A full month of events across Northern Ireland has been officially launched to celebrate the strength and excellence of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and engineering sector.
Manufacturing Month NI, led by Manufacturing NI, is running for the entire month of March. A series of events, talks, workshops, workplace tours, and the flagship annual Anchor High leadership summit will be held across Northern Ireland to highlight local manufacturing success stories, address challenges faced by manufacturers, and inspire the next generation of manufacturing and engineering leaders. An overnight visit is also scheduled to tour Siemens’ Digital Factory in Congleton, and the Advanced Manufacturing Centre UK in Sheffield.
The Anchor High leadership summit takes place on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 March at the Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen and is the leading event of Manufacturing Month NI. The two-day summit will hear from industry leaders including Dervla Convery from Bombardier, Gary Kennedy from Greencore, Tom Hughes from GT Exhausts, and Ciaran Doherty from Huhtamaki.
Sponsored by KPMG, Siemens, Willis Towers Watson, Barclays, Invest NI, and Pinsent Masons, Manufacturing Month NI will bring together industry leaders, politicians and policy experts, young people and schools, and other business leaders to celebrate our manufacturing sector and its successes. A unique video series called ‘Meet the Makers’ has also been produced to profile some of Northern Ireland’s foremost manufacturing firms including Mallaghan’s, Wilson’s Country, Keystone, O’Neills, and Denroy.
Stephen Kelly, Chief Executive, Manufacturing NI said,“We are thrilled to officially launch the first ever Manufacturing Month NI. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the good and the great of our local manufacturing sector, a sector which forms the foundations of the Northern Ireland economy. Northern Ireland has a wealth of manufacturing and engineering talent and we should be proud of the impact our companies and products have globally. Manufacturing Month NI is about amplifying the good news stories of Northern Irish manufacturing.
“We have an exciting and diverse programme of events planned for March which can be found on our website, manufacturingmonthni.com. We will be exploring everything from promoting manufacturing as a viable career option for young women, the effect Brexit and the NI protocol will have on businesses here, an overnight tour to visit cutting-edge facilities in England and a major leadership summit for manufacturing and business leaders in Fermanagh.
“We want to see as many firms as possible from across Northern Ireland get involved with Manufacturing Month NI. We are keen to highlight new products, new initiatives, successful processes and practices, and everything else that makes our local manufacturing sector the world-leader that it is.”