'There are lots of myths to bust about manufacturing': How Ben Wilson of MPM is inspiring a new generation of apprentices

"One of our apprentices is 17 and we've already committed to investing in a leadership development programme for him because we can see the potential,’’ he said.

Mr Wilson believes it’s foolish to place somebody in a senior role without putting them through training to polish their people skills.

"You would never ask someone new to a job to just do it without training; yet many leaders have had zero training and dealing with human beings can be a lot trickier than producing things,’’ he said. “We communicate with the team regularly, and I want to see people smiling.”

There are plenty of reasons for staff at MPM to feel cheerful. The company, which employs 100 staff, is set to reel in £8m turnover for the current financial year, after it acquired a Durham based business in September last year. Manufacturing has few more passionate advocates than Mr Wilson.

"It's a family business, so from the age of 10 I went to work with my dad because I idolised him; I would go into work with him on school holidays and at weekend,’’ he said. “At careers events, I've been asked what job I would be doing if I weren't doing the job I'm doing now. My answer is always the same: 'I'm doing exactly the career I thought I was going to do, and my goal was always taking over one day."

He’s worked on the factory floor and in customer service and is proud that MPM has flourished in a competitive sector for more than 40 years.

"Health and safety is a massive part of continuous improvement in the industry,” said Mr Wilson. “Just as cars are much safer these days compared with the early 1980s and 1990s, so are manufacturing workplaces. I can remember in the late 1980s seeing pictures of workers smoking a cigarette on a shopfloor close to resin, and other flammable materials. You do think, 'How was that ever allowed?'’

"In the industry today, I believe there are too many 'cost down' initiatives that have a detrimental impact on product quality. I’m all for efficiencies and value for the customer, but not providing an inferior product in the process.

"There are a lot of myths to bust about manufacturing, and there also seem to be myths around apprentices, specifically that employers hire them only because they are cheap labour,’’ he continued. “But they are not cheap labour. It takes time to train them, and you lose output because of the colleague who is training them. The apprentice's hourly rate based on output puts them on par with some of your longest serving team members.”

He believes in apprenticeships because staff hired at the earliest stage of their careers can prove to be the most steadfast employees, in a company which works extensively in sectors including automotive, oil and gas and signage.

"We supply parts for motor homes,’’ he said. “When people go on holiday as a family in a motorhome, we play a role in creating that experience. We don’t look as fancy as the production line building the vehicle but they’ve subcontracted the work to us for our skill, space, and for having the right environment for health and safety purposes."

Mr Wilson and MPM Group have been long-standing supporters of the Leeds Manufacturing Festival, which aims to improve perceptions of manufacturing among young people.

"We got involved in the festival because we felt there were too many people complaining and not doing anything,” he recalled.

"There was no point in just complaining about the widening skills gap. It's all about marketing your business. If students aren't aware that you exist and can't see what you do, why would they want to come and work with you?

"It's a chance to get on a soapbox because I feel manufacturing and industry as a whole have been overlooked by too many Governments of all parties.

"A lack of a joined up industrial strategy has been damaging, alongside a reluctance to talk about manufacturing in education, despite the fact there are so many routes available in manufacturing for vocational training.

"You will always need entry level roles. There need to be routes into employment for those people who may not have achieved top grades at school but whom the employer is willing to take a chance on.

"If all we talk about is advanced manufacturing and engineering and higher level degree apprenticeships, and we're not talking about entry level jobs, people won't know about them and will think they're at a dead end.

"A lot of people will go into a manufacturing company, learn on the job, and 15 years later they become sales directors, or move into other departments, or continue to thrive in a role they enjoy. They have the technical knowledge to understand what they're selling because they've produced it on the shop floor.”

Mr Wilson has been recognised on the national stage. He was among 130 leaders honoured by the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, for the roles they are playing in shaping Britain’s economic future. Mr Wilson was nominated for his “empathetic leadership at MPM”, driven by the core belief that “people make the difference”.

“My perfect legacy at MPM would be that it continues to thrive with a great team, long after I am gone; and to do that you have to create an environment for people to grow,’’ he said.