Manufacturing and Engineering Magazine Issue 414

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ISSUE 414

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

M M MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

DOESN’T EXIST? DOESN’T MATTER

AGR CAN DESIGN IT. AGR’s Managing Director Derek Gaston gives us the insight into the company’s bespoke design solutions ISSUE 414

BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

HEWLETT PACKARD

The Evolution of Mobility

The Smallest Things can Make the Biggest Difference

P36

P12

ALSO INSIDE...

4Futronics 4WG Jones 4Huntsham Court Farm

...Plus much more

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Comment editor’s

ISSUE 414

www.memuk.org

e c r o F r u o b a L e y Goodb

Magazine Manager Daniel Beardsley

The robots are coming. But we knew that anyway – didn’t we? Computer technology, notably artificial intelligence, is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, whether we like it or not. In driving to work, in using our mobile phones, in getting drinks from a vending machine, computer technology is making calculations about how it interacts and impacts upon the way we live our lives.

The labour force is the next big ambition for A.I. In supermarkets we’ve seen checkouts (and their human operators) replaced by self-service machines and a single member of staff to support their operation. This reduction in labour has already had an affect on the labour force in manufacturing and engineering but its presence is only going to get stronger.

Not only will robots improve in their operational ability and “intelligence”, they will become cheaper to produce and cheaper to buy. That will make them a sensible and appealing option for company owners wanting to reduce operational costs, thus reducing the amount of labour they must employ.

Over the next decade it is estimated these machines will drive down labour costs by 16%.

What does this mean for jobs? Currently, about 10% of labour that can be automated in the USA has been taken up by robots. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that by 2025 23% of labour will be run by robots. These machines will cut labour costs by 22% in America with further reductions across the world.

The evidence is in the price of running these machines. Owning and operating a robotic spot welder cost £120,000 two years ago but last year that dropped to less than £90,000. By 2025 the cost is estimated at £67,700 – a bargain in comparison. This will go hand in hand with innovation in technology meaning these new robots will be able to do more with increased efficiency and effectiveness.

It’ll become a case of humans not being able to adapt, re-train or, quite simple, move as quickly as robots. With technology advancing at such a fast pace, the reprogrammable ability of robots makes updating working methods and skills far quicker than a laborious re-training of staff.

The robot is here…

Feature Managers Tom Waite Elliott Jenkinson Kyle Joyce Group Editor Daniel Stephens Editor Ciaran Jarosz Contributors Jeff Senior Amy Marsden Art Editor Stacey Brewer Designer Carla Taylor Sam Dickinson Production Vicki Lindsay Lisa Pollinger Lisa Barrans Accounts Nick Charalambous Manufacturing and Engineering Magazine is published by: Trafalgar Publishing Ltd, 6th Floor, Crown House, Southgate, Huddersfield, HD1 1DE Tel: 01484 437300

Manufacturing and Engineering magazine is published by Trafalgar Publishing Ltd. Company registered in England & Wales. All material is the copyright of Trafalgar Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Manufacturing and Engineering magazine is the property of Trafalgar Publishing Ltd. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form whole or part without the written permission of a director of Trafalgar Publishing Ltd. Liability: while every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information herein, or any consequence arising from it. In the case of company or product reviews or comments, these have been based upon the true and honest opinion of the Editor at the time of going to press.

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Contents

ISSUE 414

SECTIONS

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AUTOMATION

12 ELECTRONICS 18 MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING 32 AEROSPACE 44 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 46 RAILWAY 58 AUTOMATION 72 FOOD AND DRINK

ASSOCIATIONS 6 ADS GROUP

The premier trade organisation advancing the UK Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space industries.

10 SC21

SC21 has delivered a number of benefits to companies such as operational improvement, increased competitiveness, leaner production and cost reduction

46 RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

RIA membership continues to grow as association focuses on collaboration and innovation

60 AGR AUTOMATION RAILWAY

58 PPMA

Providing a range of quality and cost effective services and publication

48 MECHAN

72 FOOD AND DRINK FEDERATION The voice of the food industry

REGULARS 4 UPDATE

The latest news from the industry.

80 THE LAST WORD

Electronic delay storage automatic calculator - one of the UK’s pioneering computers

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54 PERPETUUM

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FEATURES

32 WG JONES AEROSPACE

12 CODA OCTOPUS MARTECH Creating systems for the harshest of environments and deepest oceans.

16 MCM SOLUTIONS

Revolutionising digital intelligence gathering

18 FORSBERG

Navigation when it’s needed the most

20 FUTRONICS

Solutions through technology

22 FARSOUND ENGINEERING Optimum performance for areospace & defence

30 RODFORD

36 BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

24 BENHAM PRECISION Investing in people and technology

26 DEREK LANE Fluid power solutions

30 RODFORD ENGINEERING Family run precision engineering

32 WG JONES Leading by example

36 BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE The evolution of mobility

44 HEWLETT PACKARD

Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference

48 MECHAN Safety first...

54 PERPETUUM

Global leader in vibration energy harvesting

60 AGR AUTOMATION Truly bespoke.

46 RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

76 HUNTSHAM COURT FARM How things should be done

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update

Auto industry cautious for 2015 On the occasion of its Annual Reception in Brussels, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) set out its forecast for 2015 and released last year’s registration figures for electric vehicles Auto industry cautious for 2015 Last year, new passenger car registrations were up 5.7% on the previous year, reaching 12.6 million units. ‘This is significant because it was the EU’s first positive annual result since the financial crisis began in 2007, with December marking the 16th consecutive month of growth,’ said ACEA president, Carlos Ghosn. ‘However, our optimism about this early sign of recovery must be tempered with caution, given the economic uncertainties still facing many countries.’

ACEA expects growth to continue in 2015, but at a considerably slower pace, with a year-on-year forecast in the region of two per cent. In terms of units, this would mean edging closer to the 13 million units mark.

ACEA also released the provisional 2014 sales figures for all types of Electrically Chargeable Vehicles (ECVs). Last year 75,331 ECVs were registered in the EU. Although this is up 37% on the 2013 figure of 55,142, it still represents just 0.6% of the total market. ACEA Secretary General Erik Jonnaert commented: ‘ACEA’s members will continue to invest in alternative powertrains, including electric, hybrid, fuel-cell and natural gas-powered vehicles. This needs to be supported by the expansion of the charging infrastructure, as well as a more consistent EU-wide approach to customer incentives.’

ACEA is also taking the opportunity of its Annual Reception to re-iterate its three policy recommendations: To drive innovation; To foster growth through international trade; and To build a supportive regulatory framework.

‘These are the three keys to building upon the fresh growth in our automobile market, and to supporting the political agenda for jobs, growth and investment,’ stated Carlos.

RAISING THE PROFILE OF UK MANUFACTURERS ABROAD Transport Minister Baroness Kramer visited Taiwan and Japan at the end of last month to raise the profile of UK companies in the rail and transport sector.

The Minister led the largestever railway delegation to Taiwan (consisting of 14 companies and organisations) to showcase their

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expertise in complex, large-scale rail infrastructure projects such as HS2, Crossrail and network electrification.

The visit included a seminar that brought together UK experts and over 200 decision makers in Taiwan’s railway, metro lines and station-development projects.

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update HELLA MAKE RADAR SENSOR MORE AFFORDABLE A high percentage of traffic accidents result from visibility issues connected to the blind spot. As a countermeasure, OEMs equip their vehicles with blind spot detectors which typically are based on radar. This solution however is rather costly and for this reason restricted to upmarket vehicles.

Infineon and German tier one Hella KG now have jointly developed RF components for radar sensors that enable manufacturers to lower prices and power consumption likewise.

Hella already produces a 24-GHz radar sensor system for blind spot This continuously updated radar scan detects moving objects even in poor weather and independent of the direction and speed of their motion.

Optimized antenna concepts facilitate an even higher measuring accuracy. For example, when passing others or changing lanes, the system warns of vehicles coming from behind. When parking, the radar registers cross-traffic in the rear and prevents collisions.

Infineon's new Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit (MMIC)

YEAR OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY Industrial automation components supplier European Automation has compiled a special report containing helpful information and advice for manufacturers who want to become more energy efficient.

European Automation’s latest report analyses two industry standards that will continue to impact UK manufacturing in 2015: the European Union’s Ecodesign directive and the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS). The study also explores ways in which industrial automation is helping manufacturers adapt to increasingly demanding environmental standards.

“2015 will be the year of energy efficiency,” explains Darren Halford, group sales manager at European Automation.

“Regardless of where they are located or what industry they operate in, manufacturers have to comply with rigorous environmental demands regarding product design, energy management and reducing carbon footprint.

of the chip family BGT24Axx, helps to increase the detection efficiency of the driver assistance system. It improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), ensuring higher precision in the detection and signaling of objects in the blind spot. The MMICs integrate all RF components like oscillators, amplifiers and reception branches with low-noise amplifiers and I/Q mixers on a single chip. The 24GHz chip family moreover enables a custom-fit configuration of the hardware, depending on the system environment and application field.

By 2020, the number of worldwide installed, radar-supported driver assistance systems is expected to rise from some 14 million to more than 40 million. According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, in this context the blind spot detection system plays a decisive role. The third generation of Hella’s radar module is available now on series production and as optional equipment in any vehicle and model class, even outside of the premium segment.

ROLLS-ROYCE ENGINES CHOSEN FOR FREIGHT TRAINS Rolls-Royce has won a contract worth 100 million euros from Chinese locomotive manufacturer CNR Dalian for 232 engines to power Transnet Freight Rail’s trains in South Africa.

This is one element of a major infrastructure project, as South Africa looks to overhaul its rail network and its fleet of freight locomotives.

Rolls-Royce will supply its MTU Series 4000 R63L engines, each with an output of 3,300KW. The first 20

engines will be produced in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and delivered directly to CNR. The rest will be delivered to its subsidiary MTU South Africa for final assembly and testing. Delivery will commence later this year and should be completed by the end of 2017.

Michael Haidinger of Rolls-Royce Power Systems said: “Winning this order signals our breakthrough into the market for Chinese freight locomotives, which are being exported in ever-larger quantities.”

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ASSOCIATION ADS GROUP

PLENTY OF POSITIVES IN CHANCELLOR’S AUTUMN STATEMENT New support for the UK’s high value, high tech manufacturing businesses has ADS Group looking positively to 2015 Following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement deliver in December, the ADS Group ‘s Paul Everitt, Chief Executive, spoke of the importance of the Government’s support for the UK’s high value, high tech manufacturing businesses. “The Chancellor’s statement delivered some important new support for the UK’s high value, high tech

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manufacturing businesses. The Government’s Industrial Strategies prioritise innovation, skills and exports and the measures outlined will help boost UK businesses and their long-term growth ambitions. High value manufacturing delivers well-paid jobs that can support the aspirations of families and communities across the country.”

