Made in Britain CEO, John Pearce (pictured), took to the airwaves last week to discuss the challenges and opportunities in UK manufacturing with LBC’s Iain Dale. During the discussion, John faced questions from the radio veteran and callers alike - and maintained his focus on highlighting the critical importance of marketing British-made products more effectively. This is vital to ensure that the sector remains attractive to future generations and competitive on the world stage.
Iain Dale, LBC host, said: “If you look at the league table, we are still the ninth biggest manufacturing economy in the world. Now, if you say to me, ‘Yeah, but what do we manufacture?’ then I start to struggle because the industry is absolutely terrible at getting this message across. We should be shouting about it.”
John Pearce, CEO of Made in Britain, said: “We’ve spent the last 10 years trying to help people like you want to know what's made here in this country, and we've now got to a point where there are more than 2,000 companies all using the same trademark. We protect it for them, and then they use it on their products to identify the products that they make here.”
John also highlighted the growing importance of the Made in Britain database of members in connecting British businesses that want to work directly with local manufacturers for British-made products, adding “Our members also add their products onto a database, we've got a place where the general public can go to find this information easily. They can go to madeinbritain.org, where they will see everything that we're making here.”
The hour-long discussion also touched on the importance of modernising British manufacturing to remain competitive. While countries like Germany have long prioritised automation and high-tech production, many UK manufacturers still rely on outdated equipment. John emphasised that strategic investment in robotics and digital manufacturing could help close this gap and make the sector more appealing to young talent.
Listen to the full discussion about the future of British-made manufacturing, LBC’s video interview is here.
By Made in Britain 3 weeks ago | Media coverage