20 Oct 2025
Manufacturing Is Changing, But Support Is Available
Across the UK, manufacturers are facing a familiar set of challenges: rising costs, skills shortages, sustainability pressures, and a growing need for efficiency. Most leaders now recognise that digital transformation is essential, but many are unsure where to start or how to fund it.
That’s where Made Smarter can help.
It’s a government-backed initiative designed to help small and medium-sized manufacturers take practical, affordable steps into digital transformation, with expert advice, leadership training, and match funding for technology projects.
For many manufacturers, it’s the perfect kick-start to your digital investment.
What Is the Made Smarter Programme?
Made Smarter is a UK government initiative launched to boost productivity, innovation, and competitiveness in manufacturing. It helps businesses adopt technologies such as:
automation and robotics
data capture and analysis
cloud systems and ERP
digital job tracking and scheduling
and connected factory tools
Participating businesses gain access to:
Specialist advisors who help identify where technology can make a difference
Leadership training and workshops to build digital capability at all levels
Grant funding (typically 50% match funding) for eligible projects
In essence, it’s about helping manufacturers digitise how they work, which can ultimately pay for itself.
Why It Matters
Digital transformation can sound complex, but its goal is simple: help manufacturers do more with what they already have.
Most manufacturers know change is needed. The challenge isn’t seeing the problems but in knowing what to implement, and finding the time and resources to do it well. Many businesses get stuck deciding whether to invest in tools like ERP or start smaller with targeted digital improvements. We explored this dilemma in our article, To ERP or Not to ERP: Why SME Manufacturers Are Stuck, and What Comes Next.
The Made Smarter approach starts with expert guidance, helping manufacturers identify where digital tools can make the biggest impact. Once that plan is in place, funding support helps turn those priorities into action. Businesses can start small, prove value quickly, and then scale what works.
We’ve seen this approach work first hand in multiple companies now.
Where Manufacturers Are Seeing Results
Across the UK, Made Smarter has helped thousands of manufacturers streamline operations and boost performance. Typical outcomes include:
Increased productivity: through automation, workflow visibility, and reduced downtime.
Improved decision-making: by connecting data from machines, systems, and people.
Better customer experience: through faster delivery and greater traceability.
Sustainability gains: by reducing waste and energy consumption.
Common focus areas include digitising job tracking, linking shop-floor activity with planning systems, and improving the visibility of performance data - all areas where relatively small changes can have big operational impact.
From Funding to Impact
While Made Smarter provides the funding and guidance, real success depends on execution, translating the opportunity into measurable outcomes.
That’s where Therion can help.
Therion works with manufacturers to design and deliver digital systems that connect operations, data, and people. The goal is simple: create clarity, reduce friction, and improve business performance and ultimately, profitability.
One of the most common areas we can support through Made Smarter-funded projects is implementing better job management and tracking capabilities, digitising how work moves through a factory, and capturing progress and performance in real time. This often becomes the foundation for a wider transformation once leaders can see the early benefits and payback.
Practical First Steps
If you’re a manufacturer exploring Made Smarter, here’s how to get started:
Check your eligibility: Made Smarter typically supports manufacturing SMEs in England. You can register interest through your local Growth Hub or the Made Smarter website.
Assess your priorities with Made Smarter support: Look for bottlenecks in your business - areas like scheduling, reporting, or data capture where digital tools could make an immediate difference.
Engage an experienced partner: Funding is powerful, but only when aligned with business goals. An effective partner helps define clear outcomes, design fit-for-purpose systems, and measure success.
Start small, scale fast: Many of the best results come from small, focused pilots, proving value before scaling wider adoption.
Why This Matters Now
The UK’s manufacturing sector is the backbone of our economy, but it’s also at a crossroads. Those who embrace digital tools today will set the pace for the next decade.
Made Smarter offers manufacturers a rare opportunity: government-backed support to invest in systems and ways of working that make you faster, smarter, and more efficient.
Therion’s mission is to help turn that opportunity into lasting capability, using digital technology as the foundation for a more connected, resilient, and competitive business.
We’ve seen the impact of Made Smarter first-hand. Our Chief Product Officer, Rich Larder, used the programme to great effect during his time as Operations Director at Dyer Engineering - helping to modernise core systems and unlock operational visibility.
Taking The Next Steps
If you’d like to explore how Made Smarter funding could support your digital journey, from job tracking and scheduling to data insights through Cortex, our team can help you understand the opportunity and next steps.
→ Talk to Therion to learn more.
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