"Anglia Business Growth Consultants Ltd (WLP) and the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk have been working with local SMEs over several years to encourage the use of manufacturing and process best practice including best practice management techniques, Lean and Six Sigma. Whilst larger businesses have found it easier to attend under the current informal structure, smaller businesses, and ironically those which are most likely to benefit, struggle to maintain consistent attendance because of work pressures. This proposed project is designed to offer those small businesses wishing to participate a more time limited, structured approach which will be both challenging and supportive in order to help stay the course and gain the benefits. Productivity in manufacturing and service industries is a critical competitive issue for the locality and the country at large. It is believed that a short injection of training combined with mentoring and coaching support to businesses, combined with peer pressure from those involved, can overcome some of the obstacles in that: * The involvement is only for a short time * The training and support provided is free * Over a 12-week period there will be sufficient productivity and other benefits seen that the time and effort involved will have more than paid back Companies will be recruited from the local area, assessed for the approach and then invited to join. Those joining will commit at least 2 members of staff to attend a productivity club over a 12 week period and to implement the practices taught. Productivity will be assessed before, during and at the end of the 12 week period. The innovation in this approach is to get companies to deliver productivity improvement using cross business learning and peer pressure to hold individual organisations to account on their productivity performance and the actions they have committed to. Also, by requiring representation from different levels in the organisation buy in becomes more rapid. Support will be provided from the local college around the training and mentoring. This is a proof of concept and, should it work, could progress to a full trial covering a number of similar boroughs. Such a trial would be able to assess whether the innovation in the approach delivers a faster, more reliable productivity gain against a control where the companies are not supported by being part of a club."