NMCL Automotive

NMCL Automotive were seeking around 100 manufacturers from the UK automotive supply chain. The programme was led by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT). Funding for NMCL Automotive was provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy

 

Eligibility Criteria For NMCL Automotive

1.    Background

National Manufacturing Competitiveness Levels (NMCL) was a system developed by an ADS Group Limited (ADS) and Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) led consortium, supported by industry primes and OEMs.

The Consortium had established a national, quality assured, best practice approach to improving the competitiveness of manufacturing supply chain companies to:

•        Raise workforce capability

•        Increase productivity

•        Boost UK economic growth

•        Increase export levels

NMCL Automotive was a programme that used the NMCL system to support the automotive sector. The programme utilised £16m of Government funding to engage with over 100 companies over three years.

The funding was used to support improvement activities in the automotive supply chain through training, coaching and mentoring.

 

2.     Purpose

The purpose of this document is to summarise the eligibility criteria for beneficiaries under the NMCL Automotive programme.

 

3.     Key Eligibility Criteria

To be a successful beneficiary on the NMCL Automotive programme, the following key eligibility criteria must have been met.

A.     The Beneficiary must be located in the UK and undertake all of the NMCL related training in the UK.

B.     The NMCL Automotive Programme was open to suppliers of all sizes however priority will be given to small & medium sized enterprises (SME). Therefore:

a)      80% of beneficiaries will be small and medium size enterprises (businesses with less than 250 employees and a turnover of less than €50 million).

b)      Subsidiaries or wholly owned enterprises of larger groups are eligible if they meet the SME criteria.

c)      20% of the beneficiaries may be larger companies.

C.      A manufacturer of one or more of the following products:

Vehicles.  Cars, heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles, buses and coaches, road tractors, trailers and semi-trailers, battery electric vehicles, agricultural and industrial tractors and off highway vehicles, motorised and trailer caravans, motorbikes.

Components.  All parts, tyres and engines used in the manufacture of the vehicles above.

Accessories.  Equipment, bodywork and materials for the purpose of being fixed to, or used in the vehicles above.

Automotive Software.   Any software, (or firmware or embedded software), related to automotive industry specific products or services.

Production Equipment.  Equipment designed to enable the manufacture of automotive products.

D.     The improvement activities must align with the strategic priorities set out in the Automotive Sector Deal

And the Beneficiary must be:

E.      Able to satisfy Financial Due Diligence checks undertaken by Finance Birmingham

F.      Able to Satisfy Anti Money Laundering checks (Know Your Customer-KYC) undertaken by Finance Birmingham

G.     Able to satisfy State Aid requirements, with the assessment made by lawyers appointed by Finance Birmingham.

H.     Willing to undertake an agreed improvement project

I.       Willing to meet their obligations set out in the Beneficiary Agreement

J.       Be endorsed for suitability by the Grant Authority

K.      Be endorsed for suitability at Main Gate (having met the requirements A – J) by the Automotive Sector Board

 

4.     Key Success measures

The key success measures for NMCL Automotive were:

a. Increased firm-level labour productivity;

b. Increased firm-level GVA and profitability;

c. Increased firm level competitiveness;

d. Business retained due to implementation of the improvement plan;

e. Business generated due to implementation of the implementation plan;

f. Jobs safeguarded and created

 

SC21 Competitiveness & Growth

SC21 C&G were seeking up to 70 manufacturers from the UK civilian aerospace sector. This programme was led by ADS the aerospace, defence, security and space trade body. Funding for SC21 C&G is provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

 

Eligibility Aero

1. Background

National Manufacturing Competitiveness Levels (NMCL) was a system developed by an ADS Group Limited (ADS) and Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) led consortium, supported by industry primes and OEMs.

 

The Consortium had established a national, quality assured, best practice approach to improving the competitiveness of manufacturing supply chain companies to:

      • Raise workforce capability
      • Increase productivity
      • Boost UK economic growth
      • Increase export levels

SC21 Competitiveness and Growth (SC21 C&G) was a programme that used the NMCL system to support the aerospace sector. The programme utilised £10m of Government funding to engage with over 60 companies over three years.

The funding was used to support improvement activities in the aerospace supply chain through training, coaching and mentoring.

 

2. Purpose

The purpose of this document is to summarise the eligibility criteria and selection progress for beneficiaries under the SC21 Competitiveness and Growth (SC21 C&G) programme.

