Manufacturing Advisory Service

28 July 2009 Peter Mandelson visited a MAS-assisted business at 9am today, following an announcement this morning that the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) has received a further £4m in government funding for advanced manufacturing.

As the UK’s leading advisor in manufacturing, MAS embraces manufacturing best practice to support manufacturers across a broad range of sectors including nuclear, environmental and automotive. More specifically, MAS delivers practical, business-specific support and advice to UK manufacturers who wish to raise their productivity, improve their efficiency, generate new and innovative ideas and address problems that may be affecting their profitability.
Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Cambridge-based touch technology manufacturer, Visual Planet, at 9am today as part of the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing package. Peter Mandelson said “We’re increasing access to the services available through our successful Manufacturing Advisory Service to enable businesses across the industry benefit from low-carbon and other growing markets.”
 
MAS in the East has been providing business advice and practical support to Visual Planet for the past year in an attempt to respond to customer demands and has as a result, improved productivity by 20% and significantly improved operational efficiency. Mike Cole, Director at Visual Planet commented:
“Our goal to improve efficiency by using MAS services has worked extremely well. The best bit is the real measurable results. We would strongly recommend using the MAS team if you are looking to improve your manufacturing processes. It’s not always easy to stand back and take an objective view of your own working practices when you are in the thick of it. The MAS team facilitated that activity in a very structured way and then literally provided hands on help.”

The funding for Advanced Manufacturing in addition to the £4m announced for Low Carbon last week, is expected to make a significant increase in MAS’ ability to support Manufacturers across all regions in these challenging times by enabling MAS to provide wider strategic support to SMEs as well as increasing the transfer of advanced manufacturing capabilities into SMEs in order to increase their medium to long-term competitiveness.

To find out how MAS is working with manufacturers across the country to address the Low Carbon and Advanced Manufacturing agendas, visit, www.mas.bis.gov.uk.
To see a copy of the Advanced Manufacturing strategy, visit the Department of Business Innovation and Skills website at http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/advancedmanufacturing/

For more information on the MAS East work carried out with Visual Planet please see http://www.mas-east.org.uk/case-studies-1/visual-planet