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Choosing and implementing the right technologies is only one part of digitalisation.

You also need to assess whether you have the right skills within your business, a culture which is open to change and know how to implement-effective communications across your operations.
Organisation and workforce development (OWD) is absolutely essential to successfully implementing emerging technologies into your business. Made Smarter can support you to get the very most from any digital tools used within your organisation and help you to begin your journey towards digitalisation.

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Organisation and workforce development explained
  • What is organisation and workforce development (OWD)?

    It’s an approach that aims to improve a business’ performance specifically through its people. It has two parts to it, the first of which is organisation development. This can result in growth, longevity and relevancy within an organisation. To achieve these benefits, you need to analyse your:

    • Business goals and its current success in attaining them
    • Systems, processes and practices, and how they impact the delivery of these objectives – along with any changes that could facilitate this

    To make sure your business reaches its goals, robust change management practices can be put in place. Introducing good communication and employee engagement methods is just one such strategy. Incorporate these, and you can be certain that team members understand what’s happening, and how the changes will alter their role.

    The second part, is workforce development, which focuses on having the right staff with the right skills in place to combat any challenges.

  • What role does Organisation and workforce development play in technology?

    OWD works hand in hand with emerging technologies. Manufacturers often use digital tools to increase productivity, giving them a competitive advantage and ultimately leading to boosted efficiency and growth. But to fully capitalise on this, highly skilled, flexible and productive workforces are required.

    This is where OWD comes in. It can help you to recognise the changes that technologies will make, and therefore identify the necessary areas for upskilling. It can also be used to establish how digitally prepared a business is, along with anything that might require action prior to introducing the technologies – such as adjusting your organisational structure.

  • What organisation and workforce development support can Made Smarter offer to manufacturers?

    We provide fully-funded, specialist OWD advice, which can be separated into two different areas: readiness and adoption.

    To get your business ready for industrial digital technologies, we’ll help you analyse your structure, how work is organised, whether departments could work better together, and if there are any gaps in knowledge where upskilling could help. We’ll support you with the practical planning too – developing your people, engaging your employees, and producing materials that you can use.

    Our adoption support involves change management, like planning effective communication and employee engagement activities, in addition to our other forms of assistance. We’ll also provide ongoing monitoring.

  • What else can SMEs access from Made Smarter?

    If you’re a North West business, we can signpost you to a number of our other types of support where applicable. They’ll help prepare you for digitalisation and technology adoption. These include:

    • Leadership Development Programme - Providing you with the skills to successfully lead your business through its digital transformation.
    • Digital technology internships – Bringing in a digital native can give your business a fresh perspective.
    • Digital strategy workshops – Run by our specialist advisers, these help you to identify the challenges associated with going digital and develop a roadmap for technology implementation.
    • Technology advice from specialist advisers – One-to-one support related to your plans and prospective project scoping.

    On top of this, we can also refer you to external providers – for example, those offering skills funding or alternate types of business support in your local area.

Here’s just a small selection of the makers who have reaped the rewards of Made Smarter’s OWD support.

Greater Manchester foam converting and component production

This business’ smart technology project required more groundwork and data cleansing for effective implementation. But they also had problems with employee engagement and communication – two crucial aspects in ensuring team members get the most out of digital tools. Our OWD work helped them overcome these challenges, and assisted with their progress towards renewing their Investors In People accreditation.

Lancashire food and drink packing and distribution

The organisation in question had an infrastructure project that necessitated a shift to further integration and process control. By combining OWD with HR, the relevant training requirements were identified so that they could boost productivity and engagement. Monitoring was additionally carried out to pinpoint their upskilling needs. In this instance, we referred the organisation to Skills Support for the Workforce so that their team could obtain vital qualifications.

Greater Manchester washroom facilities production

This business already had an ERP project in progress, as well as many others in the pipeline – potential projects included IIOT and predictive maintenance, along with VR/AR for training, maintenance and sales. These required bespoke on-site configurations. We referred them to digital innovation support that specialises in CRM and website integration. They remain in close contact with Made Smarter for their future plans.

Liverpool innovative automotive engineering solutions

Made Smarter worked with the client to scope two prospective digital technology internships, which are currently under consideration. We’re monitoring the business to pinpoint the right phase in which to support their growth through recruitment assistance, as well as help with their HR system and policies.

Tech is the future for UK manufacturing. Adopt it in the right way.
Be part of the industrial digitalisation of UK manufacturing and fast-track your business growth. Register today.
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