The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) is an industry organisation in the London Borough of Havering, also in the London Borough of Rainham. It was established as a part of the regeneration of the Thames Gateway area of London, in a joint partnership with the Ford Motor Company. The CEME was designed to provide training in key areas of engineering which are critical to the design, manufacture and deployment of products, and includes cutting edge manufacturing, science and technology, and sustainable engineering. This organisation has a wide range of associate partners across these key sectors, including Bona, Babler, Ciprian, Glaxo, Gaveston, Havelock Green, London &wide and Loughborough University. The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence was launched in January 2021, and has grown rapidly to become one of London’s leading organisations in these key industrial sectors.

The abbreviated acronyms for the CEME’s key concepts and objectives are: Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence / Emphasis on Manufacturing Processes; Center for Research and Technology, Emphasis on Materials; and Centre for Training and Development, Training and Qualification. An interesting fact about the abbreviations is that all of them come from a French term which means ‘training excellence’. The fact that the term has been adopted by several industries and associations in Britain supports the idea that it is indeed a meaningful business concept. The CEME’s website lists many of the world achievements made by its international teams, and also highlights its goal of creating a world leader in quality and productivity through continued investment in research and technology, and the creation of its own world-class centre for research and technology.

A detailed explanation of the abbreviations used in this article would make the entire matter a lot more confusing, so it is best left to those experts who understand the meaning of every acronym involved to explain the meaning of each of the CEME abbreviations used in their own fields. However, it is worth pointing out that although the acronym CEME stands for ‘Central Equipment’, it is an abbreviation which can mean ‘central equipment supplier’. If you are looking for information on any CEME product, it is worth checking out the manufacturer’s website to find out its full name. Some manufacturers use the abbreviated acronyms because they have a more flexible name (e.g. ‘Equipment Distribution’ rather than just ‘Supplier Distribution’) and/or simply because they are smaller companies with a less established brand image than larger ones.