16/07/2025
Empowering SMEs through digital transformation: the success of the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) project
The Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory (DIAL) was one of 11 partners to take part in the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) project lead by the University of Ulster. The Innovate UK funded project was designed to support small and medium-size manufacturers to become more competitive by harnessing the power of data (https://smdh.uk).
The SMDH project ran from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 with the goal to increase productivity of manufacturing SMEs, raise the adoption of digital technologies, and get real value from available data. The project helped SMEs move away from non-data gathering manual systems to informed production manufacturing systems. During these 3 years, a team of researchers from the IfM, led by Dr. German Terrazas, engaged with more than 150 SMEs from all over the UK, of which just over 100 adopted a total of 290 low-cost digital solutions. These companies were distributed across 15 industrial sectors the majority of which were electronics and electrical equipment, machinery, metals and plastics manufacturers. The digital solution kits were developed for monitoring current consumption, air quality, ambient/process/equipment temperature, atmospheric conditions, track jobs, quantify scrap and machine downtime. From these, power monitoring, air particle and temperature monitoring were the top three adopted solutions.
The team attended a number of in-person networking meetings and large technology events that attract manufacturers, industry leaders and technology providers. Following feedback received from the SMEs a very positive experience was reported. Some of the benefits gained were the significant time and cost savings from solutions like power monitoring and job tracking as well as improvements on health and safety from solutions like air quality, air particle and temperature monitoring. 90% considered the material and documentation provided as well as both the technical and the non-technical support from Cambridge useful; 60% would continue to use their low-cost digital solution or extend the trial in their business; 75% would have liked to adopt more solutions and 50% confirmed that have developed new digital skills within their workforce. Additionally, manufacturing SMEs have reported a growth of 3 to 4 levels in digitalisation. Most companies went from collecting no data (before adopting solutions), to either semi-automatic data collection or automated data collection (after adopting solutions); from storing no data to having data digitally accessible and available for relevant people; from having no data visualised to having dashboards; and from having no analysis to having analysis. Furthermore, the majority of companies learned to understand their digital priorities, moved to a more comfortable position to acquire digital solutions or developed an ability to integrate digital solutions with business operations.
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