Three Macclesfield businesses are putting data and systems integration at the heart of their productivity and growth plans.

Art Graphics UK in Bollington, Lowlife Products and Plastic Card Services in Macclesfield are among 61 SME manufacturers that have received funding through the Made Smarter North West Industry 4.0 adoption pilot.

They have embraced industrial digital technologies which connect their disparate systems and unify data residing in different sources.

Plastic Card Services (PCS) invested in game-changing digital printing technology for the photo ID cards sector. The bespoke solution can read a card, check against a data file in real time, and then encode it, while a new software solution interrogates its customer's database for the personalised data for the card and organise print jobs for the day.

The investment resulted in a new contract worth £500,000 each year for the next three years and an 8% increase in turnover, as well as additional enquiries for similar contracts.

Adam Unsworth, Managing Director, said: "Quite simply, without funding through Made Smarter for the new equipment, PCS would not have been able to win the contract. The increase in turnover is huge for us. It's a game-changer for our company."

SMEs from various manufacturing sectors have invested in other advanced technologies to solve their business challenges.

Almost 25% (20) of manufacturers are adopting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) using sensors to collect critical production data to gain valuable insights about the efficiency of operations. More than 20% (17) of SMEs are adopting robotics and process control automation and 15% (13) are focussed on big data and analytics technologies. Meanwhile, other businesses are investing in 3Dprinting (6), artificial intelligence (2), augmented and virtual reality (5), and cyber security (2).

Donna Edwards, programme director for the Made Smarter North West, said: "Data and analytics are central to the 4th Industrial Revolution, so I am extremely pleased that so many SME manufacturers are putting data at the heart of their own digitalisation journeys.

"Capturing the data from across their processes and bringing it all together in one place is a vital first step for many manufacturers looking to solve problems and recognise opportunities.

Simultaneously, many of these SMEs are also deploying sensors in their factories to collect valuable data.

"The next step, one which some forward-thinking SMEs are already taking, is to analyse the data using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

"It is encouraging that so many of this region's makers are recognising that using these tools can empower them to grow their business and increase efficiency."