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Manufacturing Leaders
Currently the Number 1 Manufacturing Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
Mark Bracknall, Founder of Theo James Recruitment is the host of Manufacturing Leaders.
The UK is still a powerhouse in Manufacturing & Engineering. We speak to those who are helping to make those firms a success. By motivating, inspiring and managing teams.
Are you new to management? Are you keen to hear from those who are dealing with the same day-to-day challenges you are facing?
In this podcast we get inside the minds of the Managers in Manufacturing & Engineering, and understand how they get the best our of their teams and make Manufacturing & Engineering great.
Manufacturing Leaders
Big Announcement! Manufacturing Leaders Summit!
Big news for our community: we’re taking the energy from 100+ conversations and turning it into the Manufacturing Leaders Summit, a purpose-driven day dedicated to real progress in UK manufacturing. On 30 April 2026, we’re gathering at New College Durham to bring together operators, founders, engineers, HR leaders and educators who want solutions that work in the real world.
We’re building a programme that blends high-signal talks and hands-on workshops led by speakers with TEDx experience and past guests you’ve loved.
This summit is not-for-profit. Every £15 ticket will support Red Sky Foundation, funding heart care and equipment in communities that need it most—a cause that’s deeply personal to us.
We’re aiming for around 200 attendees to keep conversations meaningful and momentum high. If you’ve been part of our journey—listening, sharing, or joining us on the mic—this is your invitation to step into the room and shape what happens next. Grab a ticket, bring a colleague, and tell us the questions you want on the panels. Subscribe, share this with your team, and leave a review to help more leaders find the show. We can’t wait to see you there.
Follow us on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theo-james-recruitment/?viewAsMember=true
Get your hands on the tickets first by emailing hello@theojamesrecruitment.com
Please like and subscribe - it genuinely helps grow the show and, in turn, helps push the industry forward.
Theo James is a Manufacturing & Engineering Recruiter based in the North East, helping Manufacturing and Engineering firms grow across the UK.
If you’d like more information about Theo James, feel free to get in touch with the team or Mark anytime.
You can call us on 0191 511 1298.
Hello and welcome to the Manufacturing Leaders Podcast. My name is Mark Ranknall, the managing director of Theo James Recruitment. This is not a podcast episode. This is an announcement. And something I'm extremely proud and privileged to announce. The Manufacturing Leaders Summit has now been decided. It's been announced. It's booked in with new College Durham on April the 30th, 2026. I absolutely can't wait. We always said we got over 100 episodes, we'd create an event. We'd add value back in the industry. As a thank you to people who have been on the podcast and to everyone who's listened to the podcast and try to help the manufacturing industry. Not only that, we're doing it all for charity. This is a not-for-profit event. Every single penny raised will go to the Red Sky Foundation, a charity close to my heart. I lost my dad five years ago to a cardiac arrest. And ever since I've been trying to raise money for heart-related charities. Sergio and the team at Red Sky do an absolutely amazing job. So I'm really, really proud to be raising money for them as well. But this is going to be a great day. We've got speakers with experience of speaking on stage, speaking on the TEDx stage. We've got workshops, and these are actually people who've been on the podcast before, which I'm really pleased about. We've got some panels we're going to discuss trying to get more people in manufacturing, trying to get young people, trying to get women in manufacturing. We're going to make sure that this day helps the industry. It is going to be monumental. There's ideally going to be around 200 people there. So please, please, please make sure when you start to see things come out online, please contact us to we can um send you the link through. Please buy a ticket. There'll be 15 pounds. As I say, every single penny of that will go to the Red Sky Foundation. If you are interested in sponsoring and becoming a sponsor, again, uh we will be looking at a nominal fee, all for charity as well. We'll also be holding a bit of an expo in the main hall as well. So we'll be selecting a few businesses who want to um have a stand there. But look, thank you so much. This is um something I'm extremely proud to announce. I never ever thought for one second we'd even have a podcast. Definitely never thought we'd have a podcast which is listened to by thousands of people. And to have an event to showcase this industry in this region is amazing. And I am so pleased and proud to do so. Thank you so much for New College Durham for um helping us and really taking on board everything we wanted to do here. Thank you to every single person that's ever watched, listened, liked, subscribed, commented, all those things to help share and show the channel because manufacturing is still needs help and it still needs to um to collaborate. So this is another step in the right direction. So thank you very much for listening. Please get in touch if you want to help. Please get in touch if you want some tickets. I really, really can't wait to see you there. Take care. Thank you, everyone.