Future of Manufacturing - Q4 - Dec 2018 by Mediaplanet UK&IE

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Future of Manufacturing

“Ireland is home to some of the world’s front-runners in Industry 4.0 and is frequently cited as one of the readiest nations to exploit the beneﬁts... It is time to capitalise on that readiness.” Michéal Cassidy P2 IMAGE: GETTYIMAGES

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BioPharmaChem Ireland How digitisation is improving the efficiency of the biopharma industry P4

Science Foundation Ireland How innovative technologies are challenging the traditional manufacturing industry P6

Irish Exporters Association Preparing for the outcomes of the Brexit deal for the Irish exporting industry P6 CREDIT: GETTYIMAGES

Manufacturing goes digital Data is becoming the lifeblood of manufacturing and supply chain performance. Industry 4.0 (Manufacturing 4.0) is recognition of the age of digital in the manufacturing world. Ireland is home to some of the world’s front-runners in Michéal Cassidy Industry 4.0 and is frequently cited as one of the readiest nations to exploit the Chief Technology Ofﬁcer, Irish Manufacturing Research beneﬁts of Industry 4.0. It is time to capitalise on that readiness.

he importance of this disruption to industry is recognised nationally and internationally. Across the globe, governments are investing in industrial R&D centres to ensure their manufacturing companies are equipped for this disruption. In Europe, massive funding is committed to large-scale research programmes and knowledge transfer for the beneﬁt of industry. One such example is the Digital Innovation Hubs, which act as a one-stopshop for industry to access a vast range of knowledge, expertise and technologies across Europe. Nationally, the Irish government has launched ﬂagship initiatives such as the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund to help industry

develop and adopt next-generation manufacturing technologies.

Human workers and robots streamlined for increased productivity There are many technologies that can legitimately be grouped under the umbrella of Industry 4.0 as they share a common “digital thread”, which interlinks connected workers, smart products, smart processes and whole supply chains. Manufacturing plants are now some of the most advanced workplaces on the planet with engineers and operators augmented with collaborative robots to increase productivity and streamline repetitive work, mobile platforms for knowledge sharing and decision

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making, and augmented and virtual reality technologies to enable interaction in both physical and digital domains. The digital thread also carries through into processes, where digital twins enable real-time monitoring and control of quality and service. Beyond the walls of the factory, the digital thread connects the manufacturing process to the smart supply chain and, eventually, to the customer. The winners in Industry 4.0 will be the ones who build strong bonds with their consumers. They will respond quickly and in an agile manner to customer demands and will meet the highest standard of user experience to secure the strength of their individual relationship.

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Consumer-led customisation is the new normal Through digital technologies, consumers now have much more of a direct connection to the manufactured product. Mass customisation is the new reality, from individualised medicine through to personalised garments. User interaction into the smart supply chain enables a value-add relationship between supplier and customer like never before and the ability for manufacturers to create brand connectivity and loyalty. Additive manufacturing processes, such as 3D printing, enable direct digital manufacturing and also the ability to customise each part to customer requirements.

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Transformation in manufacturing industries is happening at a much faster pace and it is imperative that manufacturing companies stay upto-date with how these disruptions will impact them. Technology investment needs to be built around measurable business outcomes and long-term competitive advantage. First adopters and fast followers are trying to understand how disruptive technology will bring benefit to their business. Getting under the hood and discovering which innovations and technologies are going to be signiﬁcant in Industry 4.0 to each company necessitates that manufacturing industry start today to demystify and de-risk their investments.

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Lean manufacturing challenge If you google “lean manufacturing failure rate”, the results show that 85% of initiatives are deemed to be failures – because they did not produce the desired outcomes for the investment. The challenge for managers is to understand how to appropriately use business transformation tools, rather than simply apply lean manufacturing rules and processes.

An effective strategy is to start with desired outcomes – normally your current pain points – and tactically apply business solutions that reduce costs and enhance productivity. By engaging customer-facing employees in the decision and execution process, your team can share in your objectives rather than see your “productivity and proﬁtability” initiative as a path to staff reduction.

