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3: Working with the engineering and manufacturing sector

  • 2014

  • Basildon Council

Working with the Engineering and Manufacturing Sector

Basildon Council

Working as an economic growth advisor for Basildon with Athey Consulting.

Basildon has a rich heritage in advanced manufacturing and engineering and is home to international names such as Ford Motor Company (automotive research and development), Selex ES (military guidance systems and civil aeronautics), Konica Minolta (printing) and New Holland Agriculture (leading Fiat owned tractor manufacturer). These businesses are just a few of the 6,600 VAT registered enterprises across the borough that form what is a major business hub in Essex employing some 77,000 people in niche sectors covering Aerospace, Automotive, Defence and Medical sectors. Whilst there has been interconnectivity between businesses in these supply chains; there was, the Council officers believed, the potential for further development of this cluster of complimentary industries and it wanted to develop its activities with local manufacturing and engineering companies.

The Council was motivated to apply for funding from the Local Government Associations’ Growth Advisor Programme to ensure that local manufacturing and engineering companies remain in the borough and continue to prosper. This report funded by this programme was undertaken on behalf of Athey Consulting in association with Kada Research.

It was informed by intelligence captured from a good cross section of manufacturing and engineering companies. The study looked at the make-up of local firms in the sector, the markets they operate in and barriers holding them back. It highlights their propensity to export and approach to R&D. It concludes by assessing their inclination to collaborate giving a clear indication of exactly what they might be interested in. Their views on potential collaboration activities ranged from information and intelligence to knowledge sharing and more high intensity measures like developing new products and processes.

The brief for this study was clear that any key actions that were conceived/developed were done so in direct response to employer concerns. They were designed therefore to be relatively achievable and practicable and strike a balance between some early wins and longer term more transformational activity.

“Rich heritage in advanced manufacturing”

“Basildon has a rich heritage in advanced manufacturing and engineering and is home to international names such as Ford Motor Company (automotive research and development), Selex ES (military guidance systems and civil aeronautics), Konica Minolta (printing) and New Holland Agriculture (leading Fiat owned tractor manufacturer).”

~ Working with the Engineering and Manufacturing Sector in Basildon, Athey Consulting, 2014