The university’s regional business engagement officer Sam McKay highlights its support for two important sectors in the Northamptonshire economy: logistics and manufacturing.
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Published in association with
THE University of Northampton’s industry forums are designed to support businesses, providing peer-to-peer support for businesses from start-ups to large companies. All forums are open to those wanting to share knowledge and best practice, ask for advice and work together on challenges within their industry.
At the heart of the forums is UON’s ambition to explore ways in which it can support business in a variety of ways including:
- Supporting your recruitment and connecting with the future workforce; for example, student placements, internships and work experience, graduate recruitment, engaging with careers fairs and guest lectures.
- Knowledge exchange and supporting innovation – knowledge transfer partnerships, academic consultancy, industry projects and research.
- Commercialisation, including Continuing Professional Development, Intellectual Property advice, utilising our facilities and equipment.
The logistics industry in Northamptonshire is significant, with numerous companies operating in warehousing, distribution and transportation. Given the importance of this sector to the local economy, the Northamptonshire Logistics Forum was established to facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing and networking among stakeholders.
The NLF brings together businesses, local authority representatives, educational institutions and other relevant organisations to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the industry and to work towards common goals such as improving infrastructure, promoting innovation, and supporting workforce development.
Last year Ashley Burton became the chair of the Northamptonshire Logistics Forum. Ashley is a regional general manager within GXO Logistics, the largest pure-play contract logistics business, globally operating in 27 countries with 94,000 colleagues. Ashley works with a number of blue-chip retail businesses currently managing their end-to-end supply chain and more than 1,000 colleagues across seven locations in the UK.
The NLF meets quarterly, typically face to face on a Thursday morning. Four themes were identified this past year – people and skills; safety; infrastructure; automation – and these have been the focus of the sessions which includes speakers and roundtable discussions.
The Northamptonshire Manufacturing Forum was relaunched in June this year following a short hiatus. The principal objective of the forum is to promote and support the interests of manufacturing companies and the sector in the county, enabling and supporting opportunities for innovation and the sharing of best practice across the sector.
The NMF follow a tried and tested formula. Meeting quarterly – typically for a Friday breakfast slot – sessions include a roundtable discussion about current events and challenges and guest speakers working within or supporting the manufacturing industry.
Our meetings move around the county, hosted by members. This allows the NMF to gain insight into different locations and businesses with each meeting. Where possible, we also include a factory tour as a part of the agenda
The NMF is chaired by Jolene Spall, operations director at Whitworths. The University of Northampton provides a secretariat and support role.
The forum’s relaunch was hosted by Whitworths and included a presentation from the site manager and a tour of the factory in Irthlingborough.
We work closely with Make UK and provide an update at each meeting, where possible delivered by the Make UK team.
The forum is run for the benefit of the members and we are always keen to welcome new members and new hosts for our meetings
Our next meeting will align with Northamptonshire Manufacturing Week and will be hosted by Weetabix.
If you’re interested in becoming a member of either of these forums, email us at .
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