Manufacturing Week will ‘get Lancashire growing'

The county’s manufacturing businesses will be given the opportunity to access free business growth advice during the third annual Lancashire Manufacturing Week being held later this month.

Manufacturing bosses are being invited to attend the free events from June 28 to July 1 which will showcase business support opportunities and inspiring success stories.

Among the issues being discussed will be ‘manufacturing after the EU referendum’, funding options available to manufacturers, tackling skills shortages, innovation, exports and tax matters.

Ginni Cooper, head of the manufacturing team at Moore and Smalley chartered accountants, one of the partners behind Lancashire Manufacturing Week, said: “Lancashire is full of inspiring manufacturing businesses and this week is dedicated to shining a spotlight on them on and how they can achieve greater success.

“Of course, there are many challenges out there too in what is still a fragile economy, but the aim of this week of free events is to equip all manufacturers with the information and knowledge they need to grow.”

The week of events kicks off on June 28 with a roundtable discussion covering key issues for the sector following the EU referendum vote.

On June 29, attendees will get the opportunity to hear about the range of potential funding options available to them, including grant funding, bank finance and private equity. The event will take place at world-leading cask and keg repair business Morrow Brothers Packaging, based at Buckshaw Village, which will share its own success story with the audience.

On June 30, businesses and education and training providers come together at Westleigh Conference Centre, Preston, to discuss how the county can overcome skills shortages in the manufacturing sector.

The week will finish with the opportunity for businesses to attend a range of free advice clinics. The clinics, by appointment only, will allow manufacturers to get advice from innovation experts at UCLan, tax experts at Moore and Smalley and international trade and funding experts at HSBC. Lancashire Manufacturing Week is organised by Moore and Smalley, UCLan and HSBC, and is supported by Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub, the government’s Apprenticeships programme, EEF, Themis, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and Lancashire Business View magazine.