked out some broadly positive points for industry around energy relief, skills investment, R&D backing, and infrastructure support, this is a budget that appears to have "fallen flat" with a number of leaders.

Has this Chancellor damaged her reputation with the business community to the point of no repair? Henry Anson, Director of The Manufacturer, appears briefly on this week's episode to have his say.

While we rarely go as far to suggest any government policy is moronic, such impassioned criticism is saved for our 'Made by a Moron' section. This week - cable cars and Joe's porcelain bathroom tiles.

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives, we bring you an interview with Poggy Murray Whitham, Operations Director at EqualEngineers.

EqualEngineers is a diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy, with a mission to make manufacturing, engineering, construction and technology companies as inclusive, equitable, and psychologically safe as possible.

As part of the management team, Poggy oversees programme delivery, creates partnerships with engineering employers and institutions, designs and delivers training, and contributes to the organisation's research reports.

He also represents EqualEngineers at conferences and panel discussions. He's delivered TED Talks that spotlight the human stories, the challenges, and the opportunities for cultural transformation within engineering and manufacturing organisations. He was also inducted into The Manufacturer Top 100 alumni for 2025 in recognition of his work. This episode has been created in partnership with Intergage, one of our sponsors for the Top 100 2025. Half-way through this episode, Paul Moss, Customer Success and Partnerships Manager, briefly gives his thoughts.

The fourth episode of our Leadership Series comes from The Manufacturer Live, which we delivered this week in Liverpool.

Our recording comes from The Manufacturer Studio on day two of The Manufacturing Leaders' Summit, the annual gathering of the industrial elite, with leaders, senior executives and decision-makers representing all industries across the manufacturing sector.

We discuss our thoughts following day one of the summit, as well as our duties over the two days, which included hosting panel discussions and capturing the mood of delegates in the room.

We also express our supreme excitement for The Manufacturer MX Awards, which for another year, recognised the remarkable achievements of companies and individuals within the sector.

Listen on to hear from the overall winners; for our SME winner it was Evtec Automotive, and our Manufacturer of the Year was Siemens Congleton.

Away from the event, we focus momentarily on the recognition of The Royal Mint's e-waste recovery programme, and the revised all electric plans of Bentley Motors.

Hello listener, it's time for another packed episode of The Manufacturer Podcast.

Today, we bring you some soundbites from the factory floors/boardrooms of four UK manufacturers.

Dennis Eagle, commercial refuse vehicles manufacturer, Forterra, a brick and construction materials manufacturer, Bisley, makers of office and home furniture, and Wisla, a textiles manufacturer of narrow fabrics.

An accurate snapshot of modern day industry as we see it. On the face of it, quite mundane sounding - bricks, textiles, boring, right?

And once again, our peak behind the curtain reveals some fascinating innovations and market diversifications, all taking place in high performing, advanced engineering settings.

We also feature part of an interview with Andy Reid, Head of Marketing at Sage. He speaks to Molly about compliance pressures for manufacturers, particularly in food and beverage, and the digital tools that can ease those problems.

Andy will be a keynote speaker at our Manufacturing Leaders' Summit in Liverpool on 11-12 November. His talk will be touching on some of the issues he covers with Molly, and more broadly about how the sector can close the digital gap with global leaders by embracing AI and automation.We then run through the list of finalists for this year's Manufacturer MX Awards and hint at some of the companies and individuals to watch out for. With no hint of favoritism, of course, as we had to remind Joe.

And another critical examination of the transport industry in this week's 'Made by a Moron.' Are the cup holders on table trays really working for you?

What's new with you, listener?

In the industrial world, the big news of the year continues to be the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover. While this was discussed in our last episode, the recent development is around who carried out the attack, with a report from The Telegraph saying that the scale and sophistication of the incident suggests hackers may have been acting on behalf of a foreign state. The link to the Kremlin is now an active line of enquiry. 

The somber mood continues as influential figures in chemicals and steel speak out about the "existential threat" facing both industries.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Founder and Chairman of chemical giants Ineos, has said that the moment of reckoning has finally arrived for Europe’s chemical industry. He believes the industry is at tipping point and only urgent action can save it.

