The Manufacturing Club

Club History

The St Neots Initiative, as the then St Neots Town Centre Management Group, was founded in 1998. Unlike most such bodies we looked for edge-of-town manufacturers as well as the High Street for our funding. By 2003 we had several manufacturer members and looked at how we could repay their support. At that time we made contact with the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), part of the Engineering Faculty at Cambridge University, which had member companies of their own in St Neots. We agreed to pool our contacts and offer them a Manufacturing Club where they could work together.  Invitations went out to both groups and the first meeting was held in Sealed Air’s Plant 2 Conference Room. This first meeting got a useful but not big attendance but with the second the concept took off. St Neots has an unusual concentration of manufacturing with most of it being in Engineering, which later drew Marshall’s Aerospace to being a Club member.

The Club has always had a good mix with several multinationals with global reputations, such as ABB, Bosch Rexroth, SealedAir, and RWE with its local Power Station. The impressive Wyboston Lakes Training and Leisure Complex has always been a keen supporter. All these companies took it in turn to host the Club’s regular (three or four times a year), well-attended meetings, with outside speakers. The larger Club members have always hosted the meetings on a rota and provided technical backup and buffet lunches. The Club also has a wide range of impressive and varied SMEs (Small and Medium Size Enterprises).  Over the years we have also built up our partnerships with outside bodies, starting with the IfM but also the EEF (now Make UK), Anglia Ruskin University, and Local Authorities with, latterly, the Combined Authority joining us. Overall we have 26 Club members, 12 close partners, and another 8 bodies in a wider network.

The Club speaker presentations have targeted specific areas in most of the Club meetings. There has always been a need to address skills issues. Other areas regularly tracked are emerging technologies, such as 3D, laser, and, more recently, energy technologies like hydrogen and nuclear fusion. The climate change challenge is another area of focus. We also cover local economic developments and strategies or very local community issues.  We have had a lot of favourable attention in recent years which has been encouraging. However, currently, we have the challenge of the impact of the global pandemic, maintaining our connections and communications. The Club members were surprisingly active during the lockdown. There were good connections over several matters and the Club has come back ever-stronger and are addressing the current and future industry challenges.

About Club Meetings

Meetings are held three or four times a year and the usual format is: