Practical AI for Welsh Manufacturers: GoSmarter at the Mid Wales Ma...

Mid Wales, GoSmarter is on its way.

Nightingale HQ co-founders Steph and Ruth are heading to the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group (MWMG) in April. They’re joining forces with the Welsh Government High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Cluster to run a hands-on session on Continuous Improvement through the Latest Technology and they’re ready to tell it straight.

What the session covers

The short version: how to get your factory working smarter without making your life harder.

The longer version: over two hours, we’ll cover how modern technology (including artificial intelligence, or AI) can help manufacturers do more with less. That means saving time, cutting material waste, and lowering your carbon impact. Not because it sounds good in a press release, but because it actually works.

We’re not here to sell you a vision board. We’re here to show you what’s possible today, with tools that real manufacturers are already using.

Meet the people running the session

Steph and Ruth are the co-founders of Nightingale HQ. Their software is built specifically for metals manufacturers. Their mission is simple: help more Welsh businesses succeed by making better use of modern technology.

They’ve spent years watching manufacturers fight the same battles: spreadsheets that don’t talk to each other, paperwork that eats the day, admin that a computer should be doing. GoSmarter exists to sort that out.

Manufacturers using GoSmarter have cut document processing time from hours to minutes, improved material traceability across the supply chain, and freed their teams from the tedium of manual data entry. This session is their chance to show you what that looks like in practice.

What you’ll actually leave with

Our goal is straightforward. By the end of the session, participants will be:

Informed about what modern technology can do for a manufacturer like you
Confident that it’s not as complicated or risky as it sounds
Equipped with practical ideas and a clear sense of where to start

We’ll explore how people and processes can benefit from smarter technology. That could mean your team spending less time on repetitive tasks. It could mean catching quality issues before they become scrap. It might mean finally understanding where your energy and material costs are going.

AI doesn’t have to mean robots taking over the shop floor. It can mean your best people spending their time on work that actually matters.

What is Continuous Improvement, and why does it matter right now?

Continuous Improvement (CI) is the practice of making small, steady changes to your operation rather than waiting for a big overhaul. In metals manufacturing, that might mean tightening up your stock management, reducing the time it takes to process incoming material certificates, or catching a quality issue one step earlier in the process.

The problem is that CI has traditionally relied on people spotting patterns manually. That takes time, and it depends on the right person being in the right place at the right moment.

Modern technology changes that. Sensors, software, and AI can watch your operation continuously. They flag the issues and your team fixes them.

Three signs your operation could benefit from this conversation:

You’re catching quality problems after the job is done, not during
Your team spends a significant chunk of each shift on paperwork or data entry
You don’t have clear visibility on where your material losses are occurring

If any of those sound familiar, you’re in the right place.

How to try new technology without betting the business

One of the biggest blockers we hear from manufacturers isn’t “we don’t want to change.” It’s “we can’t afford to get it wrong.”

Most manufacturers assume AI means a six-figure project and six months of disruption. It doesn’t have to. We’ll show you what low-risk actually looks like.

The workshop will cover the funding and support available to Welsh businesses. That includes grants for skills development, pilot projects, and implementation support. There are real ways to try new technology without betting the business. Too many manufacturers don’t know they exist, and we’re happy to share what we know.

The MWMG is a brilliant community of manufacturers who are serious about improving. The Welsh Government HVM Cluster exists specifically to help them do it. We’re proud to be part of that conversation.

Come ready with questions

This isn’t a lecture. It’s a conversation. If you’re already thinking about where technology could help your operation (or where you’ve tried something and it didn’t stick), bring those questions.

Big thanks to the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group (MWMG).

We’ll see you there.

FAQs

What is the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group?

The Mid Wales Manufacturing Group (MWMG) is a membership network for manufacturers across Mid Wales. It brings together businesses from across the region to share knowledge, tackle common challenges, and make the most of the support available to Welsh industry. MWMG runs regular events, workshops, and peer learning sessions aimed at helping manufacturers improve their operations and grow their businesses.

GoSmarter’s session at MWMG forms part of that ongoing programme of practical, no-nonsense support. The group attracts manufacturers who are genuinely serious about improving, which makes it exactly the right audience for a session on Continuous Improvement and modern technology.

What is the Welsh Government High Value Manufacturing Cluster?

The Welsh Government High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Cluster is a Business Wales export development programme for Welsh SMEs in manufacturing. High Value Manufacturing accounts for more than half of the value of all exports from Wales, and the cluster exists to help more Welsh manufacturers tap into that opportunity.

The cluster is open to manufacturers across a wide range of subsectors — from electronics and fabrication to specialist materials and digital solutions. Members get access to export development guidance, networking with like-minded businesses, and collective export promotion. The programme supports manufacturers at every stage, from first-time exporters to businesses already trading internationally who want to grow further.

For manufacturers attending the MWMG session, the HVM Cluster is a practical route to funding and support that can make it viable to try new technology without taking on significant financial risk. Business Wales can be reached on 03000 6 03000 if you want to find out more before April.

What kind of manufacturers will benefit from the session?

The session is designed for manufacturers who are running on traditional processes and want to understand whether modern technology could help them do more with less. You don’t need to have existing software systems or a dedicated IT team.

The most relevant manufacturers are those dealing with: manual data entry or paper-based processes that eat time, quality issues that are caught too late, material losses or scrap rates that are hard to track, or a strong instinct that their operation could be running better but no clear starting point.

If you manufacture in Mid Wales and those challenges sound familiar, the session is for you.

What is GoSmarter and what does it do for manufacturers?

GoSmarter is an AI platform built specifically for metals manufacturers. It helps production teams cut the admin work that slows them down, improve material traceability, and get better visibility on quality and waste. The tools are designed to work with the way manufacturers actually operate, not require a full digital transformation before they deliver any value.

Manufacturers using GoSmarter have reduced document processing from hours to minutes, improved On-Time In Full (OTIF) performance by catching issues earlier in the process, and freed up skilled team members from repetitive manual work. The session at MWMG will show how those results are achieved in practice.

Practical AI for Welsh Manufacturers: GoSmarter at the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group (MWMG), April 2026