Essex Manufacturing Innovation and Growth Programme
The Essex Manufacturing Innovation and Growth Programme
The Essex Manufacturing Innovation and Growth Programme aims to help existing small and medium-size manufacturing (SMMs) firms to develop and grow their businesses in a financially sustainable manner, and thereby add to the county’s GDP and employment base. It will do this by engaging with existing firms to:
• Identify how well key capabilities, such as Delivery Performance, Unique Customer Value and Innovation, are performing in relation to their importance to the business priorities
• Develop action plans to improve the performance of low-performing, high-importance capabilities
• Where the current business strategy is identified as no longer appropriate due, for example, to changing external circumstances, firms will be invited to engage in a light structured process to formulate and implement a new business strategy
• Develop action plans to build the capabilities necessary to execute the new business strategy
The programme will target 150 existing SMMs in Essex, typically with between 10 and 100 employees, which have aspirations to develop and grow their business.
The benefits of the programme will be the anticipated improved economic performance and competitiveness of the SMMs, with increased revenues, margins and employment.
The programme will be delivered through a joint venture between ECC (ExDRA) and the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge, with world-class specialist support being provided to companies by the IfM’s team of senior industrial fellows. The IfM will where appropriate call upon the wider expertise of the University’s research base and where projects present appropriate educational opportunities, graduate students from the University’s masters-level course in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management may be deployed within companies on short placements.
The programme will commence January 2009.
For further information please contact:
Amy Evans
Innovation and Sector Development Coordinator, ExDRA
Tel: 01245 702435
Email: amy.evans@exdra.co.uk
