Swindon’s manufacturers are being urged to take advantage of a £30m Government scheme to give employers the skills they need to realise their growth ambitions. The scheme – the Employer Ownership Fund – gives employers 50% matched funding for training projects designed to address skills shortages affecting their business. The first £20m of the...
Small and medium-sized businesses are to get access to world-class CAD CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture) tools and rapid prototyping through 3D printing at a new enterprise centre. Opened this week at Wiltshire College’s Lackham campus near Chippenham, pictured, the centre is aimed at boosting product design in businesses by fast-tracking product development...
Swindon has strengthened its standing as a leading centre for innovation in low-emission motoring by officially opening the UK’s first refuelling station that produces ‘green’ hydrogen on site. The new state-of-the-art facility at car giant Honda’s manufacturing plant at South Marston will produce hydrogen from solar power by electrolysis for use in hydrogen commercial...
Swindon’s newest hi-tech firm, PRP Optoelectronics, has received a multi-million pound investment to develop innovative products at its new plant in the town. The firm announced earlier this month that it is to develop a 100,000 sq ft state-of-the-art design and manufacturing base at Hillmead to make market-leading light emitting diode (LED) technology. The...
Swindon business leaders today welcomed the latest positive national economic figures but concerns remain that the pace of growth is slowing and further problems could lie ahead. The Office for National Statistics figures show the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.7% in the three months to September – slightly weaker than the...
The countdown to UK Trade & Investment's (UKTI) sixth Export Week has started with Swindon firms being urged to get on the fast track to success as the event brings the world to the region. Organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in conjunction with partners and business organisations and taking place between November...
Swindon’s small and medium-sized manufacturers were today urged to take advantage of a new scheme which could help them win contracts from the UK’s rapidly-developing £60bn civil nuclear new build programme. The link-up between the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) will allow these firms to measure...
Specialist learning and development consultancy RTS Group is celebrating 25 years in business – a quarter of a century in which the tools of its trade have progressed from flipcharts to online technology. The Chippenham-based group began life as a niche agency aimed at serving the training and development needs of the automotive industry....
The economic recovery may not be as strong as anticipated despite the latest fall in unemployment, Business West, the organisation that runs the Initiative in Swindon & Wiltshire, has warned While welcoming the 1.6% year-on-year drop in the number of people out of work in the South West, Initiative director Ian Larrard, pictured, said...
Synergy Health, the Swindon-headquartered international medical sterilisation group, is to be taken over by a major US healthcare firm in a deal worth around $1.9bn (£1.18bn). Ohio-based Steris Corporation, which provides infection prevention to clients in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and research industries, said this week it would set up a new company to undertake...
