Date:  23rd of May
Time:  8:00am to 10:30am
Venue:  Cedar Court, Mayo Avenue, Bradford

The Year of Manufacturing Launch Event is now under a week away. This event will bring together all of the organisations providing support to manufacturers in the local area, and will offer an ideal opportunity to market your services to other manufacturers.

The event incorporates a small exhibition, networking and a Q&A with an expert panel. In effect, it offers manufacturers everything under one roof. Best of all, it is completely free to manufacturers.

The timetable is as follows:

• 8am to 9am –  arrival, refreshments, exhibition and networking
• 9am to 10am – ‘Question Time’ style debate, chaired by Stephen Wright, President of Bradford Chamber of Commerce and MD of Thomas Wright/Thorite
• 10am onwards – opportunity for more networking in the exhibition area and the event will close at 10.30am.

See here for information on reserving your place.

The Ahead Partnership along with the Leeds University Business School are delivering the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme in the Yorkshire region.

The programme is aimed at leaders of SMEs who have the ambition to grow and develop their businesses and it is completely funded by Goldman Sachs.

• The programme enables SMEs to achieve their growth potential by providing participants with tools and resources to help them lay the foundation for long term sustainable growth and job creation.
• The core of the programme is delivered by Leeds University Business School during 12 sessions over a period of 5 months.
• Designed by world-class international, national and local experts, the programme focuses on action based learning to develop practical skills and knowledge.
• The programme is offered free of charge to thirty eligible businesses. The application window for the autumn 2012 programme closes on the 6th of July 2012.

The Ahead Partnership will be holding a series of Open events aimed at giving interested parties further details about the programme and some hints and tips about the application procedure.

See here for further details of the programme and for application information.

Opportunities for two start-up SMEs to win £15,000 of advertising have recently been announced by The Guardian in association with the Business In You partnership. One-to-one meetings with leading business experts, including Yorkshire’s Carl Hopkins, form another part of the attractive support package on offer.

This competition will be open until the 7th of June, 2012. For full application details, see here.

Don’t miss the exciting launch of the Year of Manufacturing!

If you’re in manufacturing, you need to attend this specialist event. It includes an exhibition hall, networking and an open Q&A with an expert panel. It’s an ideal opportunity to present your organisation’s services to a number of motivated and interested manufacturers under one roof.

To reserve your free place or to find out more about exhibiting, please call 01274 354758 or click here to send an email.

The Rising Stars team will be proudly sponsoring this BAMA event.

We think you’ve done something worth celebrating.

We want to shout about your stories of survival and what makes your company and your people great. So, if your company has achieved growth through any of the following:

• entering new markets
• developing or enhancing your products or services
• investing in technology, your factory or your people
• improving efficiency and boosting productivity through new ways of working

then you should enter the EEF awards. They have three awards especially for you:

The Business Growth Award, The Skills and Training Award and The Innovative Operating Practices Award.

Each of them are your chance to demonstrate why you are a leading manufacturer, helping you to stand out from the competition, get your employees motivated and build your business profile.

• find out more about these awards and others you can enter

Is entering our manufacturing awards worth the effort?

We think so, and our previous winners agree. We know you are busy, so we’ve kept our entry process as simple as possible. All you need to do is tell us, in your own words, why what you have done has made such a great impact on your business. Our awards are a great opportunity for you to showcase your achievements, your people and your business.

• Discover more reasons to enter

The EEF Future Manufacturing Awards rewards all areas of business including strategic growth, human resources, operations, export and Apprentices. Don’t forget to tell this to colleagues in other parts of your business who would also like to celebrate their success!

More than 100 of the orthopaedics industry’s top suppliers will be attending this June’s OMTEC 2012 in Chicago.

with big names including Stryker, Zimmer, Medtronic and Biomet already confrmed. A combined initiative by Sheffeld City Region and Leeds City Region LEPs, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and Medilink, this trade  mission gives companies in the orthopaedics sector a fantastic opportunity to network with senior decision makers from the global industry.

As well as giving delegates full access to the OMTEC exhibition, networking sessions and conference, the package on offer also includes one-to-one meetings arranged by UKTI Chicago, fights and accommodation.

UKTI Market Visit Support grants are available to eligible companies taking part in the mission.

For more information on the mission, contact Peter Wheeler at p.wheeler@medilink.co.uk or

0114 2329273.

Bradford Rising Stars visited the Fab Lab in Airedale to see what it can offer entrepreneurs and businesses.

The Fab Lab is currently offering businesses in the Bradford District the opportunity to use up to a day of machinery time and technical support for free. Those who wish to take advantage of this time-limited offer should email info@fablabairedale.org or call 01535 606703.

The Fab Lab is also open to the public. Its cutting-edge 2D and 3D CAD-CAM technology can be used to manufacture any tangible product, be it a small circuit board or an entire piece of furniture.

Growth Businesses looking for equity investment will benefit from attending a Connect Yorkshire Investment Forum.

Connect Yorkshire will be hosting their 22nd Investment Forum in Leeds in June. They are currently looking for any local companies as presenters and exhibitors for this forum. Companies in want of equity funding between £300K and £3M are most suited.

Date: Thursday the 21^st of June.

Location: The DLA Piper Offices in Leeds.

Details of how to get involved in this event can be found here.

Chamber International in partnership with Intertek will be offering exporters the opportunity to meet with Chinese delegates looking to purchase UK products during this year’s MACH exhibition at the Birmingham NEC.50 Chinese delegates will be present, representing 20 corporates.

Find out more about the company profiles and delegate list, or click here to download an information form.

Date and time: 19th April, 2012, 10:00am-12:30pm.
Location: The Toute Suite, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, B40 1NT.

SME Manufacturers can now take advantage of FREE local skills training events from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS). MAS is holding regular skills training events on Lean Awareness, Workplace Organisation, Process Mapping and Measuring Quality, Cost & Delivery (QCD) in Yorkshire & Humber. These training events take place over a full-day and any qualifying SME-manufacturer can register.

Each workshop gives a sound introduction into the principles of Operational Improvement and is suitable for all levels, from management to shop floor.  They take place over a full-day and any qualifying SME-manufacturer can register (max. 2 delegates per company per workshop).

The latest schedule of events can be found at www.mymas.org/events/yorkshire-humber.