Over £4.5m of productivity value added to companies in North Wales

In the last two years alone MAS Wales has contributed £4.5m worth of productivity improvements to companies in North Wales. The pressure to compete on cost is an ever-present factor for manufacturing companies. Mike Gibson of MAS Wales knows that it is well placed to provide an appropriate specialist to tackle the specific issues facing individual companies in a wide range of sectors. Gibson says that businesses need to be proactive in fine-tuning how they operate in order to remain competitive: “While we cannot ignore the risk from developing economies such as China and India, we can capitalise on the advantages that domestic companies have. “Quality is a major asset for us, as is reliability and the ability to produce value added bespoke products for a niche market. Countries such as China are known for volume, but not for high calibre, specialist manufacture. “Our companies can also offer better lead times and also have a far better understanding of their customers' requirements. Furthermore, as businesses and consumers become more environmentally aware, they can reduce their carbon footprint by sourcing products locally.” MAS is working with a broad range of companies in North Wales, among them Penygroes-based paper processing plant Kruger, Wrexham-based specialist coating manufacturer InteliCoat, Insi in Caernarfon, and Anglesey Sea Salt (Halen Mon). MAS Wales has worked with Anglesey Sea Salt on a number of projects – one of which helped the company increase production by 10%. Most recently, MAS assisted the business in its relocation to larger premises – a complex move that required only a week's production downtime thanks to MAS intervention. “We had envisaged a production gap of four-six weeks,” confirms Anglesey Sea Salt founder David Lea-Wilson. “That was a very worrying prospect, as it could have jeopardised the whole business. Losing 10% of our year's production could have resulted in our customers going elsewhere. “Thanks to extremely careful planning from MAS, the move was completed with minimum disruption.”