MANUFACTURERS in the region are to benefit from the establishment of a centre for excellence.

Regional development agency One NorthEast revealed plans to open the centre at Hylton Park, in Sunderland, yesterday. It will provide an advisory service for the 2,000 manufacturing companies in the region.

The Regional Technology Centre North has been awarded the contract to develop and run the Regional Centre for Manufacturing Excellence (RCME) over the next three years with £1.9m of funding from One NorthEast and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dr John Bridge, chairman of One NorthEast, said: "We believe that manufacturing is vital to the future of the region's economy and the establishment of the Centre for Manufacturing Excellence will give the region's manufacturers access to the very best in advice and expertise.

"This will allow them to develop new and innovative products, produced by highly skilled staff enabling them to complete on truly world-wide scale."

A key feature of the centre, which will open early next year, will be an inquiry and response service.

Staffed by a team of experts, who will carry out trouble-shooting visits to companies across the region, the service forms part of an even wider national network of expertise.

Other services to be provided include a quick query answering service; free diagnostic check and, for smaller companies, subsidised consultancies through a network of manufacturing specialists.

Working with Business Link and other support organisations, the centre is expected to have about 500 businesses calling on its services in the first year. It will focus on helping the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop within key manufacturing clusters in the North-East.

David Park, regional manager at the Small Business Service said: "We welcome the role of Business Link operators as key partners in the development of the RCME, and will be expecting to see close collaborative working as a result."

Despite making up more than a fifth of the region's economy, the North-East manufacturing sector ranks among the UK's poorest in terms of labour productivity, wages and research and development activity.

The development of the RCME will help to achieve the aim of making the North-East the foremost manufacturing region in the UK.

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, said: "I very much hope that the practical hands-on advice and support that the centre will offer will help local manufacturing firms in the North-East become major-league success stories."