/> Paul Meredith, NXP Semiconductors site and operations manager at Hazel Grove, Manchester said, The conference has gone beyond theory and shown real, practical examples of the effort companies' take to continually improve their production excellence. We heard how one company empowered staff to keep equipment in peak working order through f-tagging, another on how to squeeze every last ounce of efficiency out through focused analysis and process innovation and at the same time we heard about the importance of people and team-working. It has been a very valuable event for the manufacturing base here today.

David Law, the conference's organiser and director of manufacturing services at the NMI said: NMI is the champion for innovation and best practice in semiconductor manufacturing in the UK and Ireland. We facilitate this in many ways such as enabling equipment and spares trading, increasing collaboration, benchmarking and promoting the local supplier base. The team presentations in this conference have highlighted that even simple, small steps can deliver impressive improvements in yield and efficiency.

Brian Young, VP of business development at Compugraphics International Ltd., commented we left the conference feeling very much inspired and energised to do better ourselves. Getting better at getting better is simply what successful manufacturing companies must do today and all the presentations were relevant and very thought provoking

David Law concluded Manufacturing sites that engage and participate with activities such as the conference are in an advantaged position as collaborating is a key factor to innovation and continuous improvement; it helps us learn from each other without sacrificing trade secrets and enables the region to stay world-class in manufacturing. Manufacturing is alive and well and we aim to keep it that way