Winners 2024

Manufacturing 2024

Diane Miller is responsible for the operational running of all aspects of the plant in Ellesmere Port for Stellantis, owner of the Vauxhall brand. On moving to the role in February 2022, she was put in charge of not just managing the plant but also spending £100 million to bring the historic but underused facility into the modern era to make electric vans for Stellantis brands after years of building the Vauxhall Astra. Production of vehicles including the Citroën Berlingo and Vauxhall Combo started in September last year.

Miller moved to the top position at the Cheshire facility after serving as general assembly manager and, before that, paint unit manager at the plant. She joined Vauxhall from Aston Martin in 2014, where she had overseen paint operations. Previously, she worked at Ford, focusing on the painting process for Transit vans at the company’s now defunct Southampton facility and, before that, at Ford’s Chicago facility in the US.

Manufacturing 2024 nominees

Sarah Stevenson, JLR

Sarah Stevenson’s senior role at JLR is to ensure the smooth running of the production of Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models including procurement, supply chain and manufacturing. She was promoted to the role in 2023 after serving as manufacturing programme director. She has worked at JLR for almost 25 years after joining in 2000 as project engineer from her previous job at automotive supplier Valeo Security Systems.

Mairi Gordon, Toyota Manufacturing UK

Mairi Gordon is the most senior manager at Toyota’s Deeside engine operations in North Wales, which makes petrol engines for Toyota’s hybrid models. There she oversees manufacturing, maintenance, engineering and quality assurance, reporting to the deputy MD of Toyota Manufacturing UK. She moved there in September 2019 from Toyota’s assembly plant in Burnaston, where she was general manager of the production control division. Gordon was one of the first British nationals to be hired at the Derbyshire plant back in 1990 when it first started.

Wendy Graham, Ford Motor Company

Wendy Graham runs two engine plants at Ford’s giant assembly facility at Dagenham, east London, that builds around a million diesel engines a year. She was appointed to this position in 2021 from her previous role overseeing Ford of Europe’s drive to cut manufacturing costs. Before winning that job in 2019 she wrote the manufacturing strategy for all Ford engines globally up to 3.0 litres in size, a senior role that reflects her impressive rise through manufacturing after joining Ford as a graduate engineer in 1995. She holds a joint honours degree in mechanical and manufacturing engineering and Japanese from Cardiff University

Nicola Stoker, Nissan

Nicola Stoker oversees the costings for new models to be built at Nissan’s Sunderland, north east England plant. There she reports directly to Adam Pennick, head of Nissan manufacturing in the UK. Prior to this key role, Stoker’s job was to oversee the costs involved in building the last generation Micra in France. Before her promotion early in 2020, Stoker was general manager for Renault-Nissan Alliance logistics, leading a team of over 700 people across seven locations. She joined Nissan at the Sunderland plant 20 years ago as a graduate controller in the parts team before working her way up to the Alliance logistics team in 2009.

Sara Ridley, Autocraft Solutions

Sara Ridley oversees engineering at the Grantham-based remanufacturing business, a job she started in 2022 after first moving to the company in 2019. Prior to this she worked at automotive supplier Mahle Powertrain in 2013, becoming head of manufacturing engineering and quality for its four UK sites. Sara began in remanufacturing working for Caterpillar rebuilding engines, working in engineering and operations at sites across Europe. She has a first-class BSc Engineering degree from the University of Northampton and was awarded an Industrial Fellowship for her doctoral research from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

Jennifer Sarah Bolton, Nissan

Jennifer Sarah Bolton is one of the most senior members of staff at Nissan’s key Sunderland assembly facility, where she reports directly to overall head Adam Pennick. She came to the site in North East England from Nissan’s huge Smyrna, Tennessee factory in the US, where she was director of supply chain management. She moved there in 2022 after overseeing body and stamping at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi plant. She joined Nissan in 2013 as a supply chain research fellow following a period spent as an analyst for the bank Morgan Stanley.

Claire Curtis, Nissan

Claire Curtis reports directly to Sunderland plant head Adam Pennick, making her one of the most senior members of staff at the assembly facility. Curtis started her career at Sunderland, joining as a production control graduate in 2001 before moving through the ranks of production planning and control, which focuses on how to build cars better in sequence and track vehicle flow during production. After six promotions, rising to production control manager, she was promoted in April this year to her director position.