IDM Engineering: Business Support Case Study

IDM Engineering is an SME manufacturer offering services in fabrication and welding; CAD design and prototype manufacturing; and engineering maintenance. 

The Ellesmere Port-based company works across a range of industries, including nuclear, rail, automotive, chemical and aerospace, as well as food production, recycling and marine. 

As a rapidly growing business and, having recently relocated to bespoke premises, IDM was keen to further adapt its offering to what its customers needed and wanted, including innovation to its product offering. 

Working with the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, IDM was able to access a mixture of grant funding and training programmes to build its team’s skillset and invest in new equipment. The Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub has helped the firm to:  

• Take part in the Accelerate scheme, offering three members of the senior management team funded further training in health and safety, as well as technical skills. 
• Access support from Total People, a work-based training programme that gives employers quality apprentices.  
• Receive a grant to employ a university graduate as an intern for six months, via the Made Smarter Programme . This was the first time that IDM was able to run such a programme, with the intern being able to focus on digitalisation across the business.  
• Access grant funding from Blue Orchid to buy new welding equipment that, ultimately, allows the team to be efficient and increase innovation and quality.  

Neil Jones, business development manager at IDM Engineering, said: “We started working with the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub at a pivotal moment for the company as a whole; we had just moved to new premises and had also undergone a series of management changes, so we were ready to enter our next chapter. 

“While we knew what we needed to do in order to invest in both our people and equipment, we found ourselves slightly overwhelmed by the process in which to access different funding programmes and identifying which schemes were relevant to us. 

“That’s where our key account manager, Paul, was fantastic. He made everything so user-friendly and clear, ensuring we understood which pots of money or training programmes were available and which ones would benefit us the most. It can be a very complex process, especially for an SME like us where everyone is spinning lots of plates, but having someone there to bridge the gap and make sure everything’s ticked off was extremely helpful. 

“Being able to bring on board an intern and apprentice, as well as investing heavily in new equipment that enables us to meet specific standards and surpass customer expectations has been a major step forward to us and we’re incredibly grateful for the support we’ve had.” 

Andy Devaney, Business Innovation Director at Cheshire and Warrington LEP’s Growth Hub, said: “IDM Engineering is a rapidly growing business in our region, providing quality services to a whole host of sectors, so we’re thrilled to help them accessing funding and support to further flourish. 

“The business was able to access a real mix of programmes, demonstrating the value of both monetary support and upskilling the workforce. We’re now looking forward to working with the business in the future.” 

Contact the Growth Hub for business support