THREE GWENT manufacturing firms are set to enjoy the fruits of a unique, £6.5m IT outsourcing project.

Wasp-IT is the largest private sector recipient of Objective One funding in Wales.

The goal is to transform the efficiency and profitability of Wales' manufacturing sector.

A world-class data centre has been established at Nantgarw, near Pontypridd, to provide a complete outsourcing solution to a starter group of 30 firms.

The Gwent firms, Shawley of Risca, Shoda Sauces of Blaina, KindaWood (GWP), of Ebbw Vale, are part of this group. The combined value of the 30 firms' outputs is estimated at £300m.

The scheme offers manufacturers based in Objective One regions completely free set-up and access for the first 12 months.

Sixty staff are based at Nantgarw and will shortly move to larger premises to cope with demand from a projected 80 additional manufacturers as the project ramps-up.

Wasp-IT managing director Malcolm Sanders said: "This is a fantastic achievement in such a short space of time and proves the latent demand that existed - and still exists - for services such as ours that directly improve bottom-line performance for Welsh manufacturers."

Wasp-IT was established by Mr Sanders' training and business consultancy SCT (UK) alongside partners such as the Assembly and Europe's social and regional development funds.

Technology partnerships include the likes of IBM, Microsoft and Mapics. Mr Sanders said: "With around 180,000 employees and a turnover that equates to more than 25% of Wales' gross domestic product, the manufacturing sector is critically important to us.

"But rapidly changing business dynamics often place huge strains on companies, particularly when it comes to keeping pace with information technology.

"In essence, Wasp-IT takes this concern away, allowing businesses to pay for what they need, when they need it.

"And by utilising econ-omies of scale, we have been able to establish a centrally-maintained data centre that provides customers with real-time information on all their key activities."

Each company has been allocated a dedicated project team comprising of ICT and manufacturing business consultants and an account manager to pull it all together.

Services provided include purchasing, sales, customer orders, stock control, manufacturing support, quality, dispatch, logistics, HR and financial.

Mr Sanders said: "Security and business continuity is paramount. "Customer data is backed up twice daily and then stored off site, with the highest security levels employed as standard practice."

The Wasp-IT funding mechanism is designed to absorb set-up and implementation costs.

During the first 12 months all hardware, software, connectivity, consultancy and training is fully funded.

After this period, ongoing costs are claimed to be less than employing an IT specialist on the staff. Consequently, backers claim Wasp is the top solution for Wales' Objective One SMEs.