Holmes to lead MAS in the North

THE former chief executive of Business Link West Midlands has been named as the new head of the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the north of England.

A former head of the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, Ms Holmes also held senior roles at the now defunct regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

She said: “I am really looking forward to the challenge of delivering the service over the next three years.

“What we have to do now is to address the challenges facing manufacturers not just today but over the next decade.

“MAS will evolve to meet those challenges and our intention is to become a one-stop-shop service for the manufacturing sector.”

She said the organisation would become more forward looking and in addition to offering support for SMEs through workshops and other initiatives, would become more proactive in helping firms to grow.

“We want to increase our activities in areas like the emerging technologies and by keeping pace with change and anticipating where growth opportunities are likely to occur then we can help to steer firms in the right direction,” she said.

“We need more of our businesses to be active in international markets – whether this be through supply chain initiatives or shifts in markets. We want to be in the right position to advise firms on what they will have to do in order to generate new business.”

Ms Holmes, who spent 18 years in industry prior to moving into the public sector, is also keen for MAS to develop more collaborate networks so that firms can learn from the experiences of other businesses.

“We want to make sure we can ease the growing pains of businesses and learning best practice is often the most effective way of achieving this,” she added.

The organisation will also be collaborating with other support organisation such as the network of Local Enterprise Partnerships and UK Trade & Investment.