Advanced Manufacturing assistance and training for SME Transformation

Project Information

ADMA TranS4MErs

Grant agreement ID: 101037866

DOI

10.3030/101037866

Project closed

EC signature date 23 September 2021

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 5 623 188,88

EU contribution

€ 5 623 188,63

Coordinated by

IRISH MANUFACTURING RESEARCH COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ADMA TranS4MErs (Advanced Manufacturing assistance and training for SME Transformation)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Advancements in manufacturing sector are essential for addressing the challenging market demands while keeping strict compliance to regulations and quality standards. The changing market demands adoption of newer technologies and tools to help manufacturing companies take informed decisions that would essentially decide their market share. Manufacturing SMEs are essentially the life of any nation; SMEs contribute to more than 50% of the EU’s economy, supporting and enabling a huge workforce, creating jobs and sustaining the balance of the society.

While the bigger manufacturing companies adopt to changing market conditions easily by utilising their infrastructural capacity and higher cash flow capability, the manufacturing SMEs often struggle to keep up with these changing demands. The majority of such SMEs are traditional manufacturing SMEs and these companies find it hard to steer in the right direction to become the Factories of the Future. ADMA TranS4MErs programme is designed specifically to help such manufacturing SMEs who are enthusiastic about becoming Factories of the Future but require guidance to reach that transformation goal.

The overall objective of the ADMA TranS4MErs programme is to support 1000 SMEs in EU-27 to advance towards digital transformation, while focussing on resilience, sustainability, and smart specialisation. The programme onboarded 948 SMEs, completed 613 Digital Maturity Assessment and delivered 9,952 hours of service to 370 SMEs in revamp phase. In the programme engaged with 50,000+ stakeholders across EU-27.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ADMA TranS4MErs during its 39 months has achieved all the specific objectives and milestones required in the programme.

During the life of the programme a technical platform (xChange Platform) was created, incorporating the revised methodology and also including tools for supporting learning loops providing feedback data to the consortium. 119 xChange events were conducted across EU-27 in an effort to onboard maximum SMEs to the programme and extensive dissemination activities were also supporting the onboarding efforts. ADMA TranS4MErs in its lifetime reached more than 50,000 stakeholders, attracted a diverse network of SMEs, experts, and service providers, and successfully supported manufacturing companies in their digital transformation journey. The programme has also successfully facilitated new business collaborations for the SMEs with TranS4MErs, partners and even other SMEs in the programmes through communications and networking events. The programme has also successfully established new collaborative opportunities for the beneficiaries, positively affecting the business of all stakeholders. The platform brought together SMEs, TranS4MErs and Service Providers under one technical solution, bridging the gap in the market for SMEs to find guidance in consultation with experts and availing different services to progress on their digital transformation.

ADMA TranS4MErs programme onboarded 948 SMEs to the programme in two open calls, supporting them primarily with ADMA TranS4MErs Digital Maturity Assessment (also known as the ADMA Scan) and with transformation plans to help them become factories of the future. To support the SMEs, 476 TranS4MErs (subject matter experts) were onboarded and trained to ensure quality of service and allocating respective quality mark. A total of 10,468 hours were requested (474 service requests) of which 10,176 hours of service were confirmed (454 confirmations) and 9,952 hours of service were delivered (434 completions) across EU-27, supporting the digital transformation of the onboarded SMEs.

The programme produced Six key exploitable results. These results include the

• Digital SME Guide
• xChange Platform
• Open Call and Programme Management Dashboard
• Insight and Impact report
• Service Catalogue
• ADMA TranS4MErs Methodology

The key exploitation activities achieved are:
• GDT Textile and Factory XChange (FxC) digitisation programmes adopted the ADMA TranS4MErs Digital Maturity Scan as a self-assessment tool for their SMEs offered as a service through their corresponding project platform.
• GDT Textile has expressed interest in adopting the, the xChange platform and the Open Call and Programme Management Dashboard, into their programme. Further discussions are being held to finalise on the type of involvement of the KER owners and the association of the technical platforms with the project. The efforts will be continued into 2025 with the results owners taking a lead on the same.
• FxC has taken up piloting of the Digital SME Guide (a microlearning module), extending the impact of the KER.
• Multiple interests are received for exploitation of programme results and the efforts will be continued in 2025 by respective result owners.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ADMA TranS4MErs Programme has created a wide impact over the EU-27 SMEs and programme beneficiaries. It has generated operational, awareness and financial impact to EU manufacturing SMEs.
The overall impact of the programme include:
1. A total of 948 SMEs, 476 TranS4MErs onboarded to the programme across EU -27
2. 3464 Social Media followers with 41,004 unique website users
3. 11 collaboration agreements, 41 media appearances, 30 international events and 40 national event participations, and a net 119 xChange events.
4. A total of 10,468 hours were requested (474 service requests) of which 10,176 hours of service were confirmed (454 confirmations) and 9,952 hours of service were delivered (434 completions) across EU-27
5. A net financial projection or a net effective benefit to the SMEs is calculated to be € 51,669,448.90 in three years
6. Cascaded funding opportunities: from the generated reports, it is observed that more than 50% of the SMEs in revamp phase across EU-27 were looking for cascaded funding opportunities with other digitisation programmes with consortium partners, of which the efforts are to be continued into 2025.
7. New business partnerships: The SMEs has built successful strategic partnerships with the help of consortium partners facilitating a regional collaborative environment
8. Cross-border collaboration: The SMEs collaborated with cross-border partners for services creating new business opportunities with a possibility of business expansion in future.
9. Exploitation of key results in the programme has been achieved in 2 different programmes.
10. Furthermore the learnings from the programme are disseminated to all partners further improving the other digital transformation programmes and continuing the impact of the programme

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