£90m up for grabs for automotive suppliers

West Midlands automotive component suppliers are being urged to go for £90m funding from Accelerate, the regional supply chain-led initiative run by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Accelerate offers business development and capital grants, supply chain improvement programmes and specialist centres. Grants are available for all sorts of improvement initiatives specifically including implementing IT systems to help with supply chain problems. Interior trim specialist Collins and Aikman in Stourport was one beneficiary that used financial support to launch a real-time website that can now be accessed by Tier One suppliers for stock levels, call-offs, changes in delivery requirements and so on. That system is still being upgraded and has already resulted in a 30% decrease in stock holding value, stock return improvements of 40% and significant reductions in PPM quality scores. “Since our formation in 1996, we have assisted over 1,000 companies in the West Midlands to implement best practice manufacturing systems, secure production efficiencies and cultivate workforce development,” says Rachel Eade, Accelerate programme manager. “The challenge now is to ensure that we work with regional suppliers to meet the evolving needs of the industry and provide crucial support to a sector that is striving to lead the world in QCD (Quality, Cost and Delivery) performance.”