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ADS Group is the UK trade organisation representing the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors. ADS is focused on representing the interests of these valuable wealth producing industries in the UK and overseas to key stakeholders, government, and the media.

ADS plays an instrumental role in bringing Industry and

government, working closely and collaboratively to maintain and grow the UK’s world leading position in these industries. In doing so, these sectors will support and facilitate a sustainable UK economic recovery, securing future sector prosperity through a strong strategy and united approach.

Everitt was eager to emphasise

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ASSOCIATION ADS GROUP

other positives from the Chancellor’s statement such as its encouraging approach to innovation. “Supporting innovation to remain ahead of growing global competition lies at the heart of the Industrial Strategies. Raising the rates of R&D tax credits, establishing the materials research centre and the additional funding for the successful High Value

Manufacturing Catapult centres will help our sectors invest in the technologies of tomorrow,” he said.

On apprentices he said: “Around 60% of UK aerospace, defence, security and space companies employ apprentices, providing high value and highly skilled employment. The measures announced to make it less costly for employers to take on an

apprentice will encourage more businesses, especially small businesses, to consider their skills to ensure they have the right people to continue to innovate and compete in the long-term.”

Elsewhere on space, he said: “The recent Rosetta Mission provided an opportunity to shine a light on the exciting work underway in the UK Space sector

here. Recognising this, the Chancellor has committed £55m towards European Space Agency programmes in which the UK will play a pivotal role in developing the technologies that make these programmes possible.”

The outcome is the UK aerospace industry is growing ten times faster than the UK overall, employs 109,100 people directly

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ASSOCIATION ADS GROUP and supports many thousands in other sectors. The sector has grown 14% annually since 2011, with improved business confidence, investment and a focus on driving growth through exports. Paul says: “The Aerospace Growth Partnership has worked hard to put the right support in place to help UK industry make the most of significant increases in demand for new aircraft. The positive impact of this work is being felt, with almost three quarters of companies planning to increase investment next year and one in four looking at reshoring activity back to the UK.” ADS has around 900 members in the UK, ranging from small start-ups to large corporations and global operations. They include manufacturers, equipment suppliers, service companies and operators and, for them, the organisation provides support in many ways. “ADS offers a packed programme of more than 170 events per year in addition to organising UK groups at international exhibitions, offering a valuable opportunity for

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ADS GROUP IS THE UK TRADE ORGANISATION REPRESENTING THE AEROSPACE, DEFENCE, SECURITY AND SPACE SECTORS networking and forging new connections,” outlines Paul. “We facilitate access to the latest tender and business opportunities and provide assistance for SMEs with government funding and business development or building links with prime contractors. ADS has an important role to play in influencing UK and EU governments, representing the interests of industry. Members can participate in more than sixty boards, committees and special interest groups which offer a valuable mechanism to discuss and debate particular issues or challenges faced by businesses.”

The biggest and best known event is the Farnborough International Airshow, organised by wholly-owned subsidiary Farnborough International Limited. This year’s event

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attracted more than 100,000 trade visitors and 1,500 exhibitors from 75 countries, affording ADS members the opportunity to showcase the country’s worldleading capabilities to a global audience. A record breaking $201 billion of orders and commitments were made at the show.

Another arm of ADS is the British Aviation Group, the leading representative body for UK companies in the airport and aviation development sector. It has 200 member companies and its primary role is to help UK companies win business in the UK and overseas as well as helping them identify suppliers.

ADS is a member of the Aerospace and Defence Federation that unites alliances and provides a single voice for the industries. It manages SC21 (21st

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ASSOCIATION ADS GROUP

ADS has a packed programme of more than 170 events per year

Century Supply Chains) that aims to improve supply chains for increased competitiveness of UK industry. Paul says: “Around 650 businesses are on the continuous improvement journey, more than 300 of which have been presented with an award for their work on the programme. To achieve an SC21 award, a company must demonstrate world-class business performance in all aspects, including delivery and services to customers, internal business efficiency and a continuous sustainable improvement culture throughout the organisation.”

Recent years have seen increased collaboration between industry and government to develop strategies, identify new opportunities and make the most of them. Its relationship with key influencers and decision makers enabled ADS, as Paul explains, to significantly influence the content of the Defence Reform Act:

“During the legislative process, ADS played an active role in lobbying at each stage of the Bill to ensure key decision-makers were aware of key industry concerns.

ADS engaged constructively with Ministers, MPs and key MOD officials to propose positive and constructive solutions to improve it. As a result, many of these solutions have been adopted.”

Its work on the Defence Reform Act resulted in important changes that ensured intellectual property will be protected and the Single Source Regulatory Office will remain impartial. Additional exemption of contracts from the new regulations will only be applied in exceptional circumstances, MOD challenges to contract prices will be limited number and SMEs will be protected from excessive burdens.

For more information: www.adsgroup.org.uk

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ADS GROUP SC21

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER SC21 has delivered a number of benefits to companies such as operational improvement, increased competitiveness, leaner production and cost reduction SC21 is a change programme designed to accelerate the competitiveness of the aerospace and defence industry by raising the performance of its supply chains. International competition, together with the challenges posed by the defence industrial strategy, necessitates rapid improvement in the effectiveness of supply chains.

At the same time, industry must ensure that it delivers competitive solutions for customers whilst maintaining profitable business growth.

Since 2006, SC21 has seen companies benefiting from a large range of benefits and savings, such as reduced overheads from implementing business excellence and lean principles through the Bus Ex and Man Ex tools.

Companies have also seen operational improvement with minimal costs to the business, increased competitiveness, leaner 10

production, cost reduction and lower set-up times.

However, the real evidence can be seen in the benefits brochure which was developed as a result of a direct survey, sent to all signatories in 2010 for their feedback.

Through participating in SC21 your business will also understand better how the industry will be changing in the future and you will be kept aware of developments in the sector and the activities regarding your colleagues on the SC21 programme.

Crucially, it costs nothing to subscribe to SC21. However, to fully engage in the change programme it will require the commitment of some resources, but the benefits will easily outweigh the cost.

The total number of companies committed to SC21 doubled within two months of its launch in 2006. Now more than 100 new companies are signing up to the

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programme every year. The more companies that join this initiative, the greater the benefit to the UK supply chain. The risk however, to those businesses that have not embraced SC21, or more importantly continuous improvement, and therefore are not progressing (on the industry designed and owned) programme, may lose out to those who are proactively engaging.

Signatories to SC21 are committed to developing supply chains to ensure they remain competitive and able to deliver increased value to customers. To be a signatory to the SC21 action plan you do not have to be a large prime company, as companies are encouraged to join from all levels in the supply chain.

SC21 signatory companies are committed to a number of initiatives. Firstly, they must adopt a new SC21 business culture to effect fundamental business

transformation. SC21 will work openly and transparently, through sharing information and working collaboratively, to deliver benefits across the industry.

SC21 will build on success to enable the industry to be a leader in the development of competitive value chains. It will pursue the most competitive solutions for customers, by accessing innovation and specialist expertise, while encouraging innovation and investment of all types throughout the supply chain, achieved through providing a more trusting and open environment.

Other areas include throughlife solutions, leadership and ethical practices. As a signatory to this action plan, adherence to the commitments will be tested annually and that performance will be measured and published. SC21 will help in the development of this plan by sharing experiences.

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ADS GROUP SC21

www.adsgroup.org.uk

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ELECTRONICS CODA OCTOPUS MARTECH

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The flexibility of Coda Octopus Martech’s offering is a strength but, as Managing Director Paul Baxter confirms, can also present problems: “Our strengths are being able to do everything from first contact through design to production. One difficulty we face is that flexibility and breadth of capability mean our focus isn’t always clear to others. Our specialism is solving technical engineering problems to a very high standard, which has led us down a very diverse path.”

Coda Octopus Martech started 25 years ago working almost exclusively for the Defence Research Agency. It now still works predomi-

ELECTRONICS CODA OCTOPUS MARTECH nantly as an engineering house in the defence industry but also for similarly demanding industries such as nuclear and medical. “We design and develop technology for others,” remarks Paul. “It’s high end engineering so our customers often have challenging problems.”

The nature of the work means everything is bespoke, customers often coming with ideas that sometimes they have patented and occasionally develop into longer term products.

Examples are a chemical decontamination oven that is developing into a product for defence customers and a domestic fire sprinkler test package. “The customer didn’t have the means to develop it but encouraged us to look at it,”

recalls Paul. “We did it over a lengthy period and they wanted to buy a large number but owned the intellectual property rights. There are examples where we are developing our own IPR but most of what we do is highly bespoke.”

The company has also developed for group company Coda Octopus Marine Products a pan and tilt unit that was required to swivel in two dimensions to position its sonar precisely, had to be very robust, lightweight and able to operate at depths of 3,000 metres. An innovative solution for deploying cargo nets under helicopters also had to be very robust, able to withstand radar radiation and a foolproof design.

Requirements can vary from a basic idea to

A FLEXIBLE APPROACH

Creating systems for the harshest of environments and deepest oceans.

www.martechsystems.co.uk Telephone: 01305 770440

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ELECTRONICS CODA OCTOPUS MARTECH a detailed specification and Martech works at all levels. Common amongst products are their specialised nature and the need to work closely with customers to understand their requirements and develop something that meets them. The process, as Paul outlines, is invariably demanding: “Often a customer comes to us with an idea of how something’s going to be done but not necessarily a concrete solution.

We try to innovate and part of the challenge is we’re trying to invent as we go along without quite knowing what the solution is. The customer still wants a price up-front so we’re trying to provide that for something that’s not been invented.”

Customers include blue chip defence and medical companies although, in the context of the work, some may only come back every few years while others have repeat business on a more regular basis. Many concentrate on their core business and use Martech to develop bespoke test equipment or specialised components outside their normal activities. A common need is work for obsolete or legacy products that are still important for their customers but not part of current business, which requires reverse or re-engineering and an understanding of needs.

“We do some fantastic work but there’s often no other opportunity for it, either because it’s so specialised for that customer or the IPR is protected,” states Paul. “We’re learning new skills but there’s generally no continu-

Our strengths are being able to do everything from first contact through design to production. ous market for the products we’ve invented.

Sometimes they are produced in hundreds or even the low thousands over a period.”

