Manufacturing Advisory Service adds value

The Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands on its first anniversary has added an average value of over GBP 50,000 to each of 1000 companies worked with during the last 10 months.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands (MAS-WM) celebrates its first anniversary this week.

It was officially launched on July 8th 2002 by the DTI and Advantage West Midlands as part of the government's response to developing manufacturing in the West Midlands.

The service has been fully operational since September but in that short time it has engaged with over 1000 manufacturers in the region adding an average value of over GBP 50,000 to the companies it has worked with.

Chief Executive David Wright enthused: "It has been a fantastic first year and the results really have surpassed our best expectations.

Crucially, the figures show that we actually add value as well as support." A large part of the success is down to the broad appeal of the service.

MAS-WM has worked with manufacturers with issues as diverse as developing a packaging solution for candy floss to more traditional industry problems such as how to eliminate glaze defects on ceramics.

Coupled with that is the speed in which projects are dealt with.

Mr Wright continued: "We've aimed to de-mystify the support process.

We've reduced paperwork and made accessibility easier for SMEs who don't always have the time to take advantage of the support that's on offer." Members of the MAS-WM team including chairman David Botterill and David Wright will be traveling down to Westminster next week to meet with MPs to raise awareness of the service and to raise questions on the how the regions estimated 17,000 manufacturers which employ some 500,000 people can be helped further.

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