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From
2003 to 2008, Martin Hyman was one of the North West Regional
Development Agency's (NWDA's) team of Regional Business Advisors
(RBAs). Martin was one of the two RBAs, based within Business
Link, supported by UK Trade & Investment, brought in from
Industry, to cover the Aerospace Sector, in this highly succesful
5 year Cluster Development Programme - A ground breaking initiative
generating £511 million in new and safeguarded sales
and impacting on 7,300 jobs, covering a range of industries
in Sectors considered to be of strategic importance to the
North West of England. These sectors included Aerospace, Environmental,
Bio-technology, Digital, Automotive, Tourism, Education and
Training, Textiles, Energy, Creative Industries and Chemicals.
This
Programme was part-funded by the European Regional Development
Fund and was aimed at supporting Small and Medium Sized Companies
(SMEs) in designated Objective 2 and Transitional areas in
the North West of England, to provide long term, specialist
support to eligible companies to help achieve realistic and
sustainable business improvement, with growth being the key
goal.
The aerospace industry in the North West is considered to
be of strategic importance because of the level of employment
it provides, the level of the technology and the skills it
demands. Aerospace is a global business and in order to compete,
companies have to demonstrate continuous improvement and investment
in skills and technology. Without this approach, companies
would risk collapse due to the pressure from global competition.
As
a Regional Business Advisers, specific areas of support included:
-
Development
of business strategies and action plans
-
Promotion
of networks and collaboration
-
Signposting
business support, including Business Link and UK Trade
and InvestmentServices
-
Consultancy
Whilst
in this role, in addition to providing Individual Company
Support, Martin also worked closely with the North West Aerospace
Alliance (NWAA) in support of the ongoing development and
deployment of its Supply Chain Strategy and One Step Ahead
(Competitiveness Improvement) Programmes and he was also an
active Participant in the North West Aerospace Business Development
Group along with Participants from @erogistics Limited, the
Advance Aerospace Technology Guild Limited (AATG), the NWAA
and the NWDA, in order to ensure that the advice that he offered
was in step with the evolving needs of the Aerospace Industry,
in the Region.
Martin
also participated in the NWDA’s Sector Skills and Productivity
Alliance - Engineering & Aerospace and their Sector Skills
and Productivity Alliance – Aviation Committees, where
his experience of the Manpower requirements related to Aerospace
Industry Initial Design/Manufacturing activities together
with experience of the Manpower involved in the ongoing Support
and Maintenance activities of a broad range of In-Service
Aircraft, was put to good use.
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