A simple business transformation strategy that works To drive strategic change in your business, you need to create capacity so your team members (who are fully loaded because, of course, there are never surplus staff!) can accommodate – and welcome – the additional work, rather than see it as extra work merely for some new,

management fantasy. Using a ‘stop, start, continue’ tool to create capacity and reinforce change with positive feedback works in businesses that may have limited formal processes. With this model, every step can be seen by the participants as positive and designed to make their jobs easier.

STOP • Initially, you must define the status of the workﬂow, ‘as it currently stands; the ‘As Is’ stage. Decide this status with management and employees and build the next stage – the ‘To Be’ – stage with management. • The ‘To Be’ stage defines the desired objectives, and must be rolled out to employees. Strangely, this obvious plan is rarely made explicit to all parties. • This enables your team to ‘Stop’ doing things that are not

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Why do so many lean manufacturing initiatives fail? All businesses evolve to become low-cost manufacturing or service providers over time. Decisions on which efficiency strategies to adopt are often inhibited by past failures or suppliers who simply do not understand what you are trying to achieve.

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Ian Beckett Chief Executive Ofﬁcer, Eirtight Technology Limited

aligned with objectives and ‘Start’ implementing the desired change.

START • Create capacity to change by cherry picking an easily-accessible intervention that gives employees capacity to participate in change. Employees are often at maximum capacity, so ﬁnding this space for change can be a challenge but it is very important to ﬁnd this opening.

CONTINUE • Conﬁdence building is supported by simultaneously identifying what employees do right and supporting them to ‘Continue’ doing the same. This works most effectively when all parties communicate and share plans with stakeholders. Ian Beckett

What is the impact of Eirtight Technology’s efficient workflows? Eirtight Technology Ltd have developed required workflows and software for one of the largest manufacturers of energy-efficient windows and doors in Europe. With our software, we have enabled the company to manage their deployment and support services from their 1.2m sq ft manufacturing facilities in Ireland and the UK. With our workforce automation tools, tasks that used to take days, now take hours and will facilitate operational expansion in the future.

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Biopharma companies could double their outputs through digitisation The biopharma sector in Ireland continues to expand rapidly. It is estimated that around €1 billion per year has been invested in capital over the last decade – much of this in state-of-the-art biotech manufacturing.

wo emerging trends are going to influence future expansion of the sector, globally, over the next decade. If Ireland is to retain its leading position, it needs to embrace and excel at these.

Digitisation is making biopharma more efficient Digitisation, sometimes known as Factory of the Future, Factory 4.0, The Internet of Things, Cloud Manufacturing etc. has made a major impact on all manufacturing since the 1990s. Now, digitisation is

manifesting itself in the biopharma sector. New, digital technologies are transforming the entire biopharma value chain, increasing ﬂexibility, quality and speed. The sector has a long tradition of collecting large amounts of data, mainly for regulatory or quality purposes, and now companies are seeking to use this data to enhance their own efficiency and relative competitiveness.

Companies could double their outputs from smarter working This ranges from applying software programmes to reveal true data, right the way throughout the manufacturing process and using this to manufacture more smartly. Companies talk of using this to reveal the so-called ‘hidden factory’ and are ﬁnding that savings can be substantial, in some cases doubling

their output from existing facilities. At the other end of the range, we see companies looking at applying high-end digital practices to their manufacturing operations. Such practices would allow them to establish virtual platforms, enable points along the supply chain to communicate intelligently with each other, and build intelligent neural networks within parts of their plants. Naturally, given the highly-regulated nature of the sector and the risk proﬁle of the types of products they manufacture, companies will proceed carefully.

Collaboration for testing new applications The National Institute for Bioprocess Research and Training (NIBRT) has entered into a novel partnership with the biopharma sector and the technology sector, supported by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to develop

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Matt Moran Director, BioPharmaChem Ireland

a test bed where such applications can be designed and tested in a non-product-facing environment. It is envisaged that this alliance will allow the Irish biopharma sector to keep at the forefront of the revolution in digitisation.

Biopharma to follow nonpharma processes of continuous manufacturing Pharmaceutical products and their ingredients – known as active pharmaceutical ingredients – are traditionally manufactured by batch processing. The manufactured batch is then checked against the quality requirements set out in its license. An obvious disadvantage of such an approach is that the check is retrospective. If quality attributes are not met, the batch is deemed unsuitable for use – often with significant cost. The non-pharmaceutical chemical

industry normally uses continuous manufacturing to generate its products. Now, the biopharma sector is looking to employ such technologies for the manufacture of products and ingredients.

Lower costs and smaller carbon footprint Advantages include real-time control of quality attributes, lower costs and also a lower environmental footprint as these plants are typically smaller and use fewer resources. A number of manufacturers here are developing continuous processes in API and drug product production. Irish contract development company APC specialises in process development in the continuous space. Ireland is well positioned to be to the forefront of both these important developments. Matt Moran

Beyond manufacturing, Irish medtech targets high value innovation, connected healthcare and AI

David Tallon Chair, Irish Medtech Association

The Irish Medtech Association are building on Ireland’s reputation for manufacturing excellence and targeting opportunities for growth with a move to stimulate companies to increase their R&D investments and step up the intensity and ambition of their R&D activities.

n the past 25 years, the medtech sector has gone from a burgeoning industry to a global powerhouse. The number of companies has increased from 50 to 450+, and exports have quadrupled to €12.6 billion. This growth has really sped up in the past couple of years, with more than €259 million in investments

publicly announced, 2,070 jobs being added to 38,000 professionals already in the sector and Irish start-ups gaining international attention with €102.55 million in ﬁnancing raised.

Ireland is the gateway to Europe’s €110bn market As we look to the future, the medtech sector here is well placed to build on this momentum. Nine of the world’s top 10 medtech companies already have one or more sites here, choosing Ireland as the strategic location for access to the world’s second largest medtech market – Europe – which is worth €110 billion. Ireland is already a world leader in manufacturing. We boast more Shingo Prizes per capita than

any other country. This is thanks to the depth and breadth of the collaborative medtech community here, which includes FDI multinationals, start-ups, contract manufacturers, designers, as well as third-level institutions and research centres.

Making Ireland a location of choice for R&D Now, we need to mobilise this community to increase the R&D ambition and the intensity of the Irish medtech sector so we can tap into this strategic area for global growth. The FDI manufacturing sector here already spends an estimated €771 million on R&D annually. That’s not including the spend by start-ups or funding awarded

by Horizon 2020, the biggest EU Research and Innovation funding programme. More needs to be done to help companies increase the level of sophistication and complexity of their R&D activities here and expand their mandate to include R&D ownership for complete market segments and global product portfolios. Global medtech R&D spend growth has risen from 3% in 2012 to 4.8% this year. By 2024, global medtech R&D spend is projected to reach $39 billion.

Innovation revolutionising healthcare The world of medtech is being revolutionised with thousands of surgical robots now being

used across the world’s hospitals and 54% of global healthcare executives predicting that AI will increasingly be used to support medical decisions. To tap into this growth potential, the Irish Medtech Association is leading a major project to make Ireland a location of choice for R&D. That why the theme for our annual CEO Conference Medtech Rising 2018, co-hosted with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, will focus on the theme of innovation. This is not only an exciting time for medtech, but an exciting time for Ireland. We need to nurture a culture of innovation with diversity of thinking and encourage government to invest in the right infrastructure to realise our potential.

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Industry 4.0 is due to put offshoring into reverse Dr Ciarán Seoighe Deputy Director General, Science Foundation Ireland

Manufacturing is on the verge of huge change. Smart manufacturing, including things like 3D printing, will see the demands of customers dictate how businesses are run. SFI’s research centres are looking to reduce the guesswork for businesses.

tanding at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, or ‘Industry 4.0’, and trying to predict how manufacturing may change, is a tricky prospect. The advent of innovative technologies could put the traditional model of off-shoring production into reverse. On top of that, work done within factories is likely to change, with robotics unlocking what man and

machine are capable of in terms of production and personalisation. But how does Ireland ensure that its manufacturing industry, which contributes 24% of its total economic output, fully embraces these changes?

Irish research centres need financial support to keep ahead Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General at Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, believes promoting collaboration between industry and researchers will keep Ireland ahead of the curve. “Funding research centres, which are aimed at ensuring Ireland occupies a leading position within this manufacturing revolution, is essential in helping us maintain

Professor Mark Ferguson Director General, Science Foundation Ireland Chief Scientiﬁc Adviser, Government of Ireland

Ireland’s competitive edge.”

