The Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service contributed over £16m to Scotland’s economy in the last financial year.
Carrying out 150 improvement projects and 365 manufacturing reviews (free diagnostic visits that assess the company’s performance and identify growth opportunities), SMAS, which was established four years ago by Scottish Enterprise, has experienced unprecedented demand over the last year.
The service provides support as companies try to improve productivity, cut costs and become more competitive. Since it was established in 2006, SMAS has brought £50m in added-value to the Scottish economy.
Steve Graham, director of SMAS, explained: “The high level of demand from Scotland’s manufacturers for our help and assistance indicates that we are providing a very real and worthwhile service. In the last year alone, SMAS has delivered over £16m in added value productivity. This productivity increase can be from improving work-flow solutions, better and more efficient procurement and assisting Scottish manufacturers become better aligned to meet the needs of their customers as well as opening new markets.”
According to Graham, 25% of the manufacturing reviews that SMAS carries out are for companies operating in the food and drink sector. The remaining are across a wide range of sectors, from textiles to engineering.
Scottish Enterprise has doubled the SMAS workforce and introduced a number of new services. Said Graham: “In the last six months we have introduced a new brokerage resource utilising third party specialists and associates across Scotland to work alongside the core SMAS team. This service not only provides increased specialist expertise, but builds in a much greater resource and flexibility to respond to peaks and troughs in customer demand.”