High volume production isn’t something Martech undertakes, generally focusing on design, production of prototypes, final assembly and quality control. Most manufacturing is sub-contracted to specialist companies while embedded firmware coding is handled in-house and other software development is undertaken by a team at Coda Octopus Marine Products in Edinburgh or at Coda Octopus Calmech in Salt Lake City. The work requires the recruitment of highly qualified people and the company has recently taken on an apprentice to develop required skills further.

There was some contraction during the recent downturn as companies retained non14

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core work in-house and there are on-going changes to the customer base as firms are acquired and operations moved elsewhere. But the situation has improved steadily since 2010 and the customer base is starting to grow although, as Paul points out, the nature of the business means it’s not straightforward: “The gestation period for these projects can be very long so we can start talking to somebody with a real need but it sometimes takes months or even years to see these projects through.

We’re trying to add some non-defence customers, those with similar high expectations to defence customers. We’re also trying to target subsea companies, since the technology links nicely into our sister company offering, and to consciously identify technology we can add to our portfolio.”

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ELECTRONICS CODA OCTOPUS MARTECH

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ELECTRONICS MCM SOLUTIONS

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ELECTRONICS MCM SOLUTIONS

REVOLUTIONISING DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE GATHERING MCMS continues to push the envelope through development of innovative new technologies that are changing the face of digital data acquisition & analysis

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MCM Solutions (MCMS) is a British security-cleared company established in 2003 that is revolutionising digital-based exploit and evidential solutions nationally and internationally for Military, Government, Police and Commercial organisations.

Chaired by Admiral Lord West, who was Former First Sea Lord, Minister for Security and Counter Terrorism and Chief of Defence Intelligence, MCMS develops a range of innovative Digital Data Acquisition, Analysis and Forensic Solutions that are changing the way in which traditional Digital Forensics are implemented.

Dave Kirk, CEO, who has over 30 years’ experience in IT, has gathered a team of enthusiastic forward thinking developers to revolutionise the way MCMS combats digital problems. With senior management each having backgrounds in the security services and specialist units, the company’s unique combination of staff make for a rapidly flexible and fit-for-

purpose approach to the capabilities it delivers to clients.

A key part of MCMS’s service is a commitment to combating crime and terrorism, by delivering its next generation ‘user friendly’ rapid solutions to counter the surging critical digital forensic/exploit capability gaps found in many establishments today. MCMS tools actively reduce training burdens and overall costs resulting in massively increased results, effectiveness and capability of organisations.

“We feel one of our key responsibilities for 2015 is to help combat the growing threat from paedophiles with Indecent Images of Children (IIoC). We have a ground-breaking solution to streamline the process for charging, convicting, reducing backlogs and increasing the efficiency of policing in this regard. Hand in hand with this, protecting the victims, insuring justice and assisting forces to maximise cost effectiveness,” says marketing manager Graham Bromelow.

“2015 is also a very exciting year as we continue to grow and expand. We remain sensitive to organisations who use our technologies, but have been approached from various globally know entities to assist with their needs. The USA provides business development opportunities this year, with a large Military and security project potentially in the pipeline, as well as several other international initiatives.”

A highlight for MCMS in 2014 was its consolidation of successful long-term relationships and renewal of its ongoing UK specialist military projects. MCMS also developed a new relationship to bring a Multiple Automated Imaging solution to a leading UK Police Force.

Part of its success is maintaining good rela-

tionships with its hardware suppliers. “We often win contracts with very small delivery timelines and quite bespoke hardware, so we are extremely fortunate to have an excellent relationship with our suppliers,” says Graham.

“Whether it be a small order for USB sticks or a large bespoke ruggedised case, our suppliers strive to keep us informed at all times. We are fortunate in the modern age that the internet allows us to keep track of competitive pricing and our suppliers do not disappoint. Our digital forensic products require installation on removable hardware. We typically use Kingston and Samsung due to their excellent write speeds and quality.

Crucially, however, in order to remain at the forefront of technology, MCMS has to seek new ways to push the envelope. For example, the company is responsible for developing a powerful, easy to use ‘deployment pack’ for specialist military units. This enabled a huge leap forward, giving users organic capability to exploit laptops, USBs, removable media and digital devices.

Detego Ballistic Imager is the world’s fastest acquisition tool for overt or covert evidential standard bit for bit coping of computers. This is also patented technology which is a huge accolade to the innovation of MCMS developers.

In addition, MCMS is finalising an automated system to image multiple drives, parse any information found and produce court level reports, providing a quantum leap to Police Forces who utilise MCMS technology in regards to Indecent Images of Children. www.mcmsolutions.co.uk Tel: 01403 267176

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING FORSBERG

NAVIGATION WHEN IT’S NEEDED THE MOST Forsberg has built an enviable reputation as a navigation systems integrator and OEM component supplier

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Originally a navigation consultancy, Forsberg has been a successful NovAtel® outlet since 1997 with offices in the UK and Germany. The company has strong engineering experience in navigation; specialising in PCB, software and mechanical design. The company manages production, test and delivery for itself and some of its customers, and provides the best economical solutions using OEM, system design and manufacturing expertise. Now certified to ISO9001:2008, Forsberg has an enviable reputation as a navigation systems integrator and OEM component supplier.

Recently, the company was delighted to announce that NovAtel has launched the FlexPak-S GNSS SAASM enclosure. The FlexPak-S contains a NovAtel dual-frequency OEM625S™ receiver card integrated with L-3’s XFACTOR Selective Availability Anti Spoofing Module (SAASM) onboard. The FlexPak-S is 18

security approved by the GPS Directorate for operational use.

When keyed by authorised defence integrators, the FlexPak-S provides a centimetre-level Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Precise Positioning Service (PPS) solution by taking the raw measurements from the XFACTOR SAASM and applying them to NovAtel’s Advanced RTK algorithms. The FlexPak-S can be handled as unclassified when keyed. In the Standard Positioning Service (SPS) fallback mode, the FlexPak-S continues to provide centimetrelevel accuracy by utilising NovAtel’s dual-frequency civil GNSS positioning engine. FlexPakS’ fallback mode is configurable for GPS or GPS+GLONASS. Adding GLONASS tracking increases position performance in obstructed sky conditions, making it ideal for unmanned ground vehicles.

FlexPak-S was developed for size constrained environments, so it’s compact and

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lightweight. Despite its size, this rugged GNSS enclosure has been engineered to ensure reliability, even in harsh environments. The IP67 housing is water-resistant and operates in a wide temperature range. FlexPak-S also allows for easy integration with standardised hardware connections and NovAtel’s well established, comprehensive set of software commands. The SAASM position is provided via a dedicated communication port, as well as through NovAtel’s software command protocol allowing for maximum flexibility. FlexPak-S uses the same form factor as the popular FlexPak6 design.

Shane McEwen, Product Manager for NovAtel Enclosures stated, “FlexPak-S is a great option for customers looking for a reliable solution in environments where size is critical - like UAV and robotics applications.” Mr. McEwen added, “With standard software and hardware connections integration is simplified so there is a quicker time to market.”

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING FORSBERG

Over the years Forsberg has been involved in many exciting projects from helping to design and manufacture Military GPS Receivers, to achieving high speed precision animation for television broadcasting.

Indeed, Forsberg has been particularly successful in the defence sector. GNSS technology is becoming more relied upon in the industry as the need for accuracy, precise positioning and time measurements is vital for successful military operations. Forsberg and NovAtel have supplied solutions for a variety of applications. This has included design, engineering and delivery of high precision GNSS services. Some of these applications include search and rescue capabilities, reconnaissance planning and map creation of hostile or unknown territory, ground and aerial unmanned vehicle navigation, and guidance and system testing capabilities.

www.forsbergservices.co.uk Tel: 01524 383320

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING FUTRONICS Futronics, which was founded in 2000, has committed itself to the design and development of innovative technology that improves the operational experience and effectiveness of people and organisations. The company is delighted to be in the technological vanguard for the rail, emergency and transport sectors, and is dedicated to the cost-effective delivery of the best possible technology for operational requirements.

Futronics has established an enviable reputation as a trusted technology partner over the last 15 years to the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and continues to supply its Home Office approved Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) enforcement systems, which have had a massive impact

on the collection of vehicle excise duty. It is also an important supplier of Home Office approved warning and penalty systems to enforce traffic safety compliance at level crossings for Britain’s rail sector.

Elsewhere, Futronics’ highly regarded vehicle based mobile data and communications systems are now providing emergency services worldwide with a proven route to more effective systems at a reduced cost.

Now in its 15th year, the company continues to build on its many successes and an expanding range of first class products. With new international markets and the exciting adaptation of its core technologies for new vertical markets, such as transport and buildings control, Futronics is

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Committed to the development of innovative technology that improves the operational effectiveness of people & organisations

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looking forward to the next 15 years of innovation.

For example, the Futronics TAWS are custom-built systems delivering warning/tracking solutions. Utilising GPS and real-time data the Futronics system delivers seamless live feeds to the hardware providing first class safety and security.

The company is also a leading designer and manufacturer of emergency vehicle command, control and communications systems. It’s dedicated to the cost-effective delivery of the best possible front-line technology for blue light services and its product range has been carefully developed to deliver significant operational efficiencies, both in terms of the consolidation and integration of controls, and in terms of the overall cost.

The underlying design principles focus on the operator experience and seek to create intuitive and accessible user interfaces through which all system controls and communication are facilitated. A suite of proprietary control modules allows for the interconnection, control and communication between the vehicle and any of the installed specialist equipment, further simplifying the entire operational environment.

Given the often harsh operating environments in which emergency vehicles must operate, all Futronics equipment is designed, tested and manufactured to the highest standards.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is another key area for Futronics, providing a very powerful technology to help police and government agencies identify vehicles whilst they travel about the roads system.

Police vehicles are fitted with specialised cameras capable of reading vehicle license plates at up to 100mph from the front and rear of the vehicle. The on-board Futronics mobile data terminal is then able to process the license plate data and rapidly report to the operators if the vehicle is of interest. The company has also developed novel applications for its ANPR technology, which include the detection and identification of vehicles being driven dangerously at critical road junctions.

www.futronicsgroup.com Tel: 08456 43 9990

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING FARSOUND ENGINEERING

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE FOR AEROSPACE & DEFENCE Farsound has expanded its capabilities to become a well-regarded component manufacturer and engineering solution provider

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Farsound was established in 1979 and over the years developed a reputation for quality and service in the manufacture and assembly of small pressed components for the aerospace and defence industries. The company has attained approval from most major OEMs and expanded its capabilities into precision machining, fabrication and assembly to become a well-regarded component manufacturer and engineering solution provider.

