The Manufacturing Technology Centre has launched a suite of online courses to help manufacturing SMEs join the digital revolution sweeping through industry.
The three-part certificate - Practical Steps to Digitalising Your Manufacturing Business - is aimed at helping UK manufacturers embrace the latest digital technologies to improve their businesses.
The CPD-accredited course was designed by the MTC's digital manufacturing and SME experts and will introduce participants to new strategies to build their business and thrive, exploiting the wide range of digital manufacturing technologies already available or coming on stream.
Course participants will learn about digital strategy development, understanding technology, data engineering, enabling connectivity, automation and robotics and digital product design and development. The course is designed for senior decision-makers and engineers in manufacturing and engineering SMEs who are looking to add digital capability to their businesses.
The series of three self-guided online courses deliver best-practice principles, concepts and guidance, supported by real-life SME case studies and expert insights. The first course explores the benefits of digitalisation, the second helps manufacturers understand and unlock the value of data, and the third concentrates on the development of a digitalisation action plan.
Tim Andrews, senior adviser, digital transformation, at the MTC said, "Digitalising manufacturing is a massive opportunity to transform our industry into one of the most productive and competitive in the world. There is a pressing need for UK industry to improve productivity, raise productivity, increase exports and create more jobs. Many SMEs recognise the value of digitalisation but are yet to take their first steps towards embracing it. More than half of UK manufacturers with an annual turnover under £10 million haven't started implementing digitalisation despite actively considering it according to research by Make UK."
He added, "Many manufacturing SMEs recognise that digitalisation could transform their business for tomorrow, but can't move past the challenges of today. This interactive three-part certificate course delivers relevant, practical, sector-specific insights to fuel the first steps towards data-driven operations."
The MTC was founded by the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and TWI Ltd. The MTC’s industrial members include some of the UK’s major global manufacturers.
The MTC provides a competitive environment to bridge the gap between university-based research and the development of innovative manufacturing solutions, in line with the Government’s manufacturing strategy. The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.
Pictured: The MTC's digital manufacturing course will help SMEs to thrive
Further information: Sarah Gilmour, Manufacturing Technology Centre, tel 02476 701687.