Alumnus Clive heads up innovative manufacturing business

The Manufacturing Technology Centre building. In the foreground is a lake, shrubs, and a tree.

Clive Hickman is the Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), established in 2010.

Its first employee, Clive was set a target to build a sustainable business with £10m annual revenue and to grow to 100 employees by 2020. Now, the MTC has achieved almost £100m in turnover in the 2020-21 financial year, and the organisation has 800 employees.

In his ten years as Chief Executive at MTC, Clive has led the organisation through a tremendous period of growth and has been a huge part of cementing the MTC as a key hub for manufacturing in the midlands.

The team at MTC is constantly developing and innovating manufacturing processes and technologies in partnership with industry and academia – namely with Loughborough University. Other key partners include the University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham, and TWI.

The business is set up to bridge the gap between academia and industry. University research is converted into products and processes for use in industry and to have a positive impact on society.

One of four founding partners, Loughborough is represented on the Board of MTC, and the academic links enable the organisation to manufacture quickly and flexibly. The model between industry and academia is providing an agile working environment in which research can be quickly brought to the fore in manufacturing.

Links with Loughborough have also resulted in partnerships with the MTC and spin-out companies, as well as graduate start-ups.

Clive graduated from Loughborough with an MBA in 1992 and had a 35-year career in engineering before taking up the Chief Executive role at MTC.

Check out the MTC online.

Picture: © The Manufacturing Technology Centre