Manufacturing

National Manufacturing Day: Inspiring the next generation of coppersmiths

As part of Make UK‘s National Manufacturing Day, yesterday we proudly welcomed students from East Lothian Works to McMillan Coppersmiths.

Having supported apprentices to learn the craft of fabricating copper distillation equipment since 1982, McMillan are frequent supporters of local schools, colleges and organisations; inspiring the next generation of talented coppersmiths and fabricators.

The day started with an introduction from Rob Buxton (CEO), followed by a sustainability presentation from Rebecca Hooper (Group Sustainability Manager), presentation from the McMillan design team, and apprentice talk with Murray Ferguson and Liam Black (Fabricators).

The students were also pleased to have a production tour by Tom Young (Cell Lead), along with a presentation proposition of ‘Why Copper’, led by Mark Cruikshank (Copper Excellence and Development Technical Manager).

Since joining the BRIGGS Group in 2019, McMillan have been able to continue in this dedication towards the younger workforce, now recruiting up to four apprentices each and every year. With McMillan, apprentices join the team and learn the fundamental principles of fabrication and welding.

Posted in Apprenticeships, Manufacturing

A successful day for BRIGGS at the Ardgowan Distillery Open Day!

Last weekend, Ardgowan Distillery opened their doors to the public and hosted an open day event, complete with food, live music and close up views of the distillery as a ‘global celebration of whisky’.

Attended by BRIGGS team members Pawan Sehra (Project Engineer) and James Barrell (Graduate Project Engineer), this event was a great opportunity to meet with locals and catch up with the Ardgowan Distillery team. 

It also proved to be the perfect opportunity to see how much the BRIGGS team’s hard work has paid off, as they continue to work on completing the distillery build – having already covered the site’s design.

“The open day at Ardgowan was a massive success. Thousands of locals turned up to see the distillery up close and enjoy the food and music. It was great to celebrate this exciting project alongside the local community, the client, and site contractors. 

The distillery is coming together rapidly with most of the vessels now standing in their final positions. Our mechanical and electrical installation contractors are hard at work installing supports, pipes, and cabling as you read this.”

– James Barrell (Graduate Project Engineer)

A very special thank you to Martin McAdam, CEO of Ardgowan, and entire Ardgowan team for inviting us to such a fantastic event!

Posted in Distilling, Engineering, Manufacturing

Local students join Briggs for National Manufacturing Day

Briggs welcomed over 40 students from the John Taylor Free School to its Global Technical Centre on Thursday 28th September. The event was part of Make UK’s National Manufacturing Day, a nationwide initiative to inspire and educate young people about engineering and manufacturing.

Leaders, engineers and apprentices from Briggs shared their insights and experiences with the students. They learned about Briggs’ offering, recruitment opportunities and apprenticeship scheme. Learning Unlimited and Chesterfield College also partnered with Briggs to advise the students on how to apply for opportunities and what skills and qualifications they need.

The students toured our Manufacturing facility, including our new Pharmaceutical Systems Assembly facility. They saw how Briggs designs, manufactures and delivers high-quality products and solutions for various industries.

Our lead engineers also hosted two STEM activities to challenge the students’ creativity and problem-solving skills. The first activity was building a car out of spaghetti and marshmallows. The second activity was designing and constructing straw pipelines that can transport water.

The event was a great success, with positive feedback from both the students and the teachers. One of the students said: “I really enjoyed the day and learned a lot about Briggs and engineering. I liked seeing how things are made and testing our own designs. I think I might want to be an engineer in the future.”

Briggs is proud to support National Manufacturing Day and to showcase its commitment to innovation, excellence and sustainability. We hope that by opening our doors to young people, we can inspire them to pursue a career in engineering and manufacturing, and to join us in shaping the future of our industry.

About Briggs of Burton

If you have eaten or drunk it there is a chance that Briggs of Burton has helped to produce it.

