CEED, the highly regarded Scottish manufacturers network promoting knowledge exchange among operations managers in Scotland, is set for a major national expansion, boosted by £325,000 of support from Scottish Enterprise.

Scott Sinclair, CEED's newly appointed managing director, said the group was aiming to be a "national network across five cities by the end of 2017"; a "hub and spoke operation" with Glasgow at the centre.

Sinclair, who was previously Port Glasgow plant manager for US electronics manufacturer Sanmina, said CEED will next month launch a new "target" growth programme that aims to help 500 member companies navigate the various levels of support in each segment of their business, at all stages of growth.

Based on an academic-industrial model from the US Midwest, CEED is "a community joined together to pool our talents, expertise, experience and resource in the pursuit of operational excellence within our own organisations to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness".

Sinclair said: "We are a practical organisation, anything but a talking shop. We don't sell to each other - we just help each to get better. We're a group of like-minded operations people who focus on getting the job done the best we can."

The group runs well-attended weekly "clinics" hosted by member companies, analysing specific issues. Forthcoming sessions are on project management, inter-company training, lean manufacturing, procurement and supply chain, health and safety and aerospace and defence.

CEED members include Terasaki, Scottish Leather Group, Anotek, Star Refrigeration, as well as the universities of West of Scotland, Glasgow and Strathclyde.