Leading the development of a reformed Manufacturing Task Force

​​​​​​In 2015, JTI Gallagher and Michelin each declared their intention to close their manufacturing operations in Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland, as a result of global restructuring. In response, a local task force (the Mid and East Antrim Manufacturing Task Force (MTF)) was established by local political leaders to provide a set of prompt emergency responses.

After six months of initial groundwork and scoping, it was clear that the Task Force needed to concentrate its efforts more tightly on Skills Development, Supply Chain diversification and New Business Starts, these all being key issues to address as the companies’ redundancy programmes reached full-flow. A new private-sector Chair was sought to deliver this change and drive the MTF forward.

Building on its past experience of task force models and responses elsewhere (e.g. in Barrow in Furness, at Rover, and most recently at Alderley Park, Cheshire), Steer Economic Development was commissioned to develop New Terms of Reference for a revitalised task force, to develop a job description for the intended private sector Chair, and to set out a programme of work with defined objectives for the following 18 months. Steer Economic Development was a member of the interviewing panel for the Chair and provided extensive subsequent advice to the Council's Chief Executive Officer and Head of Economic Development on how best the appointment of the designated Chair could align with existing council activity, and what a first ‘100 days’ of a revitalised task force should look like.

In Summer 2019, Steer Economic Development was appointed non-competitively by Mid and East Antrim Council to assess the MTF’s activity since early 2017.