 

 3. Key Eligibility Criteria (Ideas, People, Infrastructure, Business Environment, Place)

To be an eligible project on the SC21 C&G Programme the following key eligibility criteria must have been met: –

The beneficiary must be; –

A.  Located in the UK (Place/Business Environment)

B.  A manufacturers or processors within the Aerospace and the Defence Aerospace sectors of one or more of the following products (Ideas):

a.  Aircraft – Aircraft assembly, Aerostructures, Fuselage, Wings, Tails, Nacelles, Exterior protection and cosmetics, Interiors and trim, Servicing and MRO

b.  Components and systems – Actuation, Electrical Power, Circuit Boards, Transmission, Controls, Hoses and pipes, Electrical systems, Wheel/brake/landing systems and controls, Fasteners

c.  Processes and Materials – Carbon fibre, Composites, Forging, Machining, Casting, Resins, Plastics, Surface treatments, Metal treatments (heat etc), Forming, Spraying, Dyeing, and similar activities

d.  Propulsion – Engines, Associated Systems, Fuel Systems, Controls and Actuation, Flight management systems

e.  Software – associated with operating aircraft (does not include systems for managing processes and businesses)

C.  Ideally be a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) or nominated as important by a UK OEM (Industrial Strategy)

D.  Aligned with the Civil Aerospace Sector Deal (Industrial Strategy)

E.  Able to satisfy Financial Due Diligence checks undertaken by the Accounting Body (Place/Infrastructure)

F.  Able to satisfy Anti Money Laundering checks (Know Your Customer- KYC) undertaken by the Accounting Body (Place/Infrastructure)

G.  Willing to undertake an agreed improvement project in the UK (Place)

H.  Willing to meet their obligations set out in the Beneficiary Agreement

I.  Be endorsed for suitability by the Grant Authority

J.  Be endorsed for suitability at Main Gate (having met the requirements a-h) by the Aerospace Main Gate Approval Board/BEIS

K.  Willing to commit to increase productivity and growth (Infrastructure)

L.  Willing to commit to increase firm level GVA and profitably (Infrastructure)

M.  Have evidence of successful Continuous Improvement (CI) (Infrastructure)

N.  Have evidence of good Delivery and Quality performance to their customers (Infrastructure)

O.  Invest in innovation and Research and development (Ideas)

P.  Be targeting business growth within the next 3 years. (Business Environment)

Q.  Exploit the results from or in the UK (Ideas)

R.  Invest in technical education and skills to support high value jobs (People)

 

4. Key Success measures

The key success measures for the SC21 Competitiveness and Growth programme were stated in ADS ‘s Conditional Offer Letter as:

A.  Increased firm-level labour productivity;

B.  Increased firm-level GVA and profitability;

C.  Increased firm level competitiveness;

D.  Business retained due to implementation of the improvement plan;

E.  Business generated due to implementation of the implementation plan;

F.  Jobs safeguarded and created

 

NMCL System

Both programmes used the NMCL System that had been developed by a consortium consisting of SMMT and ADS

 

Engagement

If you had expressed interest in one of our programmes, we will have contacted you to see if meet the eligibility criteria, we called this Profiling. We may also have wished to visit your site or organised a teleconference to understand a bit more about what you do and to explain the programme processes in more detail.

Profiling was followed by the formal Application. To do this we needed to gather more information and metrics on your company. However this was also be accompanied by key elements that were mandatory for all applicants:

Know Your Customer’ or KYC.  Satisfying the Money Laundering Regulations were completed before an applicant could join the programme, this was often referred to as Know Your Customer or KYC checks. Increasingly, this type of KYC information is being required by banks and for contracting with H M Government. Many companies will already have the required information readily to hand. In general, we needed to establish WHO we were dealing with and WHAT type of organisation they represented. We usually did this by requesting a copy of the company’s corporate structure working its way up to the ultimate beneficiary and showing any Directors in between.

  • Once identified, Directors or owners were usually asked to consent to a background check being conducted on them. However, as company (and group) structures can vary enormously (private limited companies, publicly quoted, part of a group, stand alone, family run, etc.) we often had to tailor these checks to the circumstances and this may have included more detailed checks on the directors/owners. KYC was a mandatory part of the application and companies not willing to undertake this level of scrutiny, were not be able to proceed.
  • Financial Due Diligence. We needed to be certain that companies receiving grant funding from BEIS are:
    • Liquid – had enough cash and cash equivalents to cover short-term obligations
    • Solvent – capable of meeting financial obligations.

To understand your circumstances, we normally asked to see your last two years of audited accounts.