Briggs are the engineers behind supplying the equipment, engineering and automation to the world’s largest food, alcoholic beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturers

Today Briggs employs over 300 colleagues across six sites in the UK, Scotland, USA, Mexico, China, and Australia. The team deliver turnkey engineering projects for leading household brands covering North America, Europe, Central America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Briggs’ benefits from a global network of stainless-steel manufacturing facilities, including their own located in Burton on Trent and Prestonpans, Scotland.

Briggs are actively developing sustainable engineering solutions, focusing on their customer’s requirements towards carbon neutrality. 

Posted in Apprenticeships, Engineering, General, Manufacturing

Briggs of Burton strengthens ties to Scotland with new office

A continuing surge in contracts within the booming Scotch whisky industry has led to specialist process engineers and sustainability experts, Briggs of Burton, to open a new Scottish hub. Since 2010, when Briggs of Burton completed its first Scottish project with Loch Lomond Distillery, the company has seen tremendous growth. The Scotch whisky sector saw global exports hit £6 billion in 2022 and Briggs of Burton announced today the opening of its new office in Moray, in the heart of whisky country. The office will lead 6 new projects in Speyside, whilst servicing major existing clients including the Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Dalmunach and Mortlach distilleries, as well as managing a large number of new enquiries.

Rob Buxton, Managing Director at Briggs of Burton, commented:

“Expanding into Morayshire, the ancestral home of the distilling industry, felt like the natural progression for Briggs of Burton, given its longstanding history of work within Scotland. We are working on contracts ranging from £3m to £30m and the new office will support ongoing growth, create at least 10 jobs and reduce our carbon footprint by bringing our expertise closer to clients. Briggs of Burton has extensive experience in delivering distillery projects in key spirit producing regions and this new premises will allow us to further deepen our knowledge of the Scotch whisky industry as well as support jobs and investment.”

Briggs has secured a new premises at Forres Enterprise Park, home to over 100 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and sustainable buildings in a thriving community of manufacturing, engineering and technology businesses.

Briggs of Burton already owns Scottish copper still manufacturer McMillan – a significant force in the domestic and worldwide supply of copper distilling and stainless steel process equipment – which is based in Prestonpans, approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh. Originating from Burton on Trent, Briggs of Burton is a UK success story, specialising in delivering safe, high-quality process engineering in an environmentally sustainable way to help distilleries reach their decarbonisation targets. The company is designing, expanding and building new distilleries around the world, covering North America, Central America, Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan and China.

Briggs of Burton’s impressive portfolio of clients include William Grant & Sons, Diageo and Chivas. The company recently partnered with Ardgowan Distillery to lead the design, build and engineering of their carbon negative distillery. Briggs of Burton is also supporting Brown-Forman to double its production capacity at its iconic GlenDronach distillery in Aberdeenshire by implementing operational energy efficiencies and supplying traditional Scottish copper distillation equipment.

Posted in Distilling, Manufacturing

Record breaking year sees further expansion at Global Technical Centre

Briggs of Burton is increasing its pharmaceutical manufacturing capability with further expansion plans at our multi-million-pound Global Technical Centre.

Briggs has started work to create a brand new purpose-built clean assembly manufacturing facility at our headquarters in Burton on Trent. Only two years after completing a major extension to our Global Technical Centre the investment is set to further enhance staff facilities while creating additional job opportunities at our Burton on Trent HQ.

Breaking ground, the work follows continued growth for the Briggs Pharmaceutical division in the pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDI) sector used to treat patients with respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Briggs have been actively designing and building end to end pMDI mixing systems across the UK and Europe as the market shifts towards a greener propellant.

The project will deliver an additional 890m2 flexible hygienic clean production area which will include six assembly bays, equipment stores and kitting areas. It will be used to build hygienic and sanitary modular skid units, specialist self-contained process systems used in pharmaceutical manufacturing, for projects across the UK, Europe, and North America.

Robert Buxton, Managing Director at Briggs of Burton said the expansion plans show the company’s continued commitment to supporting the engineering solutions of the future following robust growth in the pharmaceutical area.

