MADE Smarter commissioner calls for action

A YORKSHIRE based member of the MADE Smarter Commission has urged local business to take advantage of R&D to elevate their ideas to the next level.

Margaret Wood, MBE, founder of specialist glazing company, ICW UK (Ltd) joined fellow commissioners at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at Rotherham to hear from Business Minister, Greg Clark, call for greater integration of IT into manufacturing.

Greg Clark told the members made up of SMEs, scientists and large businesses that the challenge for the AMRC and Government was ensuring that the fertile breeding grounds of innovation knew and understood how they could access what the AMRC has to offer.

But Mrs Wood warned that many good ideas would never make it to commericalisation because they didn’t find out about harnessing the benefits of research centres such as AMRC or the appetite to make them grow.

“Automation can make a massive difference in delivering on the MADE Smarter’s ambitions to boost employment, tackle inefficiencies and improve productivity, only if SMEs at the earliest stages of innovation take advantage of all it has to offer,” she said.

“We saw a number of very small businesses from Yorkshire who are already working with the AMRC who are integrating their great ideas into quantifiable research and using IT to upscale,” she said.

“More need to be taking advantage of this.

“The AMRC can add value and improve great ideas which make a massive difference to the lives of ordinary citizens and society.  Similarly, integrating automation can free skilled workers from mundane tasks liberating them to develop their skills and boost productivity.  Yet sadly, many locally, are excluded because they either don’t know or lack the support to investigate further.

“There is advice, sign-posting and funding available to underpin the ambition of the smallest enterprises.

“Already some have had great ideas, harnessed automation and taken advantage to increase production, increase employment and boost skills and training.  More need to step through this doorway to growth.”