In 2008, Farsound moved to its current new build facility in Romford and in July 2011 the business was acquired by industrial investors, RG Industries (RGI). This is a partnership between Rubicon Partners Industries LLP, Grovepoint Capital LLP and Investec. RGI was established with the aim of building a global portfolio of high quality industrial businesses operating in the manufacturing and distribution sectors.

During 2013 and 2014 the business has organically grown around its existing parts portfolio. Its main aim for 2015 and beyond is to grow and develop its existing customer base, as well as also adding new strategic supply relationships with potential new customers.

In order to position itself for this Farsound begun the journey with the SIG program (Sharing In Growth). The aim of this being to ensure it has the best possible approach to manufacturing and production solutions, therefore staying competitive and attractive in the ever-demanding market that is aerospace component supply.

“We pride ourselves on being diverse and proactive in terms of providing both engineering and production solutions,” says Managing Director Dan Daley. “Our highly skilled team of engineers, combined with our appetite for

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING FARSOUND ENGINEERING investing in technological solutions for growth or development programs has ensured we are considered both flexible and dependable by our major customers.”

To support the planned development and growth there have been some recent key additions in terms of management appointments. “We believe it to be essential to have the capability and foresight to both manage the requirements of today and additionally deliver the changes required for future sustainability and prosperity. This has involved recruiting in expertise from across a range of manufacturing sectors with the aim of increasing our expertise and diversity in approach.

“Our future is dependent on the development of our staff. As such we are constantly reviewing our approach to training and development in all areas. We have two apprentices and one graduate trainee currently, as well as having a number of staff training activities underway. This training programme covers many areas from leadership, formal HSE certification, lean skills and deployment and MRP and IT improvement training.”

Dan adds that the company is reliant on the support of its supply base performance to ensure it can smooth and refine its internal production processes.

But after another successful year for the business, Dan has every reason to look forward to the next 12 months and beyond. However, he isn’t about to rest on his laurels. “With the increasing demands and expectation from the customer base on quality, cost and delivery we fully recognise the need to continually improve the business to remain an attractive proposition as a key supplier.”

www.farsound.co.uk Tel: 01708 677 800

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING BENHAM PRECISION ENGINEERING

INVESTING IN PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY

benham precision engineering, a reliable source for complex products

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“We are known as a reliable source for complex products,” proclaims Benham Precision Engineering’s Managing Director Paul Benham.

Those complex products are components and sub-assemblies for suppliers to the aerospace and defence industries, typically for fuel systems and actuation systems to aircraft manufacturers. The reliability, according to Paul, is achieved by on-going investment in people and technology resulting in the use of state-of-the-art equipment and highly skilled staff.

“Trained staff are difficult to come by,” he says, “so we rely on our apprenticeship programme, training people and retaining them so we don’t stop once they’re at a skilled level. We continually look at opportunities, particularly as our business and capability grow and technology continues to advance. We’re looking for the skills set and aptitude to be able to develop individuals to meet forthcoming business requirements.”

Products are developed specifically for each customer but often end up as long-term, repeat production such as supplying components for the Eurofighter. Consequently, the aim is to get everything right from the outset and, although Benham doesn’t design the components, it encourages customers to engage with it in a design for manufacturing (DFM) process.

“We have the experience and knowledge to support DFM with customers,” explains Paul.

“We comment on manufacturing ability, what we consider to be difficult and what might be adding cost. Removing cost from the overall manufac24

ture may involve quite simple changes in design.”

The company’s operational performance has been improved by participation in the 21st Century Supply Chain (SC21) programme, joining in 2008 and gaining bronze accreditation the following year. It was assessed to silver level in 2011 but never took up the accreditation due to pressures of work. Nevertheless, Paul is keen to continue to the next level and acknowledges the programme has been extremely valuable, saying: “Getting it into our culture is the key but we also had to meet the business needs. We now have an opportunity to pick it up again with support from customers, which is important since they are keen to support us on the journey to excellence.

“Compared to where we were in 2007, we’re a significantly better business. SC21 cov-

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ers everything from the administration process to the way we interact with customers to understand their customer satisfaction levels.

All those processes inside the business enable us to deliver a quality product to customers.”

Turnover has doubled over the last five years and that’s put pressure on resources, necessitating the acquisition of a complementary business for added capacity. That will enable Benham to diversify into the oil and gas market and, as Paul outlines, continue to provide the expected reliable service: “It’s a business that is right for our involvement and there are opportunities to develop it in line with our culture, strategy and values. We also want to continue growing our customer base and developing strategic partnerships to support the future growth of the business.”

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www.benhammanufacturing.co.uk Telephone: 02380 668555

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING DEREK LANE

FLUID POWER SOLUTIONS Derek lane maintain a quality image by providing a high level of technical support and delivering a complete service to customers

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The biggest challenge many companies face currently is reduced margins, with competition driving prices down. Derek Lane’s Sales Director Rob Woodley says: “It devalues our product and brand name but we endeavour to overcome it. Many companies buy on price but don’t get the technical back up or support they require and so contact us. One of our brand strengths is associating ourselves with quality products such as Parker and Hydac and we are able to offer a competitive price. Customers sometimes have gone for a cheaper quality item but that’s not really our brand image.”

The company has been in the fluid power business since 1979 and maintains its quality image by providing a high level of technical support and delivering a complete service to customers. “A lot of customers come to us with just a concept of what they would like to do but with limited knowledge of how to achieve it,” recounts Rob. “So we go through the project, going to site to visit the customer and work out exactly what to do. We design it and then take it from there to manufacturing, installation, commissioning and maintaining it through its whole life if necessary.”

There’s also a mixture of products available through the online ordering facility, trade 26

counter (ParkerStore) or via calls to an experienced sales office team, plus variations that the technical department adapts to meet specific customer needs. Those customers include the Ministry of Defence at the Plymouth naval base, companies in the nuclear and rail industries and in industries such as agriculture, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, construction, mining and foundries. The different challenges they offer come not necessarily from the type of industry but more the size of the company and the varying technical knowledge available.

That means having to adjust the approach depending on whether dealing with non-technical procurement officers for the larger firms and engineers at smaller companies who better understand the requirement.

In all cases, the level of technical support is as high as possible. Sales and Marketing Administrator Zeke Furness says: “Few companies can deliver from the original image to the final manifestation. There are companies who might be able to offer some of what we do but none who can offer everything. That is a pretty big brand strength for us although the top one is our staff who have knowledge gained through years of training. We offer expert advice and we ensure we keep on top of everything through staff training, making sure every-

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING DEREK LANE one’s up to date with the latest information.”

Staff training has been a high priority for Derek Lane & Co since Directors Rob Woodley and Mark Venn purchased the company three years ago. Operations Director Mark Venn stresses that training has been stepped up recently: “We have embarked on a heavy training programme and it’s not just product training. We want people to get involved in all sorts of things and we’ve been using the Manufacturing Advisory Service quite extensively in various topics such as lean manufacturing, supervisory training and management skills. We want people to be empowered to do their jobs so training involves all aspects of the company.”

Having knowledgeable and highly trained staff has enabled Derek Lane to undertake some innovative projects such as supplying compressed air services to manufacturers of robotic milking systems. There’s also been involvement with oil contamination control to

“We have embarked on a heavy training programme and it’s not just product training. We want people to get involved in all sorts of things” analyse working systems for traces of metal and particulates in oil that can damage equipment plus air contamination controllers and air surveys to detect wasteful leaks of air.

Overall delivery has been helped by the inhouse resources that include CNC machinery and fabrication workshops as well as involvement with the SC21 programme (Supply Chain 21st Century). “It was born out of our relationship with Babcock International in Devonport, Plymouth,” recalls Rob. “We’ve had a contract in place with them for over ten years and were told how SC21 was an important standard for suppliers like us and we should look into

accreditation. So we embarked on it with them as our sponsor and it really has done us a lot of good in many ways. We already had ISO 9001:2008 but SC21 has also helped us establish better relationships with our suppliers and customers.

“It’s really brought a lot of our procedures and strategies together better. Without the help and encouragement of associated SC21 partners, we would not have completed the journey as quickly. We were able to ask questions and were given suggestions and assistance in obtaining the accreditation.”

There has been considerable investment in the company over the last three years in particular, with eight new staff members added, new technical design software acquired and plant and machinery purchased. Rob says: “We’re investing in people, in training and we’re updating our marketing with a new website, new social media elements, e-shot programmes, trade exhibitions and many other innovative ideas.”

www.dereklane.co.uk Telephone: 01392 811466

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING RODFORD ENGINEERING

FAMILY RUN PRECISION ENGINEERING Rodford celebrates another successful year with the SC21 Bronze award

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Rodford Engineering Limited, a well-established, family run precision engineering company based in Dorset, celebrated 2014 with another SC21 Bronze award.

Specialising in the manufacture of components for the aerospace industry, Director Neil Dallyn said the SC21 award “demonstrated to existing and potential customers our commitment to continuous improvement.”

He adds: “It also highlights the level of service we provide to our customers (delivery and quality performance). It has been a great marketing tool and also allowed us to develop existing customers and strengthen relationships.”

Utilising SC21 has helped the company solidify its position in the market and also grow its capability. “We used a consultant when we first signed up to SC21 and he worked with us

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right up to when we achieved the first award.

He was instrumental in us achieving the accolade. We now run it ourselves with help from one of our main customers, Cobham. They offer support and help where needed. It also ensures we keep focused and continue on the journey,” explains Neil.

The company has also overseen training auctioned through the SC21 programme. “We don’t employ any particular management system for training or safety so the majority of the training is managed through our AS9100 quality system. Through the SC21 programme, for instance, we completed CMM training for the complete shop floor.”

The company was established in 1984 by Rod Dallyn and his business partner. Coming from a strong engineering background, Rod trained and worked at both large and small

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MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING RODFORD ENGINEERING organisations before starting his own venture.

Now a thriving business with a team of 20 and an annual turnover of £2.5m, Rod’s son Neil has taken the helm. An increasing demand for services has recently led to company expansion and a move to additional accommodation on the same site in Wimborne, Dorset.

Its premises now total 10,000 sq. ft. where it runs 12 machines.

“We continually invest in the machinery and technology that we use and pride ourselves on our ability to manufacture extremely intricate components and assemblies utilising state of the art equipment and facilities.

Machining services (both turning and milling) are at the heart of our business and we also offer assembly and stock holding. Quality is also at the heart of everything we do and our AS9100 and ISO9001 approvals form the basis of our approach,” explains Neil.

But behind every successful business is a dedicated and committed team. “We truly credit our growth to the strong team that we have built over the years,” adds Neil. “We are proud of the fact that our staff turnover is extremely low and always seek to invest in our employees’ skills.

“We are committed to continuous improvement. Some actions give instant results and some take far longer. We certainly don’t get everything right first time but we do learn something.

“We have a portfolio of very loyal customers. They tell us that they keep coming back because of our fast and friendly response and quality end product.”

www.rodfordengineering.co.uk Tel: 01202 877779

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AEROSPACE WG JONES

LEADING BY EXAMPLE A global supplier of technologically advanced aerospace precision components and assemblies

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WG Jones Ltd, the global supplier of technologically advanced aerospace precision components and assemblies to major OEM’s, has successfully achieved SC21 Bronze accreditation for the fourth year running.

On receiving the highly prestigious award, Managing Director Paul Evans said, “We now have excellence embodied in our culture and are not going to let slip our privileged position at the top end of supply chain performers. We already meet the SC21 Silver level criteria of 99.5-99.9% quality performance and our focus is the Silver award for 2015/2016.”

Developed as a change programme designed to accelerate the competitiveness of the UK Aerospace and Defence industry by raising the performance of its supply chains, WG Jones Ltd has continually scored highly in SC21’s annual assessment.

Indeed, WG Jones Ltd’s success in 2014 is the result of its commitment to driving standards and continually looking at ways it can

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improve. SC21 has played an important part, not only through encouraging operational improvement but in its support across the industry to improve standards.

WG Jones Ltd has benefited from SC21’s strategy to rapidly improve the effectiveness of the supply chain, becoming a key part of its drive towards creating a better, more competitive market; and promoting international growth while delivering profitable business opportunities.

Moreover, as Reg Whitelock, Operations Manager, says, “Using SC21 tools and techniques mandates the control needed to stay ahead.”

Since 2006, SC21 has seen companies making tangible progress thanks to a large range of benefits and savings, such as reduced overheads from implementing business excellence and lean principles through the Bus Ex and Man Ex tools.

As well as enjoying these benefits, WG Jones Ltd has also utilised SC21 to better understand how the industry will be changing in the future.

This has enabled it to better tailor its objectives through an awareness of sector developments

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and activities amongst colleagues also part of the SC21 programme.

As part of the company’s consolidation of its leading role in the supply of Aerospace, Defence and Gas industries, it continues to build its order book with existing customers and has successfully established a new working relationship with another major OEM in the last year.

Today, WG Jones Ltd enjoys more than 35 years’ experience in the industry across the Aerospace, Defence, Motorsport and Oil & Gas industries. Since its conception, it has prided itself on its responsiveness to customers’ needs, ensuring they have the peace of mind that WG Jones Ltd will deliver on time. The company’s excellent record with SC21 and its four years of accreditation highlights not only its ability to meet these goals but contin-

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AEROSPACE WG JONES

ually develop and improve.

Moreover, its continued growth and success over the years has enabled it to extend the factory facilities from humble beginnings to the current premises totalling in excess of 25,000 sq. ft. This has also enabled the company to extend the range of services it can offer.

From its early days as jig boring specialists, the company developed into high precision CNC machining in 2, 3, 4 and 5 axis and complex assembly and kitting work, all to the very exacting standards required by customers world-wide.

With a loyal, highly skilled and motivated workforce, WG Jones Ltd has the ability to manufacture and assemble a wide range of materials and components. Its commitment to continued investment in both staff and equipment guarantees its flexibility, quick response and on time delivery. Its long-term relationship with customers, and its ongoing development of new relationships, is proof of its commitment

to precision engineering excellence.

Certainly, the company’s entire supply chain has played a significant role in its success over the years, embodying its collaborative approach and “team” work ethic. Relationship management is key to both suppliers and customers.

To further develop its operational effectiveness in the next 12 months it plans to invest in training and machine tools to enhance capability and expertise.

The company has every reason to look forward to 2015. It has a proven track record and enduring relationships with leading customers which has allowed it to build upon its success.

With four years of SC21 accreditation, the next milestone is to achieve Silver rating. On this evidence, it’s well on the way to attaining its goals.

www.wgjones.co.uk Tel: 01202 825 467

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

THE EVOLUTION OF

MOBILITY

Everywhere people travel by land and in the air, a Bombardier product is ready to transport them.

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

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As the world’s only manufacturer of planes and trains, Bombardier has built an extensive and diverse portfolio of winning mobility solutions.

Everywhere people travel by land and in the air, a Bombardier product is ready to transport them. From category-defining business jets and commercial aircraft designed for the challenges of today, to sleek high speed trains and public transit that’s smarter than ever.

But it’s not just its products and services that make the company a global leader. The most important success factor is its employees, all 76,400 of them. Together Bombardier is focused on making mobility more efficient, sustainable and inviting than ever before. The company refers to this as The Evolution of Mobility.

The company’s operations cover both aerospace and land transportation. For aerospace, Bombardier has more than 37,700 employees and a leadership position in global markets.

Bombardier Aerospace designs, manufactures and supports innovative aviation products for the busi-

ness, commercial, specialised and amphibious aircraft markets. It has the most comprehensive aircraft portfolio and holds the number one position in business and regional aircraft. Its high-performance aircraft and services set the standard of excellence in several markets, including business aircraft (Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft families), commercial aircraft (new CSeries program, CRJ Series and Q-Series aircraft families), and amphibious aircraft (Bombardier 415 and Bombardier 415 MP aircraft).

The company also produces specialised aircraft solutions such as aircraft modified for special missions, as well as additional aircraft services and training.

For land transportation, Bombardier has 63 production and engineering sites in 26 countries and 19 service centres across the world. The company covers the full spectrum of rail solutions, ranging from complete trains to sub-systems, maintenance services, system integration and signalling. Its installed base of rolling stock exceeds 100,000 rail cars and locomotives worldwide.

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

From design through manufacture to after-market support

Transport solutions include rail vehicles (automated people movers, monorails, light rail vehicles, advanced rapid transit, metros, commuter/regional trains, intercity/ high-speed trains and locomotives), propulsion and controls, bogies (product portfolio for the entire range of rail vehicles) and fleet maintenance, operations and maintenance (O&M), vehicle refurbishment and modernisation, and material management.

SIGNIFICANT PRESENCE Bombardier has a significant presence, a strong track record and established history in the UK with both its Aerospace and Transportation 38 AND ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

divisions. In 1989, the world’s first aircraft manufacturer, Short Brothers plc (Shorts), was acquired by Bombardier from the UK Government. Since then, with Bombardier investment of almost £2.5bn, the company has become an integral part of the world's third largest civil aircraft manufacturer.

From design through manufacture to aftermarket support, Bombardier Aerospace in Belfast specialises in major aircraft structures including fuselages, wings, engine nacelle systems, and flight control surfaces in metal and advanced composites. With first-class capabilities and a workforce of around 6,000, the Belfast operation plays a pivotal role in all

Bombardier's families of commercial and business aircraft. In addition to Bombardier programmes, customers include Airbus, General Electric, International Aero Engines, Irkut Corporation, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce.

Bombardier Aerospace is the largest manufacturing company in Northern Ireland and produces around 10% of Northern Ireland's total manufacturing exports. An extensive supply chain includes around 800 approved suppliers in the UK and Ireland, and a further 100 in Europe. A percentage of pre-tax profits is allocated to the Bombardier Aerospace (NI) Foundation each year to help fund Northern Ireland-based initiatives, mainly in the areas of MANUFACTURING

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE environment, education and entrepreneurship. The foundation also supports employees who take part in volunteering projects in their local communities.

Bombardier Transportation, the rail division of Bombardier, has around 3,500 employees at eight sites and 23 service locations across the UK. The company has important sites at Crewe, Plymouth, Derby and Burton on Trent. It also operates from several locations in and around London, including its heavy maintenance depot at Ilford. Bombardier’s Derby site, which has produced a significant proportion of the UK’s latest technology rolling stock for both mainline train operations and London Underground, forms part of the world’s largest cluster of rail companies. The cluster comprises a supply base of approximately 100 companies, collectively employing around 25,000 people and contributing around £2.6bn to the local and national economies.

FLYBE’S OPERATIONS Exampling the company’s success in the UK was the introduction of Flybe’s operations out of London City Airport utilising Bombardier’s Q400 aircraft. This service significantly boosts connectivity between Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Inverness, Exeter and the heart of London.

Optimised for short-haul operations, the Q400 aircraft is a large, fast, quiet and fuel-efficient turboprop. It provides the perfect balance of passenger comfort and operating economics with a reduced environmental footprint.

The Q400 aircraft is the fastest new-technology turboprop, providing both jet speed and turboprop

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

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AEROSPACE BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE fuel efficiency. The aircraft’s economics and operational flexibility allow airlines to profitably deploy it in a variety of ways to serve typical short-haul turboprop routes, as well as medium-haul jet markets.

OPTIONAL DUAL-CLASS INTERIOR Q400 aircraft are available with an optional dual-class interior for enhanced passenger comfort; an optional extra-capacity configuration with up to 86 seats for high-density markets; and a cargo-passenger combi-configuration.

As of September 30, 2014 Bombardier had recorded firm orders for a total of 514 Q400 aircraft. Worldwide, Q400 aircraft have transported more than 295 million passengers and have logged over 4.7 million flight hours and more than five million take-offs and landings.

The Q400 aircraft program includes over 50 customers and operators in close to 40 countries on five continents.

“Flybe is a valued, long-time Bombardier

customer and [the introduction of the Q400] marks a significant landmark in the growth of the airline as it inaugurates its much-anticipated re-entry at London City Airport, said Ryan DeBrusk, Vice President, Sales, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “Earlier this year we entered into a strategic agreement designed to operationally enhance Flybe’s fleet, and now – with the airline’s recent third-party acquisition of an additional 24 aircraft that will increase its fleet to 59 - Flybe will become the largest operator of Q400 turboprops in the world. We are pleased that Flybe continues to show its long-term commitment to the Q400 aircraft and excited by the airline’s future prospects.”

“Purple Flybe Q400 aircraft will be a regular feature in the skies above the City of London as we begin daily services with six aircraft into/from London City Airport. This can only benefit our profile and reach over the longer term as knowledge of Flybe's role in connecting

the UK regions and Ireland with London becomes more widespread. Our new London City routes provide direct links for customers in the regions to the heart of London’s financial district,” added Saad Hammad, Chief Executive Officer, Flybe.

TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED With the introduction of the Q400 aircraft, Bombardier invented the modern turboprop and it is ideally suited for operations at London City Airport. It is one of the world’s most technologically advanced and community friendly aircraft, with environmental credentials that allow it to service some of the most noise-sensitive airports across the globe. In addition, the Q400 aircraft’s ability to operate on short runways and its jet-like climb make it suitable for operation in heavily populated, urban environments such as London City Airport.

For more information: www.bombardier.com

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SOMETIMES

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEWLETT PACKARD

THE SMALLEST THINGS MAKE THE

BIGGEST DIFFERENCE

HIGH SPEED FUNCIONALITY AND AN UNPRECEDENTED AMOUNT OF MEMORY, HEWLETT PACKARD MAY HAVE REVOLUTIONISED OUR TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURE

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We live in an era of technological innovation, of data collection and research where our goals no longer lie in simply “getting the job done”, but in recording and analysing our experiences so as to build a better system, and a better future with every task we perform our modern day modus operandi you might say. All this is made possible through the application of computerised technology to our day to day tasks, however due to the vastly increasing quantities of data which we process on a day to day basis, we are now on the verge of facing a technology inflection point whereupon we will be unable to physically store, process and secure the quantity of data being produced.

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Hewlett Packard has been a leading player in the technology market since the early days of technological innovation and has greatly influenced corporate culture and innovators across the globe since foundation in 1939. The company offers a wide assortment of solutions for at the home, the workplace and on the go with extensive technical support should any problems occur.. From laptops to tablets, monitors, printers, servers, software and storage, HP is a one-stop shop for your computing needs and boasts an incredible reputation for durable, secure and altogether efficient systems.

Detailing the current position of the company and future prospects, Meg Whitman, HP President and CEO explained: “Success hinges on consistency of leader-

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ship, focus, execution, and most importantly, great products and services. We are in a multiyear journey to turn HP around, and we have put in place a plan to restore HP to growth. We know where we need to go, and we're making progress. We continue to drive product innovation in our core markets, with a focus on cloud, security, and big data.

“We see big opportunities ahead, and we are well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities with our remarkable set of assets and strengths. We have the people, the plan, and the foundation in place to help us succeed on the next phase of the journey.”

Key to ensuring the continued success of the HP brand is HP Labs, the exploratory and advanced research group for HP which has

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HP IS WORKING TO OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES FACED BY COMPUTER MEMORY, WHICH HAS PROVEN TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES IN KEEPING UP TO DATE USAGE. been credited with the development of the RISC instruction set, inkjet printing, the first 64-bit computing architecture, memristor and universal memory. Looking to the future, HP Labs has been working diligently to solve the rising challenges of data overload through inventing a new computer archetype capable of supporting our future society: “HP Labs is leading the way again, building a new way to compute from the ground up. This changes everything,” added Martin Fink, EVP and HP CTO. It is predicted that by 2020, there will be 30bn connected computing devices communicating and generating inconceivable quantities of data. As of the technological capacities within our computation systems to date, it would prove impossible for us to effectively handle and process this level of data in any way useful, if at all. Through The Machine, HP looks to redefine the structure of computing devices which have

been left relatively unchallenged for sixty years through pushing the boundaries of the physics – this will see the use of electrons for computation, photons for communication and ions for storage.

The Machine will also fuse memory into storage, flatten complex data hierarchies, bring processing closer to the data, embed security control points throughout the hardware and software stacks as well as enable management and assurance of the systems at scale.

Key to the development of this new computer structure, HP is working to overcome the challenges faced by computer memory, which has proven to be one of the biggest obstacles in keeping up to date usage. Memory has been used in much the same way for many years, whereupon the central processor produces temporary duplicates of programmes and associated files on high-speed memory known as DRAM, instead of the slow disk upon which the

permanent copy resides. Historically this has proven to speed up the program in question and enable for improved work efficiency, however DRAM and Flash memory used in computers for this purpose have now proven to be inefficient in keeping up with the modern day elevated data use. As such, this usage of memory has hit its physical limit.

HP's answer to this problem is the memristor, a nanoscale chip that will be able to store unprecedented amounts of memory. This would also subsequently see the end of the traditional slow disk, fast memory system due to the position of the main chips sitting on motherboards next to the memristors. This will enable them to then access any data instantaneously “It’s the Platonic form of computing and is the natural way to do things,” commented Papadopoulos, a former computer architect for HP and Sun. “You want lots of, lots of memory, and you want it to always be there and to use it as storage.”

So while the future of computerised systems and data management may be bringing a number of difficult challenges to the table, we can trust in the diligent work of HP in overcoming these challenges and paving the way for an age of technological excellence. www8.hp.com

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RAILWAY RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

PUTTING RAIL FIRST RIA membership continues to grow as association focuses on collaboration and innovation

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RAILWAY RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

T

he Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the trade association for UK-based suppliers to the world's railways.

Originally established for steam locomotive builders, membership now covers almost all aspects of railway supply, including manufacturers, maintainers, contractors, consultants and special service providers. Membership, which is by company, currently stands at 194 of all sizes from small to multi-national and is growing steadily.

RIA provides a number of key services such as representation of its members’ best interests. The association has developed close working relationships with key clients such as Network Rail and Transport for London, government bodies including the Department for Transport, and other industry stakeholders and seeks to represent and promote the interests of the supply industry.

It is also committed to aiding the networking process by bringing members into contact with each other, as well as with clients. This is especially useful for smaller companies and those seeking to raise their profile and develop their rail

activities. Much of RIA's activity with its members takes place through a series of interest groups, focussing on particular sub-sectors or technical disciplines and bringing together members and clients. Major technical and commercial conferences are held each year.

Elsewhere, RIA has a long history of supporting UK exports and works closely with UK Trade & Investment and British Embassies. As a UKTI Trade Challenge Partner, RIA delivers activities such as trade missions, seminars and 'Meet the Buyer' events and organises UK pavilions at key overseas trade fairs.

RIA's 'Value Improvement Programme' uses externallyfacilitated workshops to change culture and improve relationships across the supply chain to improve efficiency and reduce waste.

Adapted from a model developed in the aerospace industry, more than 100 workshops have been held, typically focussing on projects, programmes and frameworks contracts.

An overarching theme of much of RIA's activity is collaboration. The railway industry became significantly fragmented during the privatisation of British Rail, and bringing people back together has become very important. RIA has had much

success, particularly with Network Rail, in getting suppliers more involved in projects at a earlier stage, and in developing joint working groups to address key issues. A good example of this is in the current main line electrification programme, where RIA and its members have been working closely with Network Rail to understand and meet the substantial skills and training needs, to develop better and more efficient ways of undertaking the work, and in addressing the inevitable challenges that arise in the most extensive UK electrification programme for many years.

Innovation is also an important part of RIA’s work. With much attention on finding better and more efficient ways of providing the railways of the future, RIA has worked closely with the FutureRailway team and Knowledge Transfer Networks to fund competitions and encourage the transfer of technology to and from other sectors. RIA's Unlocking Innovation Scheme seeks to remove barriers to innovation and help innovators access the considerable support that is available to them. It is strongly supported by key industry players, including Network Rail, Transport for London and UK Tram. www.riagb.org.uk

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RAILWAY MECHAN

SAFETY FIRST

groundbreaking heavy lifting products help rail maintenance providers improve servicing times and reach new levels of depot safety and efficiency

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Safety for most companies is a high priority. But when you’re building equipment capable of lifting 600 tonne, 260 plus metre long trains, as Mechan does, the safety of operation is absolutely essential.

The company started in 1969 servicing the typical industries in and around its Sheffield base — steel, mining and heavy engineering.

When they started to decline, it moved into the railway market and that now makes up over 95% of its business. Mechan’s range of heavy lifting and handling equipment makes maintaining rail vehicles a safer and more efficient operation and, according to Managing Director Richard Carr, the company provides a complete service: “We design the products, manufacture and assemble them here in our Sheffield facility.

“If required, particularly for our bigger equipment, we’ll install it, commission it and then offer the after sales service. We have a lot of maintenance contracts and we do refurbishment, mid-life overhaul, to keep the equipment operable. Our equipment has a reputation for

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being of high quality, very reliable, very robust and we have equipment that’s 25-30 years old still in operation, which has had some tender loving care during its life.”

That service is made even more complete by supplying complementary products from other manufacturers that are needed in the rail depot environment, such as sanding systems, shunters and laser measuring equipment.

They’re all high quality products from companies with a global reputation in line with Mechan’s own offerings. The latter are, as Richard describes, all bespoke products: “If you take lifting jacks as an example, they look very similar but for nearly every project we do, there is something we have to tweak. It could be how high they lift or how low they go to get on to the point where we can lift the train.

“The capacity changes because we do everything from a five tonne capacity jack, typically for trams or light railway systems, all the way up to a forty tonne capacity jack for heavy freight locomotives. Typically it’s four jacks per carriage and, with today’s rolling stock, they

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RAILWAY MECHAN pick the whole thing up rather than one carriage at a time. For example, a Virgin Pendolino train will have eleven carriages, is over 260 metres long with a total weight of over 620 tonnes and it’s picked up in one go using 44 jacks working as a single system.

All 44 jacks are synchronised to within two millimetres of each other!

Incorporating elements from previous designs helps minimise costs but rarely are projects exactly repeated. There is an ongoing product improvement programme that’s driven by a combination of customers’ demands and Mechan’s own research and development. That’s supported by a supply chain where about 80% is within a twenty minute drive, which simplifies communications as well as supporting the local economy.

The trend within many industries is for early engagement with customers and that’s particularly true for Mechan since railway projects can be extremely long-term. “They’re thought about and conceptualised years before they come into the public domain,” recounts Richard. “Once there, they can take three or four years to come to fruition so we work closely with our customers, who can be the ultimate end user or somebody in between such as a design consultancy or architect

Whereas Mechan dealt mainly with British Rail when the industry was publicly owned, now it has numerous customers that include Network Rail, train operators, manufacturers and freight companies.

practice looking at the concepts of how best to maintain particular trains. It can be a long process but does generate repeat business, although there can be five, ten, or even fifteen years between in some cases.”

Whereas Mechan dealt mainly with British Rail when the industry was publicly owned, now it has numerous customers that include Network Rail, train operators, manufacturers and freight companies. Its also has relationships with businesses that will never be customers, such as specifiers, architects and design consultants, often providing what Richard describes as ‘free consultancy’. He says: “It’s an opportunity cost for us and puts us in a stronger position when the specifications come out because we’ve helped to produce them. Most of the depots in the UK have Mechan equipment and that’s down to the work we do long term with various different facets of the supply chain to make sure they are aware of and specify our equipment.”

Orders can range in value from £200 to £1.5 million, recent projects including four bogie drops for Thameslink depots plus lifting jacks and bogie drops for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

The company is due to install a bogie drop, jacks and bogie turntables at the Doncaster depot, part of the IEP, as well as traversers and other equipment at a new train factory for Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe. That will add further to the company’s portfolio of installed equipment, which covers all

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RAILWAY MECHAN Siemens’ depots in the UK, all Alstom’s depots for the West Coast Pendolino fleet and representation on every continent except the Americas.

It’s currently undertaking projects in Hong Kong and shipped equipment last year into Australia and South Africa. The export trade in particular is helped by membership of the Railway Industry Association, with whom Mechan participates in trade missions and exhibitions overseas as well as being actively involved in several special interest groups that provide information on future developments.

That involvement has contributed to exports becoming 20% of turnover, although the UK remains the key market due to heavy investment currently going into the railways, which was largely unaffected by the economic downturn. “The railway market is quite robust,” comments Richard. “In terms of passenger numbers, the railways suffered just the same as everybody due to fewer people working and travelling but projects take a while.

“Some that we’d been working on for a few years are coming to fruition now so, as a business, we didn’t really have a recession. We’ve grown year on year and since 2006 we’ve doubled turnover. We’ve grown our workforce and we’re investing in the future with three appren-

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tices and another one due to start. The main challenges we’ve had have been managing the volume of work and finding suitably skilled people, which is an industry problem where we have a massive skill shortage. But economically and business-wise, we have a healthy order book and too much work at certain times, but that’s a nice problem to have.”

Mechan has an excellent reputation and that’s not its own opinion because, in recent surveys, customers used words such as ‘quality’, ‘reliability, ‘safety’ and ‘innovation’ when describing its products and services. The aim now is to increase the workforce to deal with the demand, including additions to the design and sales teams. It is, believes Richard, an industry people should want to join although it suffers from an old fashioned reputation that needs to be corrected.

He says: “I think there’s a degree of education that we need to provide as an industry to get people keen on coming and working in it because it is an exciting industry and it’s going to grow. We’re going to have High Speed 2, we’re probably going to have High Speed 3 and maybe 4 so there’s a very good long term opportunity for the railways in the UK. But we need some skills coming into it and the younger the better.”

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Mechan has an excellent reputation and that’s not its own opinion because, in recent surveys, customers used words such as ‘quality’, ‘reliability, ‘safety’ and ‘innovation’ when describing its products and services.

www.mechan.co.uk Telephone: 0114 2570563

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RAILWAY PERPETUUM

GLOBAL LEADER IN VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING Every so often, a revolutionary idea comes along that tears down barriers and enables solutions that change the world forever.

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We live in an age of technological innovation and machinery, an age of environmental awareness, efficiencies and of building a future we can all be proud of. As we all know, fossil fuels are an increasingly finite resource which cannot be relied upon to sustain our future, which is why leading researchers across the globe have been working tirelessly to develop sustainable energy sources and more efficient ways of working.

While large-scale ambient energy projects, such as solar and wind energy farms which might spring to mind, at the other end of the scale lies the revolutionary concept of Energy Harvesting (EH). Energy harvesting is a process which captures small amounts of energy that would otherwise be lost as heat, sound, vibration of movement and utilises it to improve overall energy efficiencies of existing technologies as well as developing entirely new ones.

Perpetuum is the global leader in the provision of information to maximise safety and reli-

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ability and reduce costs through wireless condition monitoring. It has a strong reputation for producing the number one choice for highpower, precision-engineered, scalable electromagnetic vibration energy harvester-powered solutions for wireless systems. Through developing revolutionary systems for vibration energy harvesting and sensor technology, Perpetuum has not only helped to redefine the global energy efficiency landscape but has also greatly influenced the future of the rail sector as a result. This has been through the investment in the analysis of the vibration data to provide clients with real-time condition information on their assets.

Originally serving as a spin-off from the University of Southampton, Perpetuum was formed in a bid to industrialise and develop a commercially viable product able to effectively convert kinetic energy into electrical energy through the use of vibration, as a replacement for batteries in remote and inhospitable areas.

Such areas include utilities, refineries and

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industrial sites where the sheer expense and difficulty of maintaining such batteries needed to be resolved. The harvester’s concept is relatively simple, using Faraday’s Law with a solenoid oscillating in a magnetic field – the complex engineering has been in designing the unit to be able to operate reliably for decades without any maintenance.

Justin Southcombe, Commercial Director of Perpetuum explained how the new, commercially viable solutions were received by the market: “There's an ongoing need to replace unreliable batteries from key processing and measuring equipment that these types of plants and facilities have. The certification processes in these areas for these pieces of measurement equipment reflect safety critical nature of the equipment. The type of clients we're been working with and the front-end providers are the likes of Emerson, Honeywell, GE and National Instruments – clearly very large instrumentation corporations. The take up from them was very positive and we continue to

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work closely with them while the various authorities for introducing new technologies are consulted with.”

But simply developing power solutions for industrial applications is not where it ends for Perpetuum, as the company has taken great strides in extending the accessibility of its solutions to other strategic sectors such as that of the railway sector. Rail, as we know, is a sector which naturally encompasses a great deal of vibration which has led Perpetuum to look not only at developing energy generation devices, but also for developing on-board sensors to: improve reliability and safety, reduce operational and maintenance costs, improve asset utilisation and reduce overall service disruptions.

Justin explains how the company entered the rail sector and overcame some of the challenges within it: “We used our vibration knowledge to better understand the condition of assets in this high shock and high vibration environment. That's when we started developing a wireless, self-powered sensor node which could be attached to the unsprung parts of the bogie. Historically, it's an area which isn't very well known about because of the difficult access to power and also it's clearly quite a violent area to work in because of the high shock and vibration – with relatively frequent shocks over 100g. Our analytical and engineering expertise in vibration allowed us to provide robust alerts on the condition of key assets, like

Over the years, Perpetuum has successfully established itself at the forefront of the energy harvesting and sensor technology sector

bearings and wheels, many months in advance which enables maintainers to move to condition monitored maintenance – i.e. only replacing an asset when it is about to expire. This expertise was tested further last year by using the bearing box mounted sensor to not only monitor bearings and wheels but also track, simultaneously – turning the algorithms on their heads and analysing what had been regarded as track “noise” up until then. We are now discussing with Network Rail on how to develop this opportunity further.”

Over the years, Perpetuum has successfully established itself at the forefront of the energy harvesting and sensor technology sector, especially within rail. Due to the positioning of the company in, which could be described as on the “front line” of bringing technological breakthroughs to the sector, the level of experience displayed by its operatives is second to none.

Also due to this position however, the company cannot wait for success to come to it and every employee looks to exceed their own limits, dis-

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RAILWAY PERPETUUM cover new truths and essentially pave the way for “new” knowledge that can then be used to develop new systems. As an SME, and a rapidly growing one, Perpetuum’s requirements are changing and its recruitment drive is critical to its success during these times of rapid change.

It places a very high value on recruitment and training, ensuring that the new employees are of the highest standard and relevance as there is no room for duplication or redundancy.

Commenting on the success of the company over the last year, Justin said: “We had a very successful week in Berlin at Innotrans in September with 1 000 visitors to our stand and developing opportunities with clients from all corners of the world, including Australia, China, USA, Denmark and Russia. We also deployed our equipment and services in Sweden – it was the first export project for us for full deployment. It is a high speed application as well, clearly a product segment that holds a lot of interest. These trains, like the Eurostar we will be equipping later this year, are very high value assets and will therefore benefit significantly from reduced maintenance costs and increased availability.”

Perpetuum isn't simply a company following in the footsteps of any other. The company continually strives to achieve new levels of technological success, developing a deep understanding of the life cycle vibration characteristics of key railway assets – a domain which was deemed too technically challenging in the past.

This is achieved only because the company values knowledge and research very highly. Justin commented: “The development of our business is in information, which means that we need to understand the application of our data. The calibration and monitoring stages following deployment are absolutely essential, which is why our business model is not just on offering a product, but providing an ongoing service. By getting the information right we ensure that our client’s investment in the products has been maximised.”

Perpetuum's service is robust not only because of the technical expertise and innovative nature of the company, but also because of the close bond which the company holds with members of the supply chain. This relationship enables the company to extend beyond the limits of its size and offer a service with great capacity and scope. Justin explains this further: “Perpetuum is focused around research, development, design and engineering and therefore took the decision early on to outsource the manufacturing completely. Because of this our supply chain is absolutely critical and without it we don't wouldn’t have the capa-

bility to deliver the product, and ultimately our services. Our supply chain is one we can trust and is completely reliable. We work with two key subcontractors who deal with the assembly and integration of the product here in the UK. On the development side we also engage with many of the leading players in their respective sectors, such as in the telecommunications market, so that we can better understand the opportunities for new applications within our systems.

“We've worked with our suppliers for a long time – during all the challenges and questions that innovation projects bring with them and they have proved themselves. They performed... The likes of IPRO and CSM Electronics are integral to us. Collaboration and trust are essential to delivering complex projects – they are things that are learnt and developed over time and Perpetuum values these qualities in its supply chain partners.”

We've worked with our suppliers for a long time – during all the challenges and questions that innovation projects bring with them and they have proved themselves

Tel: 023 8076 5888 www.perpetuum.com

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AUTOMATION PPMA

e h t

e c i o v

OF PROCESSING & PACKAGING SUPPLIERS The PPMA’s mission is to provide a range of quality, cost effective services and publications to help members develop their businesses

T

he PPMA is the UK's trade association for suppliers of processing and packaging machinery to the UK market and represents over 400 member and associate companies. Its principle objective is to promote sales of machinery, both at home and abroad, through various projects and services of mutual benefit to both members and their

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customers by providing free technical and machinery information and advice.

Started in 1987 with just eight founder companies, the association grew rapidly over the following two years, and in 1989 enjoyed a substantial increase in numbers when it merged with the UK manufacturers association, PEMA. The years that followed saw further growth in membership and expansion in the number and type

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of services offered to members.

Currently the PPMA has over 365 member and associate companies who are responsible for the majority of machines sold in the UK each year.