 “Our growth in the pharmaceutical sector has been born from a passion and desire to offer market leading technologies to major blue chip companies across the entire production process. Briggs of Burton are leading exciting new projects in the pharmaceutical market and are developing engineering solutions to help our customers with their sustainability targets.”

A new staff welfare area will be built as part of the project creating a dedicated space for the Production team to take a break along with an extended outdoor area which will be used in the summer months.

BHB Architects, Norder Designs and Derwent Valley Construction, who will lead the project, are the same project partners for the recent Global Technical Centre expansion. The build is expected to generate several new manufacturing roles when completed later in the year.

George Crombie, Briggs Engineering Director, said it was important for the firm to support local businesses as it continued to grow.

 “We are proud to be continuing our partnership with local architectural, design and construction partners in delivering this important project for the area.

Briggs has a longstanding connection with manufacturing in the Midlands as well as contributing to the UK Manufacturing and Engineering sector as a whole, and as we continue to grow our global reach it is important that we are able to support the region where our heritage first begun.”

The news comes as Briggs has been recognised as one of the fastest growing engineering companies in the UK being singled out in the prestigious Make UK national manufacturing awards.

The Make UK National Manufacturing Awards 2023 celebrate the best of UK manufacturing and engineering with Briggs recognised in the UK for the Business Growth and Strategy Award.

Briggs unveiled their new look Global Technical Centre in April 2021 following a major revamp of the current building and multi-million-pound extension to the site updating and creating new facilities.

Focusing on environmental and wellbeing benefits, the site not only created additional office space, break out areas and conference suites but also planted many hundreds of trees and shrubs, together with over an acre of wildflower and grassland into the surrounding landscape. The business has recently upgraded their electric supply and invested in six new EV charging stations for their team and visiting customers to access encouraging the usage of electrical vehicles. Briggs’ Global Technical Centre is heated by air source heat pumps providing energy efficient and low carbon heating solutions.

Posted in Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical

Briggs win at Make UK National Awards

We are very pleased to share that Briggs of Burton has won the very prestigious Business Growth & Strategy award at the Make UK National Gala Dinner in London. Briggs were joined by manufacturers across the country celebrating the very best of UK manufacturing and upcoming young talent in the industry.

Ayesha Hazarika, compere, for the evening highlighted the success of Briggs’ outstanding growth strategy in the UK and overseas and our drive to develop in new markets such as Mexico. George Crombie, Engineering Director received the award on stage and spoke about Briggs’ back-to-back achievements but most importantly crediting all of you for your continued dedication and support in making this possible.

Briggs of Burton’s application highlighted the expansion of their Global Technical Centre in Burton on Trent and the opening of new Sales & Engineering hubs in key growth areas; Louisville, KY and Guadalajara, Mexico. Furthermore, Briggs have doubled their revenue two years ahead of their projected growth plan, through the award of a major Tequila expansion project in Mexico. This project is Briggs’ biggest project to date in scale and value.

It was great to meet key leaders from the Make UK team including Charlotte Horobin, Regional Director (Midlands & East) and Chris Corkan, Regional Manager (Midlands & East).

About Briggs of Burton

If you have eaten or drunk it there is a chance that Briggs of Burton has helped to produce it.

Briggs are the engineers behind supplying the equipment, engineering and automation to the world’s largest food, alcoholic beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturers

Today Briggs employs over 300 colleagues across six sites in the UK, Scotland, USA, Mexico, China, and Australia. The team deliver turnkey engineering projects for leading household brands covering North America, Europe, Central America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Briggs’ benefits from a global network of stainless-steel manufacturing facilities, including their own located in Burton on Trent and Prestonpans, Scotland.

Briggs are actively developing sustainable engineering solutions, focusing on their customer’s requirements towards carbon neutrality. 

Posted in Awards, Manufacturing

Amardeep Singh becomes IMechE Fellow

Congratulations to Amardeep Singh for receiving his Fellow status from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

Amardeep has successfully achieved the highest grade of membership from the IMechE as a result of his significant contribution to Mechanical engineering, experience in a leadership position and demonstrating technical excellence throughout his career.

