Published: October 23rd, 2025
A fast-growing Telford cheese business has boosted its productivity and resilience after receiving expert digital support.
Bridge Cheese is now implementing a 3-5 year roadmap to digitalise the business after support from the expert Made Smarter scheme.
The company was put in touch with the programme by the Invest Telford team after approaching Telford & Wrekin Council for help to improve the efficiency of its processes.
Managing director Michael Harte said: “We realised that in order for us to grow further, the analysis of our production needed to be a lot better. We had relied on spreadsheets and paper records to monitor much of our business’s performance on things like machine downtime and quality control, which served us well in the beginning, but it is due for an improvement with our growth plans in mind.
“However, this was an issue we didn’t really know how to address. We knew what we wanted the solution to look like – new software for these procedures – but didn’t know where to look or how much time and money to sink into the improvements.
“I mentioned the issue to Telford and Wrekin Council and its Invest Telford team who referred me to the Made Smarter scheme and Martyn Mangan, one of Made Smarter’s digital experts, got in touch.
“He spoke to us about our business, our ambitious growth plans, and what was holding us back, before recommending a visit from WMG to fully audit our business.
“It was brilliant timing for us. We had known the general issues with our business that were preventing us from expanding further, but Made Smarter was able to come in and properly analyse our procedures to see exactly what changes needed to be made.
“WMG helped produce a ‘digital roadmap’ for us, highlighting the steps we need to take over the next three to five years to digitalise our business and boost our productivity.
“One of the key recommendations they made was for the installation of a fully-integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system into our business.
“This kind of knowledge is absolutely crucial for the continued success of our business. Martyn’s advice on ERP systems and which ones would work for us has been fantastic, and his communication throughout the whole process has been brilliant.”
The Made Smarter scheme is one of a number of programmes supported by growth hubs across the Marches to help businesses become more efficient and productive.
To find out what support you can receive, contact your local hub.
In Herefordshire email business@herefordshire.gov.uk or call 01432 893343.
In Shropshire email growthhub@shropshire.gov.uk or call 01743 250526.
In Telford & Wrekin email Invest@telford.gov.uk or visit our website.
