We’re lucky in Lancashire to have a world-leading manufacturing industry that sustains thousands of jobs and contributes massively to our county’s economy. From our large aerospace and automotive companies, and the huge supply chains those sectors sustain, to the smaller and more niche manufacturers, we’re blessed with real diversity.
We can be rightly proud of the array of sites available for manufacturers, such as the Enterprise Zones and our great business parks. We have strong private sector organisations delivering support too like The Manufacturing Institute, North West Aerospace Alliance, and Northwest Automotive Alliance, while manufacturers can also tap into the academic abilities in our universities through leading Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
And these aren’t the only places where Lancashire manufacturers can find support. We also have a wide array of targeted support available for growing manufacturing businesses through Boost. There’s almost too much support to mention, but specifically Boost can help you to:
We have support like the Lancashire Manufacturing Growth Fund which helps manufacturers identify suitable growth projects that qualify for grant funding support. For example, Fairham, a Blackburn-based rubber manufacturing firm, recently increased sales and created a new role thanks to support from the Lancashire Manufacturing Growth Fund.
Support like the UCLan Innovation Clinic helps Lancashire businesses to innovate and grow through the development of new products and markets. This includes support in areas such as idea evaluation, product design and testing, brand development and advice on IP.
An important issue for any business, but even more vital for manufacturers, Boost has a range of support that can help firms protect their IP. For example, we helped Accrington textile manufacturer Lantex to secure a grant through our Growth Vouchers scheme, which went towards protecting its IP and safeguarding its future.
We’ve helped businesses access support from the Productivity through People programme. The 12-month programme is co-designed by Lancaster University through collaboration with BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Siemens. It exists to support and invest in the manufacturers of tomorrow by giving them access to the latest techniques, thinking and research.
The DigitME2 programme, delivered from UCLan’s advanced manufacturing lab in Burnley, offers Lancashire manufacturing SMEs 150 hours of fully-funded support. It can benefit manufacturing SMEs through analysis of their current technologies and proposing feasibility studies to aid the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies, such as 3D Printing, automation, big data processing and robotics. If you’re a manufacturer in Lancashire, or you work with Lancashire manufacturers, please get in touch with our specialist manufacturing advisers to see what support might be available to you.
The website uses cookies.
Some are used for statistical purposes and others are set up by third party services. By clicking 'Accept all & close', you accept the use of cookies. For more information on how we use and manage cookies, please read our Cookie Policy.
