after alot of messing around i found out how todo it
in product.php add
$thisManufactorer = $product_info["manufacturerid"];
$manufacturer = func_query("SELECT * FROM $sql_tbl[manufacturers] WHERE manufacturerid = $thisManufactorer");
$smarty->assign("manufacturer", $manufacturer[0]["manufacturer"]);
and in product.tpl add
{if $manufacturer ne ""}
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tr>
<td height="70"><div align="center"><A href="manufacturers.php?manufacturerid={$product.m anufacturerid}"> <img src="image.php?id={$product.manufacturerid}&type=M " alt="{$manufacturer}" /></a></div></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</TD>{/if}
i hope that helps a few of you