Similarly, Britain’s steelmakers have warned they face “perhaps the biggest crisis” in their history after the European Commission proposed doubling tariffs on steel imports to 50 per cent. Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, has urged ministers to act quickly.

We also hear about Molly's trip to Silverstone to hear from Aston Martin's Formula One team about preparations for next season, where they will be looking at lighter cars, slimmer tyres and electric engines.

And find out what is going at Arla Foods up in Lockerbie, where the company has marked 50 years of cheese-making at Lockerbie with a multi-year investment programme of more than £144 million.

Plenty for your ears to absorb, but if that wasn't enough, Joe, clearly with a lot on his chest, gives us a flurry of entries for this week's 'Made by a Moron.'

After a couple of months away from the mic, we are back with the latest episode of The Manufacturer Podcast. This week's main talking point - the impact of the cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover.

After just over a month of complete shutdown across JLR's three UK sites, in Solihull, Wolverhampton and Halewood, we reflect on the impact this has had.

Of course, JLR is directly affected. Around 34,000 people in the UK work for the company, many of those people have been placed on leave. JLR is reportedly losing £50 million in profit a week, and an expected £2.2 billion in revenue.

This has also hugely impacted the automotive supply base, the companies that provide various parts to JLR. We've spoken to a few of them in recent weeks, and even visited some of the currently idle factories.

Those visits were made by editorial team members on the road for The Manufacturer MX Awards judging weeks. In round two of the process, judging teams entered the facilities of finalists across various categories.

The Operational Excellence category was judged by Jon Tudor of True North Excellence, Alison Beard-Gunter, an independent consultant and the chair of this year's Manufacturing Leaders' Summit, as well as Anish Varkey of Lotus. All three of them share their experiences and insights from their judging week.

The top story on The Manufacturer website this week is Molly Cooper's trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed to check out the latest innovations at the FOS Future Labs.

While there, she had the chance to chat with Tim Peake about his career, getting young people into STEM and what technologies he thinks will change the world.And in this week's 'Made by a Moron,' James Devonshire has trouble on his flight back to Philippines, which forces him to question the point of reclining plane seats.

Take a listen!

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives we have Wendy Graham, the first ever woman to hold the position of Plant Manager at Ford in Dagenham.

This site holds particular significance as far as women’s rights are concerned. This was the site where female factory workers went on strike in 1968 demanding equal pay for equal work.

You can tell that Wendy feels that significance, and she carries that history forward into Ford Dagenham’s present and future.

And she wants to have a strong say in ensuring that the site's future involves a diverse and inclusive workforce, where everyone can thrive.

Our features editor Molly Cooper went to interview her, andthis interview ran in our Q2 edition of The Manufacturer Magazine.

Wendy opens up about some of her experiences, the path that led her to her current role, and her thoughts on diversity and gender within the industry as a whole.

Sit back and enjoy this conversation between Molly and Wendy.

Here is the final episode of our People & Skills series - just for you, listener.

After we catch-up with one another following Smart Manufacturing Week, we discuss some of the big news of the week. Starting with the announcement of the UK's long awaited Industrial Strategy.

We also point you in the direction of some other stories on The Manufacturer website, a couple of which relate to International Women in Engineering Day which also occurred this week.

And an animal themed 'Made by a Moron' this week. As well as a warning to all parents with trampolines.

We recorded this podcast from the show floor at Smart Manufacturing Week at the NEC in Birmingham.

We spoke with Geunther Steiner at the show, who many fans of Formula One will be familiar with. Geunther is the former Team Principal of the Haas Formula One team, and a star of the Netflix documentary 'Drive to Survive'. Part of his interview can be heard in this episode.

The team also run through some of the other highlights that have taken place at the show this week.

We also run through some news from the week, including Sir Keir Starmer's defence spending review, which was announced from the BAE Systems shipbuilding facility in Glasgow.

The Manufacturer Podcast is back after a lengthy absence.

