Member Article

Digital initiative to aid North East firms

A new digital engineering initiative is set to help win new business for over 65 design and manufacturing companies in the North East, after the EU backed the new scheme.

Sunderland University has secured the contribution a £500,000 from the European Development Fund (ERDF) and will house the Digital Factory project, which aims to give companies the knowledge and facilities needed to make their businesses work.

Digital Factory project leader, Alan Stafford, said: “The Team allows companies access to advance software applications to accelerate the design stages of their work and enables them to exploit new opportunities.

“Investment gives smaller companies a greater chance to succeed and grow. We can give them access to expensive software technologies, which small enterprises need to break into new markets.”

Companies who are being supported will receive advice in developing their business strategy and can use technologies such as 3D scanning and rapid phototyping to improve customer service. Smaller businesses will also be provided with opportunities to find other business like them in the region to collaborate with and trade.

One North East company who has already benefitted from Digital Factory is Roman Ltd, of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. Chris Ward, Roman’s design manager, said: “Our market is extremely fashion driven, which means we must be able to respond to ever changing market trends.

“By moving to 3D design and visualisation we have been able to compress our product design cycles by 50%. It has enabled us to deliver a bespoke service, which is inundated with enquiries and orders.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .