NEWS

They are fast building a strong reputation for designing, manufacturing and installing control panels, machinery and industrial automation systems that help manufacturers operate faster, smarter and more reliably.

Led by founder James McCartney, whose appetite for innovation has shaped the company’s technical direction, and Managing Director Emma Chapman, who brings strategic focus and commercial clarity, ECS was ready to turn opportunity into sustainable growth.

The company already had a strong core offer, designing and delivering tailored industrial automation solutions and control systems, from electrical cabinets through to fully automated production machinery. Alongside this, its Shift Hero service provides experienced engineers who can step into factories at short notice to maintain and repair vital equipment, while its 24-hour breakdown support helps customers react quickly to mechanical, electrical and automation issues.

After engaging with RTC North at a Manufacturing Futures event, a follow-up visit to the company’s Wetherby site quickly identified opportunities to bring together different strands of support to help ECS develop its ideas, strengthen its strategy and accelerate innovation. Ruth Denwood headed up the IUK support and Steve Gregory worked on the Made Smarter offer as a joint project.

At the heart of that opportunity was Connect, a new offering from ECS that was just an idea but has developed into a market leading opportunity.

Developed with the senior team, Connect combines real-time machine data acquisition, engineering expertise, digital representations of plant and equipment, product information and AI to deliver intelligent remote diagnostics and engineering support.

Through secure live visual collaboration, Connect places an experienced ECS engineer virtually at the customer’s side, enabling them to see what the maintenance team sees, analyse live operational data and guide fault finding and repairs in real time.

Rather than waiting for an engineer to travel to site, manufacturers gain immediate access to specialist expertise, helping them diagnose issues more quickly, reduce unnecessary site visits and restore production faster. For manufacturers operating complex equipment, where every minute of downtime can affect productivity and profitability, the potential benefits are significant.

Through coordinated support from RTC North and Made Smarter, ECS has been able to move Connect from idea to action.

Working with RTC North, the team focused on applying for an RTO grant with Digital Catapult, which began in November 2025. This support has helped ECS develop a proof of concept for its IoT device, linking the technology with AI and creating the foundations for a service that could transform how manufacturers access engineering support.

The business is now using its Made Smarter roadmap to take the concept further, including exploring the use of an intern to support AI development. Cyber security is also firmly on the agenda, with ECS looking at Cyber Essentials and IEC 62443 accreditation, working with Sheffield Hallam University.

Alongside this, the team is addressing one of the key technical challenges around the safe and reliable use of AI data: making sure the information used to support remote repairs is accurate, dependable and not based on incorrect or misleading AI-generated outputs.

The support has also helped ECS strengthen the wider foundations needed for growth. The company has fast-tracked a UK patent application, with an international patent also filed, and is developing its commercial position through a refreshed website, new service video, pitch deck planning and cash flow forecasting.

At the same time, the business has recruited additional engineers, strengthened customer service capability and started early conversations with large potential customers, including opportunities to extend its services across wider customer groups in major food manufacturing.

This momentum has already attracted external recognition. ECS was named runner-up in the HSBC Customer Service Award and has been shortlisted in the Manufacturing and Technological Innovation category at the Food and Drink Federation Awards. The company has also entered the Make UK Manufacturing Awards, further reflecting its growing profile as an innovative and responsive engineering business.

Ruth Denwood, Business Support Specialist at RTC North, said:

“I recognised an opportunity to work with ECS across our offering. As a client, ECS accessed the RTO grant and we built on this, utilising the Made Smarter offer to access consultancy support and intern.

“Working across contracts, we can bring in experts from our team and ensure the client is receiving support tailored to their needs. From a promising engineering company with strong technical capability, ECS is now shaping a clearer, more ambitious route to market.

“With the right support at the right time, the business is turning a bold idea into a practical solution that could help UK manufacturers reduce downtime, improve resilience and access engineering expertise in a faster, smarter way.”

For ECS, the support has been more than a single intervention. It has demonstrated how RTC North’s business support works across contracts to connect innovation funding, digital adoption, intellectual property, cyber security, marketing and growth planning into one joined-up pathway.

As a Certified B Corporation and employee-owned business, RTC North is focused on supporting growth that creates long-term value for businesses, people and places. In practice, this means helping ambitious companies like ECS access the right combination of support to grow in a way that is practical, responsible and commercially meaningful.

Emma Chapman, Managing Director of Enhanced Control Solutions, said:

“The support we have received from RTC North has made a real difference to Enhanced Control Solutions and the development of our Connect project.

“It has enabled us to take a much more structured approach, helping us to progress the project at a faster pace while identifying potential technical and commercial challenges earlier and giving us the opportunity to address them effectively.

“The RTO grant funding has been particularly valuable in allowing us to prove the concept of an element of the project that we would not initially have had the internal resource to explore. The success of this work has given us the confidence and evidence to incorporate this functionality into the wider Connect project, strengthening the overall solution.

“For an SME such as Enhanced Control Solutions, having access to this combination of funding, expertise and external support has helped reduce some of the risk associated with innovation and enabled us to accelerate our ambitions for Connect.

“Ultimately, the support we have received will enable us to further develop and enhance the package offered through Connect, while delivering a more efficient and competitively priced service to our customers. By reducing the time and resource required for the initial collection and mapping of site OT device data, we can streamline the onboarding and implementation process, lowering the upfront cost to the customer and making the benefits of greater OT connectivity, visibility and insight more accessible.”

The next steps for ECS will include an Orbit strategy session and the development of an Advisory Board, giving the senior team further structure as they continue to scale.

Emma will also present and join the panel at the Manufacturing Resilience Forum on October 1st , chaired by Jamie Ollivere, while ECS continues to build on its recent recognition as a finalist in the Food and Drink Federation Awards for innovation.

From an ambitious engineering business with a bold idea, ECS is now developing a stronger route to market for a service that could change how manufacturers access engineering support. Through joined-up support from RTC North and Made Smarter, the company has been able to move faster, reduce risk and turn innovation into a practical opportunity for growth.

Businesses interested in learning how RTC North can help them explore growth opportunities can visit the RTC North website or get in touch with the team.