The Data Lab partnered with 11 other UK organisations to create the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH), a £53.8m innovation hub to benefit the UK manufacturing sector.
The Challenge: Adopting data-driven strategies for SMEs
The UK manufacturing sector faces significant challenges in adopting data-driven strategies to enhance productivity and competitiveness, particularly for SMEs. The lack of data literacy and expertise can hinder the adoption of new technologies and innovation, thus limiting growth and innovation potential.
The Solution: Propelling manufacturers toward productivity
In collaboration with other organisations, The Data Lab led the development and rollout of the Data Analytics work package to enable non-data-literate industries and sectors to transform. The longer-term view is to create a skills programme to help traditionally non-data roles transition to data-powered roles.
Through problem articulation, training, and system design, upskilling benefited everyone from floor workers to senior management, creating a thriving ecosystem of data-powered teams. Additionally, The Data Lab created an online community connecting over 400 members in manufacturers across the UK and internationally, allowing them to access and exchange data and analytics packages that can help them cut down on their emissions, improve productivity and reduce waste by adopting new techniques and applications of data science.
The Outcomes: Boosting economic growth
The Data Lab’s involvement in SMDH includes coordinating organisations’ direct access to and assistance from data scientists, extending the reach for participating firms to work with UK cutting-edge platforms, facilities and systems, and championing data skills through knowledge exchange workshops and online learning content.
The hub received £20 million of funding from the £300 million UK government-backed Manufacturing Made Smarter programme, which aims to boost UK manufacturing productivity by 30% by 2030 through investment in data-powered projects.
Led by The Data Lab, the SMDH data team of 18 data scientists— many of them graduates— successfully delivered over 200 projects for 140 manufacturing companies, tackling critical challenges in machine efficiency, energy monitoring, air quality, and supply chain optimisation. But beyond delivering solutions, the team built a pipeline for future AI talent, upskilling graduates and preparing them for industry roles.
“Many SMEs lack data capabilities and a data-driven culture. We are assisting them in comprehending the potential and benefits of utilizing data.”
Saleh Seyedzadeh – Principal Data Scientist of the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub, The Data Lab