The Q2 edition of The Manufacturer Magazine and a long list of events and editorial visits have been the reason for this.

But we're back with a crash, a bang, and a wallop! As we pay a visit to robot battling Accu in Huddersfield. They'll be bringing their own version of Robot Wars to Smart Manufacturing Week in a couple of weeks.

But first, even more show build-up, as we feature Petra Velzeboer. She'll be one of our keynote speakers at SMW. Her talk will challenge her audience on what it really means to thrive under pressure and she'll be discussing mental health strategies for the industry.

There's all that, and a general catch up on industrial goings on. It's good to have you back, listener.

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives, we have an interview with Paul Brooks, Manufacturing Lead at the

Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade.This was recorded in late April of 2025, when the situation on global tariffs on US exports was uncertain, before the UK and the US struck a tariff deal.

Paul discusses what businesses should consider in the wake of future uncertainty.

Another great episode made lovingly for your ears, listener.

Automotive features heavily here, with visits to two iconic UK plants; Nissan in Sunderland and Ford Dagenham.

We attended an event marking 10 years of the Nissan Skills Foundation, where 200 school kids from the North East flooded the factory floor to build 300 cars out of LEGO.

And Molly visited the historic Ford Dagenham site, where after 97 years, Wendy Graham has become the first Engine Plant Manager. This comes 57 years after women factory workers famously went on strike in a demand for equal pay.

All that and plenty more in today's episode.

Hi listener, a bumper episode for you to get your ears around.

President Trump's comprehensive outlining of trade tariffs imposed on all goods coming into America was announced this week. Hear our reaction and the reaction of UK manufacturers from some of the sectors most impacted.

And, as this is the first episode of our People & Skills Series, we wanted to put a spotlight on apprenticeships, with a recent feature on The Manufacturer website, some recent good news stories in our headlines round-up, and a podcast featured taken from the night of The Engineering Trust Awards in Oxford.

There's all that at plenty more in today's episode.

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives, we feature Professor Mike Capaldi, Chair of Driving the Electric Revolution Industrialisation Centres.

He discusses the need to place Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) at the heart of the UK's green energy strategy, and tells us what DER-IC's role will be in that process.

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives, we feature the cover story of the Q1 edition of The Manufacturer Magazine.

Charlie Kingsley is the Corporate Sustainability Manager at Suntory Beverage & Food GB&I. In this interview he discusses the company's varied and growing sustainability initiatives, and how sustainable manufacturing is central to everything they do.

This episode of The Manufacturer Archives features one of our interviews from National Apprenticeships Week. We hear from India-Grace Humphries, a second-year sustainability consultant apprentice working at Schneider Electric.
India talks about her current role and her route into the industry. She also discusses how the apprenticeship route has really worked for her, and what she believes companies can do to encourage more people into manufacturing.

We have the final episode in our Sustainability Series, specially prepared for your ears, listener.

Our podcast sponsors, Kingspan Insulation, make a number of products from their facility in Pembridge, which are used to insulate buildings of all kinds. We paid them a visit.

Managing Director of The Manufacturer, Grace Gilling, gives a 60 second rundown of sustainability at Smart Manufacturing Week this year.

We also give you a sneak preview of a trip to AB InBev, the largest brewer in the world. And to Haldiram's, India's biggest snack brand.

As well as that, James tells us about his death defying ladder fall, and Joe expresses concerns over his builder's lack of bathroom breaks.

This episode of Archives features Richard Lloyd. Richard has held managing positions at the likes of Accolade Wines at The Park in Bristol, and Encirc Beverages in Cheshire. He is an expert in Lean Operations, and has driven large sustainability projects at his previous companies.

Richard gives us some of his reflections and experiences as a leader. As well as his successful entries in our Manufacturer MX Awards, where he was part of several teams that picked up a numerous honours.

In this episode of The Manufacturer Archives, Andrew Frankland makes another appearance, as ForestNation return to Smart Manufacturing Week this year as the show's sustainability partner.

Hear this full version of Andrew's interview, part of which featured on the Sustainability Series of The Manufacturer Podcast.