Support for Manufacturing Directors

Through the IMAGE programme, subsidised places are available for Cranfield School of Management's acclaimed Manufacturing Director's Programme. The Manufacturing Director's programme is Cranfield University's flagship manufacturing course for senior managers and directors who have direct responsibility or influence over manufacturing strategy and business performance. 

To our knowledge, it is the only manufacturing executive development programme in the UK that combines the prowess of leadership and strategy experts at Cranfield's world-leading management school with the industrial might of manufacturing doyens that Cranfield University is globally famed for. Now more than ever, manufacturing leaders need to be more adaptive, employ greater agility and be resilient in order to respond to strategic threats such as competition, intense pricing pressures and a changing legal and regulatory environment. 

This programme builds on your current strategic leadership and manufacturing competencies so that you better manage uncertainty and risk whilst driving the agenda for innovation and productivity improvements. 

  • Diagnose your business's manufacturing requirements
  • Build strategic manufacturing capabilities for competitive advantage
  • Develop personal leadership skills vital for leading your strategy
  • Harness technology trends and open innovation to ensure that you build leading-edge manufacturing capability for your business.

At a glance

  • Dates: 3-4 June 2019
  • Duration: 2 x two-day residential plus presentation day
  • Location: Cranfield campus
  • Cost: £2,000 after subsidies and grant funding

Module dates

The programme modules run on the following dates:

  • 3-4 June 2019
  • 8-9 July 2019
  • 23 September 2019

What you will learn

This programme builds on your current strategic leadership and manufacturing competencies so that you better manage uncertainty and risk whilst driving the agenda for innovation and productivity improvements. 

  • Diagnose your business's manufacturing requirements 
  • Build strategic manufacturing capabilities for competitive advantage
  • Develop personal leadership skills vital for leading your strategy 
  • Harness technology trends and open innovation to ensure that you build leading-edge manufacturing capability for your business.

Core content

Residential Module 1 (two days): Agile Resource Integration and Coordination, Technology Trends and Open Innovation

Manufacturing Director's Programme helps participants leverage the resources currently available to them by developing the leadership skills they need to translate strategy into action including

  • Learning strategy framework tools for building powerful business strategies 
  • Assessing the impact of manufacturing strategy on business performance
  • Connecting the manufacturing strategy with execution and agile resourcing.

Evidence and experience tells us that technology is the key enabler for delivering productive and flexible operations as well as innovation in new products and processes. On this programme participants will:

  • Get in-depth awareness of the state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies that allow flexible and responsive manufacturing operations
  • Discover Additive Manufacturing and how you can leverage the power of digital 3D design data to build innovative components
  • Explore the use of Ultraprecision
  • Manufacturing to improve quality control, reduce costs and extend the lifetime of a product or a component
  • Learn how to build servitisation capability, so you increase the value you give to your customers and enjoy additional profits to your business for years to come.

Residential Module 2: (two days): Leading Manufacturing Strategy

This module focuses on the tools to devise, develop, implement and lead agile manufacturing strategies so that you deliver better performance.

  • Ensure continuity in the face of unplanned events
  • Apply success mapping to determine and clarify objectives
  • Enable your employees to commit to taking action so that you deliver a return on investment.

Key outcomes

  • Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your current model
  • Appreciate your personal strengths as a leader through a 360 degree feedback process
  • Translate strategy into action
  • Gain awareness of recent advances in data insights for responsive execution
  • Appreciate your personal leadership style
  • Extend your skills to lead change through uncertainty

Who should attend

  • Directors, Senior Managers, Technical Directors and General Managers with direct responsibility for manufacturing and its operation. To take advantage of the grants available through the IMAGE programme applicants need to work for or own an SME in the SEMLEP region. 

For more information or to book on to the course please contact image@cranfield.ac.uk or call T: +44 (0)1234 754361