Talking the Torque with NorbarNorbar in Banbury - The home of Torque Tools I met Julian the Marketing Manager the other week at the 'Brand and Marketing Workshop' at Glued in Leamington Spa. We were sat next to each other and paired up in a couple of the exercises we carried out, we were a good match as he had an engineering background and we could talk about torque (sorry that had to be done!) I learnt so much about the Norbar company and Julian kindly invited us down to take a further look at the manufacturing and production, I know, I didn't realise myself that they actually manufactured them down in Banbury, but that is where Norbar were founded back during the early 1940s and continue to this day. We spent a very enjoyable two hours touring the extensive site and talking about both our marketing plans, about how to engage people in what we do and more importantly why we do it. Jenny spotted the Norbar sweets first in reception, what a great marketing tool! The advances in Torque wrenches and multipliers was impressive, they not only have production including full machining on site but a special products cell and accredited laboratories for calibration control.
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Great event at Kenilworth SchoolSome questions to answer and props to give them ideas Excellent event at Kenilworth School and Sixth Form here in Warwickshire organised by the schools careers adviser Marie Brennan.
The idea was simple enough, about 25 professionals from all backgrounds seated in the hall at tables in rows. Two groups of students from year 6 (about 13-14 yrs old?) and around 260 in total came in groups of six to sit with the adults and quiz them for six minutes about their job, then like musical chairs they all move around. You can see the questions above, I turned the first question around and asked them what they thought I did as a job, most said builder or surveyor because of the hard hat and hi-viz! The kids were a credit to the school and actually looked interested in what we had to say. My main message when I talk to students about Mechanical Engineering is the transferability of skills between sectors, I go on to describe my own journey through aerospace, prototyping, motorsport, food industry, utilities and now consulting across all of these sectors to 'sell' the profession of engineering to them. I often hear engineers calling out for more youngsters to join our industry, I say the way to go is to get into schools and talk to kids about the opportunities, that's the best way of getting new engineers in my opinion. Glued® is the name for sticky brands and marketing!The GLUED Workbook we worked our way through over three hours I've been looking forward to this for a few weeks, Branding and Marketing Audit Workshop by Rob and David of Glued® who are local to me in Leamington Spa. The format was simple, bring along your brand ideas, marketing materials and be prepared to assess if they might work out in the real world. Without giving too much away the ten attendees discussed their outlooks guided by Rob and David. There was a broad range of business owners and marketing professionals from larger companies so there were tips that could be shared along the way. The basis of some of the content was around the Simon Sinek idea of people usually buying from you because of 'Why' you do what you do, not 'What' you do or 'How' you deliver it. I kind of get this in some respects, but there are still clients I would say don't give a damn about the Why, they just want you to deliver it, now! It gave me some ideas and I will be back at the Glued Warehouse I'm sure soon to brush up on some hard copy marketing materials. Interesting visit to BEV transition siteMini Plant Oxford Visitor Gate 6 in the winter sunshine This is going to be one of those updates where my lips are sealed as to what we discussed or why I was there!
Suffice to say it was a very interesting site visit to see first hand the plant in action manufacturing the newest Mini models at Oxford that are now all battery powered vehicles. Looking forward to subsequent visits if UPTIME Consultant can help them out in the future. One word to sum it up... Impressed |
Andy
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