Shared solutions to 3D printing and AI to help the wider research community These centres will focus on smart manufacturing, artiﬁcial intelligence and 3D printing, giving their industry partners access to research expertise and innovative technologies. “These centres keep the leading edge of both types of organisation pulling in the same direction, towards a common goal,” says Dr Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy Director General at SFI. “By developing that community of practice, you create a space where people can share ideas, share challenges and find solutions to problems faster, building up a core of knowledge.”

In the future, it could be the norm to design your shoes to your exact spec

Outreach programmes encourage uptake of 4IR innovations

Increased collaboration between industry and academics should help participating businesses navigate the sizeable impact that smart manufacturing will have on how they operate. That impact is likely to completely change the relationship between business and the customer, according to Seoighe. “If you want to buy a pair of running shoes, today, you go in, get analysed and buy something that’s readily available.” “In future, people will expect to be able to design their own product to their own speciﬁcations, have it built and receive it far quicker than they might do today.”

The challenges that this new era of manufacturing presents for industry aren’t to be ignored, but neither are the vast opportunities. Education on how smart manufacturing might boost workers’ prospects could go a long way towards negating the fear of robotics, centred around a loss of jobs for humans. “Our research centres run outreach programmes that aim to encourage the public to embrace the changes that Ireland’s manufacturing industry will see,” Seoighe said. “We want to have the most informed public when it comes to science, hopefully replacing fear of the unknown with excitement at new opportunities.” James Alder

Irish exporters are preparing for a no-deal Brexit scenario

hile the Irish exporting industry continues to be experiencing strong growth, concern over an increasingly uncertain global trading environment, higher operating costs and the perpetually impending impact of digitalisation, pose a number of challenges for exporters and their supply chains.

Irish exporters are building a no-deal Brexit contingency plan The underlying challenge for this, of course, is the United Kingdom’s expected withdrawal from the European Union on 29 March 2019.We cautiously welcome the recent draft agreement by UK and EU negotiators on the Withdrawal Agreement and its proposals for a Single Customs Area and close alignment of legal and

regulatory standards. In light of the UK’s internal political challenges, Irish exporters, however continue to step up their no-deal contingency planning. In particular, contingency planning revolves around critical access to warehousing space and alternative transport and shipping routes to the European continent. Moreover, with customs declarations for UK-Ireland trade expected to increase ten-fold and have serious implications on justin-time supply chains, a no-deal scenario is expected to be extremely detrimental to Irish manufactures and supply chains.

Storage space is crucial to the post-Brexit supply chain Availability and access to sufficient warehousing and storage space is

critical to the successful operations of many businesses in the exporting supply chain. Although, there is a move toward building new warehousing space, current and post-Brexit mitigating demand already greatly exceeds the supply available. For those considering increasing their capacity, knowing whether or not to press the investment button (in the light of increased uncertainty) is a very unenviable choice to make. This is especially true for cooled and controlled handling facilities at Irish sea- and airports. Barring any significant developments in the Brexit process, the UK will become a third country to Ireland and the EU for any and all aspects of trade and customs procedures at the end of the transition period.

North West Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, to ﬁnd out more about the Centre contact www.catalyst-inc.org/nwcam

Simon McKeever CEO, Irish Exporters Association

It is clear that the Irish business community is taking note, as we have seen unprecedented interest in customs-training, AEO trusted trader status and alternative goods routing to the European continent.

Germany, France and Spain are most sought-after European export markets In addition, IEA members are already strongly looking to access new exports markets. Germany is often cited as the top destination for diversiﬁcation with other EU markets featuring prominently. France being third with 23%, Spain fourth at 19% and the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Sweden all appearing in the top 10. We are also seeing growing interest in English-speaking markets with the USA (27%), Australia (17%)

and Canada (16%) all gaining popularity as well as high growth markets like China (10%), Japan (8%) and ASEAN nations (8%).

IEA At the Irish Exporters Association we offer a wide range of high-quality training courses to get your business Brexit ready, including a two day course on efficient warehousing strategy and design and Brexit for your Supply Chain.