March/April 2020

www.smartmachinesandfactories.com March/April 2020 | 15 | | FEATURES | North West business leaders are now armed with the vision and the skills to pursue smarter manufacturing after completing Made Smarter’s leadership programme. Smart Machines & Factories reports. T he 10 leaders of SME manufacturers based in Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and the Liverpool City Region, are the first to graduate an innovate programme run in collaboration with Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) and Made Smarter, the industry and government partnership driving manufacturing productivity and growth through digital technology. The 8-month programme involved a mixture of workshops, site-visits to other manufacturers, including Veka, Hosokawa Micron and Senator, who are already on the journey of adopting digital technology, and special project sprints - delivered by SiemensDigital Industries - to test new ideas. Delegates unanimously agreed that the programme had given them the impetus to take vital time away from the business to develop the strategic view to support the adoption of hi-tech and digitally-based manufacturing techniques into their own production processes and taught them how to successfully bring employees and other stakeholders along on their digital transformation journey. Peter Phillips, Managing Director for Abbey England, a Knutsford-based manufacturer of leather and brassware for the equestrian and leather goods market, used the programme to aid structural changes in the company and identify new methods of 3D scanning and 3D printing which could half the company’s manufacturing lead time. He said: “The leadership programme has been an inspirational experience. “It isn’t often you get the time to step away from the business to think about how you are running it. SMEs tend to operate in an isolated bubble. It was a valuable experience to meet other leaders from different types of businesses and seeing how they do things and feeling reassured that even much larger organisations have the New digital skills