Online tools for targeted and rapid digital upskilling

Covid-19 is impacting the manufacturing sector in a number of ways:

* Health and Safety requirements to comply with social distancing measures
* Increased remote working
* Requirement to access core data remotely
* Changes in customer demand and disruption to supply chains
* Staffing pressures due to illness and self-isolation

Manufacturers can benefit from digital technologies helping them access and optimise core data and production data remotely. Processes can be improved to facilitate remote working and team collaboration. However, many manufacturers have previously been reluctant to implement digital technologies and a key barrier has been the level of digital skills and confidence within an older workforce. Many employees are also impacted by shielding measures and use of furloughing and there will be a need to help them prepare to use digital technologies in the future.

This project will develop an affordable and scalable solution to help manufacturers overcome employee driven barriers to digitisation and adopt new technologies quickly and effectively through targeted upskilling, on-demand support to achieve rapid cultural change and employee feedback monitoring to address concerns and improve confidence. The project aligns with the priorities of the Manufacturing Made Smarter Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Wave 3 Challenge.

Key elements within this project will include:

\* Validating an end-to-end process for improving digital confidence for employees in the manufacturing sector

\* Developing interactive wire-frames and a prototype application to support this process

\* Testing this process and the prototype application with a cohort of manufacturing employees

\* Analysing data captured to further develop our understanding of employee barriers to digital adoption

Employees will receive a personalised digital readiness assessment and ongoing training and mentoring support to improve their digital confidence. We will capture employee feedback throughout the project and use this to tailor the training provided.

EDGE Digital has provided digital strategy and planning support to hundreds of manufacturers through events, seminars, workshops, webinars, coaching and mentoring. EDGE Digital is a supplier to the Made Smarter North West Pilot and project lead for Digital Breakthrough South East, a Business Basics funded project delivering digital adoption support to manufacturers in the South East. EDGE Digital is a founding partner of the Digital Readiness Level Tool, a free-to-use secure online resource developed and maintained by a consortium of manufacturing and technology experts; and its directors were technical authors of PAS 1040:2019 Digital Readiness -- Adopting digital technologies in manufacturing.

Extension for Impact funding will enable this project to undertake the following additional activities:

* Additional beta testing of the prototype application to deepen our understanding of customer requirements across wider sectors
* Developing a business model for full development and scale up of the app
* Technical updates to the prototype based on beta testing feedback
* Developing a core user community to support further product testing and innovation
* Collaboration with existing stakeholders to identify potential new users and relevant networks where the application can add value