EAMA appoints new chairman

The GTMA has added its voice to the chorus of welcome to Graham Hayes, CEO of Bradman Lake Group, who has been elected chairman of Engineering and Machinery Alliance (EAMA).

The GTMA has added its voice to the chorus of welcome to Graham Hayes, CEO of Bradman Lake Group, who has been elected chairman of Engineering and Machinery Alliance (EAMA).

GTMA CEO, Julia Moore, commented, "In the current climate of fierce international competition, UK manufacturing needs once more to be recognized, promoted and supported by the Government, as one of the main drivers of our economy.

With his strong background of manufacturing success, we are confident that Graham will provide a powerful voice promoting our sector, and in particular the many SMEs who play such a critical part in the manufacturing supply chain." * About the EAMA - Graham Hayes, chief executive officer of the GBP 35 million Bradman Lake Group has been elected chairman of the EAMA.

The alliance comprises six associations representing over a thousand firms operating in value added engineering, mostly as SMEs.

Hayes, 56, has held senior positions in packaging companies on both sides of the Atlantic for 20 years.

Most recently he has turned Bradman Lake from important but small player into one of Britain's premier packaging machinery groups, with production units in the USA and Germany as well as in the UK and recent acquisitions which have turned the BL Group into a world class supplier of integrated packaging systems.

Hayes said: "Manufacturing should be at the heart of government's economic policy.

It provides the main-spring for improving the nation's quality of life by developing new and innovative products, many of them never seen by the general public who are the ones to benefit from them.

I look forward to bringing a positive message to government about this mostly unsung sector of British enterprise.

These small and medium sized businesses are the lifeblood of UK manufacturing industry, bringing new products to market and supplying OEMs.

"We are competing well, but could do a lot better if only government would craft its policies to help support and release the dynamism and energy inside UK firms today.

Hedging them about, as they are doing now, with ever more complex regulatory requirements stifles progress here and indirectly fosters investment elsewhere, with consequent undesirable effects on the supply chain." EAMA's previous chairman, Michael Legg, retired in July 2004 after serving for nearly three years.

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