Launched in 2019, Made Smarter helped 2,500 Liverpool city region and North West manufacturers go digital and create 1,250 jobs – now it is to get an extra £6.1m. Tony McDonough reports

A project that has so far helped 2,500 Merseyside and North West manufacturers introduce digital technology into their businesses has secured an extra £6.1m.

Made Smarter was launched in 2019 as a three-year project. During that time it has helped companies create around 1,250 jobs and grow GVA by an estimated £176m. Now the new Government funding will allow it to target hundreds more businesses.

One of those was Briggs Automotive Company. This is a supercar manufacturer based in Liverpool. With the help of Made Smarter is adopted technology to drive data and systems integration. It has helped create new jobs and offered workers new skills.

More than 250 businesses, supported by matched funding, have invested in new technology. This ranges from software and sensors to robotics and extended reality, to become more efficient, build resilience, increase their productivity and grow sustainably.

Thanks to the work of Made Smarter in the North West, its national roll-out has continued. It now includes the West of England and East Midlands. They join the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the West Midlands regions.

Alain Dilworth, programme manager for Made Smarter in the North West, said: “While UK manufacturing navigated the pandemic and is working towards recovery, it is also bracing for further challenging times and economic bumps in the road ahead.

“Our rallying call to manufacturers is that digital technologies offer businesses opportunities to build resilience, innovate and transform. Digital tools can help manufacturers make marginal savings, set themselves apart from competitors in a volatile time, and make products quicker, affordable and more efficiently.

“This new funding means we can renew our ambition to reach out to the region’s SME manufacturers. We can connect them to the tools that will make an everyday difference to their businesses, build resilience and enable them to keep up with a fast-moving industry.”

Made Smarter’s is simple to access. Registration takes five minutes and is followed up with a digital transformation workshop to identify core challenges and provide a bespoke digital manufacturing roadmap.

Made Smarter’s team of expert advisors then pinpoint other ways that the programme can support a company’s digitalisation. This includes skills and leadership development, and recommending the correct technology to invest in.