Speakers alongside Gray included Jaguar and Land Rover chief operating officer Bennie Fowler, who outlined the Secrets of Manufacturing Success in his keynote address.

Fowler's top tips for printers included: "It's pretty easy to manufacture anything quickly. What commands a premium is having the right product at the right place and at the right time."

He added: "If you ever think you've fully implemented a plan and you've won, then you're heading for a fall because business changes all the time."

This theme was echoed by Gray who said that to date VIP's efforts had been "working on an opportunity-by-opportunity basis".

"That's like fireworks, it's very exciting, but soon fades away," he said. Companies needed a vision to develop sustainable productivity improvement. Gray said that management's lack of vision or poor communication of their vision was often the biggest barrier firms faced.