MAS gives businesses independent straightforward practical advice from manufacturing experts who themselves have years of hands on experience. The service is subsidised, and for smaller firms much of the help is free. Companies who have used MAS have found it increases the value of their business through a combination of increased turnover and reduced costs. The value of the firms who have used MAS North West has gone up by £14.4m.
In its first four years, MAS North West has handled 14,719 enquiries, made 2,507 advisory visits, and helped the region's firms with 1,037 in-depth projects.
Areas where MAS has helped companies add value include:
- productivity, which has risen by more than a quarter nationally.
- use of space - improved by a third.
- efficient use of equipment- up by a third.
- waste in the production process - cut by 28 per cent;
- orders delivered on time - up by 28 per cent.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Industry and the Regions, said MAS had shown it could help manufacturers respond to the challenges of competition, raw materials costs and rising energy prices.
She said: "3.5m people work in manufacturing and they contribute more than £150 billion a year to our GDP.
"We do all we can to encourage and support high value manufacturing. One way we can do this is by maintaining a stable and growing economy, with low inflation. But we also need to provide help and advice tailored to individual firms, and this is where MAS fits in.
"The latest results show that progress has been sustained in the fourth year of a very successful programme. As the Chancellor recognised in his 2006 budget speech, there is no doubt that MAS has a continuous role to play in the future."
The 2005-6 figure takes the value-added total for the four years since MAS began to £224m, according to figures in the latest MAS annual report. The budget for the service has been £41m for that period, showing a good return on the money put in. Almost 15,000 firms have had detailed diagnostic advice, and 4,700 in depth improvement projects have been delivered to firms.
One North West firm, Money Controls, was able to coin in on a global market which is expected to generate £1.5 million worth of sales for the business next year, thanks to help from MAS North West. The manufacturing business, which designs and produces coin, bill and cashless systems in Oldham for the likes of casinos, amusement arcades, and car parks, sought help from MAS to develop an intelligent new coin sorter called a hopper, to replace its existing model which was losing market share.
Designs and prototypes for the hopper already existed, but it hadn't gone into production because the manufacturing cost was too high. MAS was able to show how to make the design more cost effective without losing any of its quality, reliability or customer appeal.
For further information and photographs on Money Controls or the MAS annual report please contact your local MAS: Janet Kilpatrick MAS North West 0161 487 3830.
The MAS Annual Report is available for download at http://www.mas.dti.gov.uk
