A strategic action plan has been developed to strengthen the West Midlands advanced manufacturing sector and sharpen its competitive edge on the world stage.
Project MADE (Midlands Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystem) has released a new report outlining a vision to drive growth across the sector and generate tens of thousands of new jobs.
The report calls for the establishment of a new organisation to spearhead the delivery of an advanced manufacturing supercluster across the West Midlands.
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This would involve appointing a Chair and securing funding from both public and private investors to implement the proposed growth strategy.
Project MADE has united regional stakeholders, including Unipart Manufacturing, HORIBA MIRA, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, BCIC, Warwick Manufacturing Group, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Rigby Group, West Midlands Combined Authority, WM Growth Company, Coventry City Council, Coventry University and the West Midlands Investment Zone, to deliver a 10-year plan for growth and investment in the West Midlands advanced manufacturing sector, reports Birmingham Live.
By 2035, the ambition is to achieve five per cent compound annual GVA growth in the sector, deliver £44bn in final annual output, create 50,000 new jobs, and catalyse £1.6bn in aggregated advanced manufacturing investment.
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
The report puts forward four key recommendations:
*Establish “The advanced manufacturing supercluster”: Creating a new body with clear leadership and governance to drive co-ordination across the diverse advanced manufacturing ecosystem.
*Stimulate Customer Demand Generation activity: to connect SMEs directly to OEMs and Tier 1 buyers to address their pressing needs for resilience and innovation, while also “turbocharging” existing regional business growth programmes.
*Create a unified investment proposition: Bolstering the regional advanced manufacturing proposition and creating a more integrated approach to inward investment.
*Strengthen foundations for growth and scale: Address structural barriers by mapping a 10-year real estate pipeline, boosting the investment pool and closing the “automation gap” through a plan to deliver 15,000 AI and automation-skilled workers.
While the West Midlands remains the UK’s industrial heartland, producing more manufactured goods than Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the Liverpool City Region combined, the sector faces critical supply chain distress and chronic under-investment in automation.
Project MADE argues that, without urgent coordinated intervention and implementation of the recommendations, the UK risks losing ground as global manufacturing systems are reshaped by electrification and digitalisation.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Making things is what the West Midlands has done brilliantly for centuries, and that remains central to our economic revival as technology transforms industry.
“Steve Rigby and the Project MADE team have set out a clear path for how industry can unlock investment and create high-quality jobs.
“My job is to help overcome any barriers to growth, and I’m already backing manufacturers to modernise production, upskill their workforce and move into new markets.
“I’ll do what I can to help turn the recommendations in this report into tens of thousands of new jobs and position our region as the advanced manufacturing engine of our nation.”
Neil Rami, Chief Executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, said: “The report sets out a clear structure and priorities for the Growth Company to work with industry, universities and catapults under our new mandate to deliver the West Midlands Growth Plan.
“Innovation starts, and scales, in the West Midlands. The region operates as a fully integrated system where ideas are rapidly developed, tested and industrialised within a single regional economy.
“We also have one of the UK’s largest applied RandD ecosystems outside London, supported by six research-intensive universities producing over 50,000 graduates each year.
“Project MADE will help develop the region’s advanced manufacturing sector further and ensure it remains a market leader, both nationally and internationally.”
Steve Rigby, CEO of Rigby Group and Project MADE Chair, said: “Project MADE has brought together key leaders across the region to turn a clear ambition into practical, coordinated action.
“The West Midlands has all the ingredients to lead globally in advanced manufacturing – our task now is to bring those strengths together with pace, focus and discipline.”
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