HIS future looked bleak when he was one of 500 people to lose their jobs as Southampton’s Ford Transit plant closed last year, but Bryan Palmer has bounced back to set up his very own firm with the help of a fund made available for former employees who wanted to go into business for themselves.

Mr Palmer’s company is one of seven firms to have been awarded Bridging the Gap funding in the latest round of hand-outs, with 11 companies now having benefited from the Daily Echo-backed scheme.

The Bridging the Gap phase two fund was launched last year by the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to help small and medium-sized businesses and former Ford employees.

A total of £1.85m has been made available for firms from Southampton, the Waterside and the Isle of Wight.

Mr Palmer was a quality manager at Ford when the plant closed, but with £6,500 funding from the scheme and £27,670 of his own funds, he has set up Palmer Adaptation Ltd.

Utilising the expertise built up over 35 years in manufacturing, his new consultancy helps businesses improve quality, maximise their customer value, reduce waste and improve productivity.

He offers direct support, training and workshop events in process improvement tools such as Six Sigma and teaching businesses how to cut unnecessary expenditure through “lean manufacturing”.

The 53-year-old said: “To be honest when I found out about the existence of the grant and the fact that part of the fund was being set apart to support the Ford plant closure, the answer was rather why wouldn’t I apply?

“I needed to create an office at home with all the necessary IT to operate professionally and efficiently and the grant to enable the purchase of that equipment.

“In addition it’s helped with a number of the start-up expenses and assisted with obtaining some of the facilities the business needs to operate.

“I think on balance I would have started the company without the grant, as it was something I wanted to do and it’s been a great experience.

“But making the additional expenditure at the launch of the company would have increased the risk and it would have been harder to justify.

“I suspect the end point may have looked the same, but it would have taken longer.”

The Bridging the Gap fund judges are now looking over the last set of applications after closing the bidding.

However anyone who wants to register an interest in the scheme before it reopens in the future can contact the LEP by calling 023 9268 8924 or by emailing info@solentlep.co.uk.