“I am genuinely sad to be stepping down from arguably the most effective business support organisation in the UK, but am confident that the team at Accelerate are in the best possible position to continue to help component suppliers in the region,” explained David, who is moving on to take up the Head of European Funding post at the North West Development Agency

Mr Malpass replaced David Hall as Senior Operations Manager in 2001 and his tenure at the helm of Accelerate will perhaps be best remembered by the organisation’s specialist approach to supporting suppliers and its response to Peugeot, LDV and most strikingly MG Rover.

The latter saw the initiative work hand-in-hand with Advantage West Midlands in setting up a supplier hotline within hours of the announcement, with over 900 companies accessing advice, guidance and later one-on-one business mentoring.

The programme also successfully lobbied for VAT referrals and the return of stock being held at the huge facility, yet its biggest impact was the wage replacement offer that helped to ease the burden of employees directly working on contracts into Longbridge.

“I think the biggest testimony to the impact of the taskforce was that only six West Midlands suppliers went under as a result of the MG Rover closure – six too many, but not the hundreds predicted by many industry experts,” explained David.

“Whilst there have certainly been challenges during the last decade, there has been an overwhelming amount of successes. The introduction of Supply Chain Improvement Projects has been so successful it is now a nationally employed improvement programme, technology transfer centres have opened up unrivalled expertise usually out of the grasp of SMEs and AutoZone is helping businesses tap into £500m of European opportunities.”

He went on: “All of this has given the regional auto sector every chance to be successful in the global marketplace and the really pleasing element of it all is that suppliers have used the support to become world class.”

Accelerate continues to provide an integrated umbrella of support, which encompasses skills, funding opportunities and access to innovation.

In addition to business development and capital grants, the programme also offers Collaborative Networks and the industry-leading supply chain improvement programmes, where a ‘tier one’ will act as a host and eight of its suppliers will work together to improve both individual and group performance.

Speaking on the eve of the Awards, Rachel Eade commented: “There are not many business support organisations that last for ten years and our success lies in our ability to continually evolve and ensure what we are delivering is exactly what suppliers want.

“As part of this development, we have recently merged with Skills4Auto to form Accelerate Skills and will shortly be confirming the announcement of Accelerate Value, a commercial arm of the organisation that is already working with AWM and PARD on boosting the profile of the region.”

Jerry Blackett, Chief Executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, concluded: “David has been a tremendous asset to both Accelerate and the Chamber and on behalf of everyone connected with the automotive industry I would like to thank him for his tremendous efforts and commitment to local manufacturing.”

Now in its eleventh year of operation, Accelerate has grown into one of the most successful supply chain initiatives in the UK.

Driven by the changing face of the industry, the programme has assisted over 1700 companies in implementing best practice manufacturing systems, securing production efficiencies and cultivating workforce development.

Going forward, Accelerate will continue to support the evolving needs of the West Midlands supply chain, as it maximises the global opportunities of the 21st century.