We caught up with Amardeep recently who shared his journey and his inspiration to becoming a Fellow :

What lead you on the Journey to want to become a fellow?

I have been an affiliated member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers since 1995 being at University in India studying BEng (Hons) Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. During my higher education in UK, I used to glance at “Membership Ladder” on the university noticeboard and hoping that one day I would be able to reach Chartered Engineer followed by – the status of Fellow. 2018, I obtained my Chartered Engineer registration with the IMechE.

“Becoming a Fellow was important to me as it independently validates the level at which I am operating,”. As a Fellow you belong to a unique group of individuals who, with their knowledge, experience, and commitment to engineering, are changing our world.

On 10th January 2023, I was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

What did the application entail?

The application entails providing objective evidences and demonstration that you’re a professional engineer working in a position of senior responsibility with significant autonomy and responsibility, demonstrable leadership qualities, influencing policy and strategy making decisions and a structured approach to Continuing Professional Development (CPD). It is the highest level of membership and demonstrates your wealth of experience, commitment, and contribution to engineering for a sustained period.

​​​​​​​All applicants for registration and membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers are assessed against the standards as defined by the Engineering Council (EngC) in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC).

Does it involve your role/ working activities at Briggs?

As a UK Production Engineering Manager, I lead a team of Senior Department Managers responsible for Mechanical Design Engineering, Site Production Quality and Manufacturing Engineering functions, across Briggs & McMillan.

This is a critical strategic role that carries full accountability for the verification integrity of Briggs pressure vessels and other manufactured items in terms of management of calculations for Bespoke Boiler & Pressure Vessel including fatigue Assessment and Seismic Reactions to design and manufacture codes such as ASME VIII Division1, PD5500 and BS EN 13445-1:2021.

I guided and directed the Senior Leads to roll out the Layered Objectives within their functional teams of designers, engineers and chartered engineers, technical graduates, quality assurance engineers and production engineers, by setting Functional Key Performance Indicators [KPI] aligned with the business KPI’s.

Who inspired you to become a fellow?

Serving in the Power Generation, Oil and Gas, Marine, Nuclear, MOD, Aerospace and general engineering sectors, I have held a number of Managerial Positions in Manufacturing Engineering Businesses. This has provided me an opportunity to widen my knowledge by connecting and networking with other global professionals with chartered and Fellow status who share my interest in the built environment and engineering. They have been my motivation and inspiration that becoming a Fellow is an award that adds further prestige to the long list of achievements.

In 2022, I joined Briggs of Burton that provides the design and implementation of turnkey projects, stainless steel process tanks and engineering services for the world’s leading companies.

I was truly inspired by 2 Fellows of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), George Crombie, an engineering director for Briggs of Burton and James Smith, a General Manager for McMillan who sponsored my Fellow application and made a significant contribution to achieving Fellow membership.

What are you doing to inspire the next generation of engineers?

We have an active apprenticeship scheme within Briggs. I take full responsibility of supporting Brigg’s Apprentice Rota Program for apprentices to join Vessel Design Engineering and ensure they have constructive plan to gain skills and knowledge in design of pressure vessel.

As a Sponsor and Registered Engineer with the IMechE, I have supported and recommended many mechanical design and project engineers to the Trustee Board as worthy of membership. This involved directing, mentoring, assessing, evaluating their calibre, scope, and scale of their work for election to the IMechE Chartership.

I fostered company’s “Women’s in Engineering” policies. I recruited and developed young talent to engineering department. I have worked as a volunteer STEM Ambassador where I demonstrated influential visionary with Empowering and Motivational Leadership Style that brings out the best in young engineers to achieve business goals promoting the value of engineering and problem solving to the next generation.

Did you know Briggs of Burton is accredited by all three leading engineering bodies in the UK? Click here to read more about our accreditation success – Triple accreditation for Briggs sees scheme expand to create next generation of innovative engineers | Briggs of Burton (briggsplc.com)

Posted in Manufacturing