Manufacturers across the East Midlands are accessing match funding of up to £20,000 through the Made Smarter Programme. Previously focused on equipment, the programme now allows businesses to use funding for training, technical advice and expert support, opening new ways to strengthen digital skills improve efficiency, and drive growth.
Why Technical Advice Matters
Investing in technical advice can save your business time, reduce costs, and unlock new opportunities. By reviewing your processes with an industry-specific expert, you gain a clear understanding of your business needs and a roadmap to improvement.
The Made Smarter East Midlands Programme helps SME and micro manufacturers access technical support tailored to their business. This guidance can streamline operations, implement digital technologies more effectively, and give your business a competitive edge.
Ways to Maximise Your Technical Advice Grant
- Product design and development processes and tools: Support could include the use of digital technology to improve product design, development, validation and verification processes. Support can also be provided to integrate customer demand with product design or configuration or indeed the integration of product design with manufacturing processes.
- Process Improvement: Whether its transactional process mapping to understand office-based processes, or value stream mapping to understand operational processes, support can be provided to map processes to increase transparency and identify immediate opportunities for improvement.
- Digital implementation: If you’re looking to implement an MRP, ERP or CRM software, perhaps you need independent advice on developing a system specification or choosing a software provider. Technical advice or consultancy on data integrations, analytics, robotics, automation, process controls, application of AI, sensing, monitoring, inspection and many other topics can be covered by grant funding.
- Workforce Development: Grant funding can be used to build the capabilities of your workforce to support the adoption of industrial digital technology. Whether its technical training on systems or equipment, training can help engage employees and ensure they make the most of new technology.
Why Act Now?
It’s not too late to join the Made Smarter East Midlands Programme. Funding is available until March 2026 and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Once registered, a Made Smarter specialist will work with you one-to-one to identify opportunities, design a digital roadmap, and guide you through fully funded support.
Manufacturers in your industry are already accessing specialist support and adopting digital technologies, seeing real benefits. Don’t fall behind, this is your chance to upskill your team, improve efficiency, and future-proof your operations.
Register your interest today – https://www.madesmarter.uk/start-your-digital-manufacturing-journey/
If you’ve already engaged with Made Smarter and have a Digital Roadmap, but haven’t yet applied for grant funding, you can access these new training grants with immediate effect. To get started, contact the Made Smarter Strategic Programme Team at sean.gray@lincolnshire.gov.uk