Programme director Donna Edwards says: “Over the last seven years, we’ve seen hundreds of SMEs take confident steps towards digitalisation, boosting productivity, creating jobs, and laying the groundwork for long-term growth.”
Parkdale Joinery, based in Preston, manufactures bespoke kitchens, offices and bedrooms, as well as high-end architectural joinery. Made Smarter provided a grant of £20,000 towards a project to invest £45,000 in a CNC drilling and routing machine and design software package.
Joel Parkinson, managing director, says: “We’ve built our reputation on crafting beautiful, bespoke products by hand. But as demand has grown, we recognised the need to evolve.
“This technology hasn’t replaced our craftsmanship – it has enhanced it. The new system speeds up the dull, repetitive elements of production, such as manufacturing carcasses and sheet material processing, while allowing us to preserve the hands-on approach and design flexibility our clients value in our frontages and finishes.
“It means we can now produce the same work in a third of the time, increasing capacity and throughput with a greater degree of accuracy without compromising on quality. It’s a big step forward that will help us grow the business, create new jobs, and upskill our current team.”
Alain Dilworth, Made Smarter programme manager, says Lancashire is probably its most productive area in terms of its client numbers. He says the programme works to “make a
CoolKit’s Blackburn facility
difference on the shop floor” and to help improve productivity.
Alain reveals a lot of the work carried out with SMEs is centred on simple software solutions. “An awful lot of manufacturing businesses are run by spreadsheets and accountancy packages that don’t necessarily talk to each other.”
He adds: “The technologies are there to drive productivity, it’s picking the right ones.
“Automation is a way of retaining staff and training them up to do more interesting things.”
Lancashire manufacturing companies like CoolKit are making large-scale investments in their futures – statements of real intent.
The largest specialist in temperature-controlled and refrigerated light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in the UK, has seen a “substantial increase in its output”, following a year of transformative investments across its manufacturing and assembly sites.
It has invested more than £2m in its Lancashire facilities. A significant focus on operational
efficiency means that CoolKit is now able to fulfil new orders more quickly – providing customers with a 60 per cent improvement in lead times.
Founder and chief executive Rupert Gatty says: “With our expansion well underway, we’re better positioned than ever to deliver rapid, industry-leading order fulfilment of expertly engineered products.”
Looking at the wider picture, Dawn Huntrod, regional director for the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, says: “Industry remains critical to the growth of the North West economy, providing high value, high skill jobs and aiding the process of creating wealth across the region.
“The government has made a welcome bold statement of its intent to tackle the UK’s anaemic growth at national and regional level with its industrial and trade strategies.
“This should now be allied with the local growth strategies and priorities of each region, including infrastructure and innovation, together with other measures to ensure the UK is an attractive place to do business.”
in association with
NEW CATEGORIES FOR 2026
AI AND TECH INNOVATION
CREATIVE BUSINESS DEAL OF THE YEAR
Deadline: 5 December 2025
redroseawards.co.uk @redroseawards #RRA26
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
65
IN VIEW
MANUFACTURING
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
