Industry Online Meet-Up with Fletcher Moorland, OE Electrics & EMR

Join our Industry Meet-up!

Join us for a captivating virtual event where industry experts, thought leaders, and professionals gather to share knowledge, insights, and best practices. Our mission is to foster collaboration, inspire innovation, and drive growth within the manufacturing community.

Our industry Meet-up event series features engaging talks from renowned speakers, focusing on key themes that shape the future of manufacturing. This online event covers a wide range of headline topics, including: Future Factories, Sustainable Manufacturing, Growth Strategies, and People & Skills.

Join us for this powerful and inspiring 75-minute event that will ignite your passion and creativity!

November's lineup of speakers and Roundtable Session subtopics includes:

• Matt Fletcher – Managing Director, Fletcher Moorland  

Building the Workforce Britain Needs Through Belief and Early Investment ( People & Skills )

The competitiveness of UK manufacturing depends on people – and that pipeline of skilled engineers begins with belief. For Matt Fletcher, Managing Director of Fletcher Moorland, investing early in people has become both a strategy and a culture. What started with gifting a 16-year-old his first toolkit has grown into #GetTooledUp, a nationwide initiative equipping young engineers with tools and confidence to build their futures.

In this talk, Matt explores how early investment, trust, and authentic leadership can transform workforce engagement and retention. He’ll share practical ways to make skills a board-level priority – from developing engineers from within to shifting the language of leadership to inspire belonging and belief.

• Charlie Owen – Operations Manager, OE Electrics

Unlocking Capacity: OE Electrics’ Journey to Double Revenue Potential in 30% Less Space ( Future Factories )

Faced with a “full” factory and no room to grow, OE Electrics stepped back to re‑engineer layout, processes and picking. In this fast‑paced session, Operations Manager Charlie Owen shares how the team compressed revenue‑generating operations into 30% less space while almost doubling the area’s revenue potential, engineered out 2,300 annual labour hours, and delivered a 280% uplift in picking productivity – all while overcoming natural resistance to change. Expect an honest, practical walkthrough of the data gathering, redesign decisions, stakeholder engagement and lessons learned, with actionable tips any manufacturer can apply to release capacity without bricks‑and‑mortar spend.

•  Guy Mercer - Director of Sustainability, EMR

Unlocking Opportunity Through Circularity: Why Britain’s Future Depends on Sovereign Materials ( Sustainable Manufacturing )

Our economy has always relied on extracting, making, and discarding. But as resources tighten and global competition intensifies, the future will belong to those who design, reuse, and retain.

With more than 30 years’ experience guiding major industrial and automotive projects in sustainability and environmental strategy, Guy will share how circularity is evolving from theory to tangible competitive advantage.

He’ll introduce key ideas such as sovereign materials – the case for keeping valuable resources within our borders – and the urban mine, a reminder that the materials we need are already all around us. Far from being a constraint, the circular economy represents a powerful opportunity for innovation, efficiency, and national resilience.

Agenda

9:00 AM – Members join the virtual meeting
9:02 AM – Official welcome and event start
9:02–9:10 AM – Community updates and announcements
9:10–9:38 AM – Best Practice Talks from Made Community speakers (1, 2 & 3)
Topics include people & skills, growth strategies, smart factories, and sustainable manufacturing
(Each talk: 5–8 minutes)
9:40 AM – Member Virtual Roundtable Sessions
Members join their chosen session via the Made Platform events page
10:10 AM – Return to the main room for final remarks and goodbyes