By Jon Card
Success in manufacturing depends on world class branding and innovative design 鈥 but this is too often overlooked, a leading academic and former business leader has claimed.
Beverley Nielsen, director of corporate affairs at , says the recent success of Midlands-based manufacturers and has relied heavily upon the work of the creative industries.
But she claimed policymakers and education bosses have failed to sufficiently recognise these collaborations and calls for a rethink of how we define manufacturing.
Ms Nielsen said: 鈥淚 began to look at this four years ago and what soon became apparent was that there wasn鈥檛 much focus on the way that branding and design drives competitiveness in manufacturing.
鈥淭he combination between design and branding is really crucial for companies that want to sell to the public.
鈥淏rands are what drive value and what can drive the West Midlands region forward.
鈥淧eople buy products not just because they need them but because they say something about them as individuals. Companies that understand that are the ones which will succeed.鈥
Ms Nielsen, who was previously the managing director of Fired Earth, a part of the Aga Rangemaster Group, says her experience there helped her understand how much design and manufacturing were linked.
鈥淒uring my time as managing director at Fired Earth it became apparent that we had to be really good working with new businesses in a range of innovative and creative sectors.
鈥淢anufacturing is often a very visual business and you have to work with all sorts of different creatives.鈥
Ms Nielsen established the think tank Idea Birmingham, which brought together the leading lights of the Midlands manufacturing sector, including Jaguar Land Rover, GKN, Aga Rangemaster and JCB, to promote design-focused innovation and brand-led businesses.
She said the success of these businesses clearly illustrates the vital nature of creativity and added: 鈥淭he Looking for Growth report surveyed 24 companies and examined the importance of design-driven innovation to business growth.
鈥淭his was in 2012 when collectively they were turning about 拢24.5 billion in 2012. These 24 companies have increased their turnover to over 拢30 billion since then.鈥
The research suggests the impact of manufacturing on the 海角视频 economy is far greater than previously thought.
Ms Neilsen said: 鈥淭he supply chain of manufacturing includes many sectors which people don鈥檛 focus on in terms of manufacturing, such as graphic design, digital, photography, social media and search engine optimisation (SEO).
鈥淲hen you look at some of these companies it becomes clear that they are reliant upon manufacturing businesses.
鈥淭he link between the creative industries and manufacturing is not sufficiently recognised.鈥
Ms Nielsen also claimed there needs to be greater collaboration and overlap between the different sectors.
She called for more 鈥渋nter-disciplinary learning鈥 in schools and universities.
Ms Nielsen: 鈥淎ll the major manufacturers point to the importance of design driven innovation and they are all saying that graduate skills are too narrow.
鈥淓ither they are too STEM focused (science, technology, engineering, maths) focused or too arts focused. They want thinking doers with a broader, multi-disciplinary focus who are able to think more creatively 鈥 people with deep knowledge in an area and the ability to understand a broader picture.鈥
Projects co-ordinated by BCU have attempted to cross the divide by bringing creative students into contact with manufacturers and getting them to work on 鈥榣ive projects鈥.
Ms Nielsen said: 鈥淥ne of the ways we did that was by creating multi-disciplined teams and getting them to solve problems and challenges.
鈥淪tudents that visited Triumph were asked to make lifestyle accessories from parts in their factory.
鈥淭hey created hat stands and cork screws and some visually powerful ideas which were really quite exciting.鈥
But policymakers tasked with rebalancing the economy and boosting 海角视频 exports are not necessarily up to speed with this type of thinking.
Ms Nielsen spoke at a fringe event at the recent Conservative Party conference, entitled the 鈥楥hanging Shape of Manufacturing鈥, where she argued that the way manufacturing鈥檚 economic impact is assessed is flawed.
She does not feel her argument has been fully embraced.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the message is getting through enough,鈥 she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also something of a bugbear of mine that the West Midlands region isn鈥檛 being properly recognised for its contribution and role in the 海角视频 economy.鈥
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