04 Mar ETG Joins MAKE UK to Support UK Manufacturing and Industry Collaboration
Expert Technologies Group (ETG) has joined Make UK and Make UK Defence to play a more active role in strengthening the UK’s industrial and defence manufacturing base at a time when resilient, sovereign supply chains have never been more important.
Why now: a pivotal moment for UK industry
The UK is entering a period where industrial capability, domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience are central to both economic growth and national security. Global instability, rapid technological change and increased geopolitical tension are pushing governments and primes to look harder at where critical technologies are designed, built and supported.
For defence and advanced manufacturing, this means placing greater emphasis on sovereign capability: having the skills, facilities and innovation capacity within the UK to respond quickly and securely to emerging needs. Joining Make UK and Make UK Defence aligns ETG with the organisations at the forefront of shaping this agenda and ensures our voice and our customers’ challenges are represented in national conversations about industrial strategy, skills and investment.
Why Make UK and Make UK Defence
Make UK is the leading body representing UK manufacturers, giving them a collective voice into government while providing insight, connections and practical support to help them compete, innovate and grow. Make UK Defence focuses this influence on the defence and security sector, championing the role of UK manufacturers and, crucially, unlocking the potential of SMEs within the wider supply chain.
For ETG, this platform matters because it enables us to:
- Add our voice to policy discussions on skills, automation, reshoring and defence industrial strategy, ensuring the needs of real production environments are heard.
- Connect with primes, SMEs and adjacent innovators through a structured network, accelerating collaboration instead of relying on one-off, transactional engagements.
- Access insight, events and best practice that help us and our partners stay ahead on productivity, digitalisation and sustainability in manufacturing.
How ETG will contribute
ETG is a UK-headquartered engineering solutions partner, delivering robotics, automation systems, advanced joining technologies, composite manufacturing, logistics automation and agile production platforms across sectors including aerospace, automotive, defence and modular construction. With UK-based design, prototyping and production, we help manufacturers bring new variants and capabilities to market quickly, without the long lead times and risk associated with traditional fixed tooling.
Within Make UK and Make UK Defence, we see three main areas where we can add immediate value:
- Enabling primes: Our modular robotics, automation and digital-to-physical engineering capabilities help primes accelerate vehicle integration, armour systems, UAV platforms and logistics workflows, reducing risk and shortening time-to-deployment.
- Scaling SME innovation: We are already experienced at bridging the gap between innovative SME technologies and prime-level programmes, derisking integration so good ideas don’t stall at prototype.
- Supporting UK supply chain resilience: By keeping design, automation engineering and key manufacturing processes in the UK, we help build a more robust, responsive domestic ecosystem that can flex as requirements change.
For Make UK members, whether you are just starting with automation or looking to reconfigure complex production lines, ETG can act as a partner that blends real-world manufacturing knowledge with advanced robotics and systems integration.
Supporting SMEs and enabling primes
A key part of ETG’s mission in joining Make UK Defence is to help unlock SME potential and make it easier for primes and government customers to adopt new technologies at pace. Many SMEs have outstanding innovations in areas like AI, robotics, sensors, composites and battery systems, but struggle to scale into defence and aerospace programmes where assurance, integration and delivery risk are critical.
ETG is set up to act as that integrator and accelerator:
- For SMEs, we can provide engineering support, industrialisation, test and validation, and integration into automated or semiautomated lines, helping them become supply-ready for primes.
- For primes and major contractors, we can package SME technologies within robust, maintainable automation and assembly platforms, giving a single point of accountability and a clear route to deployment at scale.
This integrated approach directly supports Make UK Defence’s ambition to bring more SME innovation into the heart of UK defence capability, while strengthening the domestic supply chain and keeping key skills and IP onshore.
A word from our CEO, Angelo Luciano
Commenting on the announcement, Angelo Luciano, ETG’s CEO said:
“Joining Make UK and Make UK Defence is a natural step for Expert Technologies Group. We believe the UK’s future competitiveness, and resilience, rests on its ability to turn great ideas into production-ready, sovereign capability at speed. Through this membership, we want to stand alongside primes, SMEs and government to help modernise factories, derisk integration and build the responsive, high value supply chain the UK needs for the decade ahead.”
This commitment underlines ETG’s role as a technical partner and a long-term stakeholder in the UK’s manufacturing and defence ecosystem, not just a supplier of equipment.