Paul Sullivan blog

The £1.9 million Made Smarter scheme was launched in the West Midlands in June 2021 to help manufacturing and engineering SMEs utilise new digital technologies such as AI, advanced robotics, big data and wearable technology to improve their efficiency and productivity.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub is leading the one-year scheme with the region’s other Growth Hubs in Greater Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country, Worcestershire, The Marches, and Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The West Midlands Growth Hubs are working closely with the West Midlands Combined Authority and their strategic partners WMG, at the University of Warwick, and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry.

Industrial Digital Technology Specialist for Coventry and Warwickshire, Paul Sullivan explains why Made Smarter is a great scheme for businesses to get involved in:

Coventry and Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands is full of manufacturing and engineering expertise, but many have not yet adopted the latest technologies that are likely to become the norm years down the line.

Made Smarter is a scheme which enables businesses in the manufacturing and engineering sectors access grant funding, academic expertise, and tailored advice from industrial experts like myself on how to adopt new technology to drive their business forward.

The scheme was conceived because while new technologies were being created in universities and organisations – especially at MTC and WMG at the University of Warwick – it was really only the bigger OEMs in the region like Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin that were successfully implementing them.

Their smaller Tier One and Two suppliers further down the chain had not done so, which not only affected those businesses individually, but also affected the OEMs too as they were not getting their supplies as efficiently as they might otherwise be.

So Made Smarter is a way for these smaller businesses – as well as in other areas of manufacturing and engineering too – to assess what technology is right for their business, and what is the most efficient way of utilising it.

One of the main issues that companies are facing in Coventry and Warwickshire, as well as the West Midlands in general, is a lack of ability to track performance of machines. Around 70 per cent of the businesses we visit need improvements in this area.

Often, businesses can massively boost their productivity just by moving away from manually checking machines’ performance and towards automation.

New performance-tracking software emerging at the moment is helping businesses create an ‘Internet of Things’ – whereby machines can use the software to communicate with each other in real time about things like uptime, downtime, and output, which can create a much more intelligent factory.

It means any issues can be detected immediately and other machines’ workload can be adjusted accordingly, without the need for an engineer to assess them.

Other issues include the need to upskill staff rather than just hiring new workers – especially with the recruitment issues at the moment.

A lot of businesses are starting to realise that they need to do something to make improvements, and Made Smarter can help them start their journey.

My background – and that of many of the digital experts in other Growth Hub areas too – is in business development rather than an academic background relating to engineering.

This is a key selling point of the Made Smarter scheme, particularly in the West Midlands. While the businesses we visit have access to expertise from MTC and WMG – two of the finest R&D organisations in the country – it is our job to guide companies through the most efficient way of harnessing new technology to boost their bottom line.

Indeed, many of the businesses we are speaking to are already very knowledgeable about the technology that is available to them, and some may even already have it.

The issue is that many are unsure of the best and most cost-effective ways of using that technology.

When we first visit a business, the MTC or WMG will assess exactly what tech will help improve it if they don’t know that already.

A digital roadmap is then created which spells out how the business can acquire and apply that technology to make improvements.

Through Made Smarter, there are 50 per cent of match-funded grants available of up to £20,000 to purchase new tech.

All these things are helping businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire, along with the West Midlands, make the changes they need to thrive. Many have already started, and we would encourage many more to register with Made Smarter too.

Paul can be contacted at paul.sullivan@cwgrowthhub.co.uk or to register on the programme, please visit www.madesmarter.uk