Teenagers help to ‘clean up’ the manufacturing industry at the recent Make It with McBride Enterprising Challenge

This one-day event sought to attract more young people to careers in the manufacturing sector by showing them the wide range of opportunities the sector has to offer and to promote the work done at McBride’s which has 20 production facilities in 10 countries and produces own brand cleaning products for a wide range of household names.

On the day the pupils were tasked with forming their own mini-manufacturing companies with each pupil adopting a specific job role from Managing Director to Finance Manager, Design Engineer, Quality Controller, Logistics and Sales and Marketing Directors.  Pupils then work their way through a specific set of tasks to – like McBride - design, create, cost and market a new multi purpose cleaning liquid for a customer of their choosing.

At the end of the day the pupils pitched their ideas in front a panel of judges from McBride’s in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style presentation.  All the teams responded really well to the task but in the face of stiff competition it was Philips High School in Whitefield that were awarded the winners trophy for their ‘Mucky Ducky’ baby wash idea which doubled as a waterproof toy.  The Dragons were really impressed by the team work exhibited by the school and their confident pitch which included a loyalty scheme idea to build a loyal customer base.

Second place went to Mossley Hollins High School for their product ‘The Dolphin’.  Again, the judges were really impressed with the team whose product was a liquid soap dispenser which they aimed to follow up with competitively priced soap refills.

On the day McBride also awarded several prizes to those pupils who were deemed to be ‘Outstanding Individuals’.  These included ‘Best Team Player’ which went to Jack Taylor from Oasis Academy Media City UK and ‘Most Creative’ which went to Chloe Helm from Siddal Moor Sports College.

This event was the first that the McBride team in Middleton have sponsored for local schools after several successful events sponsored by their site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.  The company support the Make It campaign as they see the benefits the campaign brings to local schools and also to promote pride at their Middleton site.  Jane Cronin, HR Manager from McBride said:

“We’re delighted to be involved with the Make It campaign.  It’s great to see so much enthusiasm from all the young people here and to be able to show them that the manufacturing industry provides challenging and rewarding career opportunities for today’s young people.”

Stephen Melia, Events Coordinator for the Make It campaign added:  “The North West is the biggest manufacturing region in the UK but employers are telling us that they find it hard to find bright young people with the skills needed to succeed in the industry.  Make It exists to show tomorrow’s workforce that today’s manufacturing industry is one which is clean, highly efficient and dependent upon technology and also has some fantastic employment opportunities for the brightest and best young people.”

The team from Philips High School will now go through to the Make It Grand Final which will be held in 2012.  More information about the campaign can be found at www.makeit.org.uk