The PPMA’s mission is to provide a range of quality, cost effective services and publications to help members develop their business. It also aims to provide a single voice for the machinery sector on relevant issues, while promoting standards of technical

service, training and know-how, making membership a mark of quality and service. It is also committed to providing channels of contact between members, members and customers, members and government and other organisations, and endeavours to provide cost effective access to professional and focused exhibitions.

The PPMA is a members' owned organisation and each member owns the same amount of

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AUTOMATION PPMA

“The PPMA is a members' owned organisation and each member owns the same amount of shares in the organisation”

shares in the organisation irrespective of their size or annual expenditure with the association.

Each member company can put forward an employee to be a director of the PPMA. The Board of Directors meets approximately every quarter to work with the executive to develop products and services that benefit the members. Each PPMA director has a functional role for which they are responsible. PPMA directors are not paid and give their time

voluntarily in the service of the association.

The current chairman is Richard Little. He became a director in 2007 and is a long standing director of Jenton International, a manufacturer and distributor of equipment to the packaging, printing and converting industry.

He is supported by vice chairman Grant Jamieson. Grant became a board member in November 2010 and is managing

director of Winkworth Group, a UK manufacturer and worldwide exporter of mixing equipment across all industry sectors.

Recently, the PPMA held its annual industry awards ceremony at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. The who’s who of the processing and packaging industry descended on the venue for the event hosted by Rory Bremner.

Companies demonstrating innovation, strength and success

were declared the best in their field across 14 closely fought categories by an independent panel of industry leading judges.

The top award went to Loma Systems which was named Processing & Packaging Manufacturer of the Year. The company was praised by the judges as “a great example of how the drive for excellence in the individual elements of any operation leads to a sound and successful business.”

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“We get involved in the bespoke design of equipment that doesn’t exist,” proclaims AGR Automation’s General Manager Craig Dickson.

“We don’t integrate various off the shelf pieces of automation and make them work together; this is fundamental for the optimisation of the transfer system, handling, feeding and processing. If a client is trying to source machinery to satisfy a particular function and that equipment doesn’t exist, the first source will be AGR as we will design a bespoke solution to achieve it and that’s why we get involved in a large number of new products where there isn’t a history of producing it.”

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UNRIVALLED REPUTATION That makes life interesting for the company but means every job is different and the overall process of design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and lifecycle support is a challenge. It’s one AGR meets successfully to the extent it now has an unrivalled reputation as a leading designer and manufacturer of highspeed automated machinery.

Projects typically involve clients introducing a new product or a variation of an existing product and consulting AGR on the best way to assemble it in an efficient and robust manner.

The company then provides a full turnkey solution from concept to full production, often assisting clients with product development in a

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manner that’s best for automation and providing prototype equipment that ultimately paves the way to capable production machines.

But, says Managing Director Derek Gaston, that isn’t AGR’s main function: “We are a designer and manufacturer of bespoke equipment rather than a provider of the manufacturing facility. We don’t set up a production line for companies; we design a specific piece of kit to do a specific job. Often we can reuse some elements of design so there’ll be some standardisation but everything needs to be right. There isn’t a lot of commonality in the kind of products we’re working with for our clients where we can roll out something that’s anywhere close. Of course, we may use a module or a station from

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doesn’t exist? doesn’t matter. AGR will design it

TRULY BESPOKE.

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AUTOMATION AGR previous jobs that can be modified but it’s never a case of taking bits and pieces and cobbling them together.”

FIRST CHOICE SUPPLIER AGR’s innovative approach has resulted in it becoming the automated equipment supplier of choice for a major US-based global manufacturer, having previously been one of its second tier feed system suppliers. That largely resulted from it identifying new technology that delivered improvements in vibratory feeding stability and performance, which was a big purchase area for the client. By demonstrating technical innovation, AGR has now become first choice preferred supplier for vibratory feed systems worldwide.

This innovative approach results in early involvement in projects and working closely with a relatively small core of key clients that provide repeat business. Those projects include various processes such as vibratory and linear feeders, six axis robots and assembly systems (both mechanical and linear motor based), selecting or designing the best pieces of equipment for challenging and complex applications that many companies can’t handle.

Most new clients are gained through personal contact rather than advertising and include those in the key medical device market where new technologies are constantly coming through and require specialist equipment. A

“we’ve developed a way of printing micro-dots very accurately without destroying the red blood cells”

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typical client in this market is Quotient, where AGR has developed manufacturing equipment for its MosaiQ® blood diagnosis system to be produced at a manufacturing site in Switzerland. “The system involves printing micro-dots for red blood cell reagents,” recounts Craig. “It’s extremely innovative and new in the market place. People have been trying to print blood products for years and failed but, using specialised print head technology from our close partner TTP, we’ve developed a way of printing micro-dots very accurately without destroying the red blood cells.“ “These are about 20 microns in diameter and they are printed in an array of about 120 dots,” adds Derek. “It’s printed on the fly to get the production rate and extremely accurately using linear motor technology on the chassis systems and very high precision visual alignment and inspection. The equipment is highly system software driven with multiple inspection activities and a lot of very precise and integrated motion control. The customer did

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“We s

uppor t mediu our syste m and ms on long t ce the erm, t y are hroug delive h the red to life c ycle ao client fo f the r the syste m” previously struggle to find anyone capable of giving them a credible proposal.”

UNDERSTANDING COMPLEXITY Being able to provide credible proposals requires a thorough understanding of what’s needed and how it’s going to be delivered.

Indeed, the reaction to many of AGR’s proposals is that it’s one of the few companies able to really understand the complexity of the requirement and recognise any areas of potential danger. “That comes with experience and we’ve seen a lot of projects where we understand the complexity of how difficult they are to deliver, which does set us apart from a lot of our potential UK competitors,” comments Derek.

The nature of the work means many clients are US-based although with manufacturing sites around the world so that around 75% of products are exported. AGR has equipment installed globally, including China, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, North America and throughout Europe. All are complex systems that have to be developed, installed and supported. That, as Craig outlines, is achieved through having the correct structure: “We’re a project based organisation and create project teams who work closely with the client’s project team to deliver the equipment.

“The project team that develops and builds the machines here tends to be the same team that goes out to install and commission on the client’s site and then becomes their support team. As the business grows and we deliver more machines, the amount of work to support the clients in the market is increasing and we may have dedicated support teams in the future. We support our systems once they are delivered to a client for the medium and long term, through the life cycle of the system so they have planned maintenance right up until decommissioning, which we can be involved in as well.”

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“it’s not always good to grow in one place and we need further strategic security”

EQUIPMENT SUPPORT “It’s very difficult in this kind of business to do it any other way, which is why we currently don’t have a dedicated post-sale support team who may not know the equipment they are supporting,” continues Derek. “If we were building standardised products, it’s relatively easy to train people to deliver that after sales service. But when we’re building one-offs a lot of the time, it really does have to be the people who build the equipment that support it. Having said that, we tend to over-engineer a lot of the equipment and have machines in the field that have been running for 25-30 years. Our clients are able to perform regular maintenance themselves and

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the equipment’s very robust and stable.”

Providing robust equipment is particularly important in business-critical operations such as in the medical service market where overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is maintained at 85-95% throughout the life of machines. High standards are maintained through the ISO 9000 quality assurance system, regular reauditing by clients and compliance to Gamp 5 validation for automated systems.

The success of the business, which has seen turnover increase to about £13 million, led to the formation of a second manufacturing site in Northern Ireland in addition to the Arbroath head office. That, as Derek recalls, was set up

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for various reasons: “We wanted to provide a second site, irrespective of market conditions, because it’s not always good to grow in one place and we need further strategic security for some clients.

“We need to be able to demonstrate dual site capability for their corporate risk management with a second site and it was a question of where we established the manufacturing site, initially as a sub-system feeder site to the main building but ultimately to become self-sufficient. Part of the reason for choosing Ireland was the opportunity in the medical market there. We are very strong in medical device and Ireland has a huge medical device industry that

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“we’re developing everything ourselves, which gives us tremendous strength and provides great reassurance to our customers”

we have really only scratched the surface of up to now. It is definitely an area of growth we will be targeting and aerospace follows on the heels of that. We see some potential opportunities there in trying to automate processes that have not been automated before.”

LONG TERM PLAN The next stage of expansion is therefore to properly penetrate those markets and growth overall is likely to come from the high tech sectors. That’s part of the intention to become the first choice supplier for automated systems, which is a long-term game plan that requires selection and training of quality staff. The complexity of the work means they can take a long

time to become fully productive, which Derek recognises as a constraint on the pace of growth: “One of the big challenges is that we’ve grown probably 40% each year over the last two years and that’s a tremendous strain on any organisation but particularly on a bespoke vendor.

“It’s tough to find people who are of the right quality and it’s been tough to integrate them and then to get them from integrated to productive, so that’s stretched the whole organisation and particularly the management team. Now we’re looking for a couple of years of consolidated stability before we move to the next level of growth. Our position is that, if we understand what we can cope with and we keep doing good work, our clients will value what we do and keep bringing new projects so we grow to the next level. The key is not overcommitting ourselves.”

Having started as a supplier of feed systems over forty years ago, the company has now developed into full automation to the extent that feed systems comprise only around 17% of turnover. That transition has been a major challenge with the need to develop in-house expertise in robotics, vision systems, inspection processes and everything else needed for high tech solutions. Whilst some of that knowledge is available from specialist contractors, the company had to become self-sufficient.

“Part way through that process, we realised we had to establish expertise in-house and remove that reliance on third parties to provide certain levels of application,” says Derek.

“It would otherwise be very difficult to reach the goals we set ourselves and so we set about building a team of people, software engineers in particular, that would be capable of doing everything we needed in-house, be it robotic controls, vision inspection or whatever.

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“We’re kind of a David playing against Goliath in that sense as we come up through the ranks” We have ended our dependency on those specialist contractors and supply chain partners although we still work with them and receive very close support in terms of the technical functionality of their products. But from an application point of view, we’re developing everything ourselves, which gives us tremendous strength and provides great reassurance to our customers in terms of our sustainable supply to them.”

CHALLENGING GROWTH Achieving that growth and continuing to deliver high quality systems to clients, stresses Craig, has not and never will be easy: “It’s challenging and our clients are always extremely happy they chose us but it’s a tough slog. The growth, to be

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effective, has been tough. There are many automation companies in the UK and Europe with 20-30 employees but perhaps not with the same experience in risk management; making that leap to be a global supplier is difficult.”

Although complex bespoke automation is a relatively niche market, it is worth in excess of $500 million annually and AGR is targeting a bigger share. That, Derek believes, is attainable due to the company’s qualities: “There are certain projects where other UK suppliers are tendering for the work. But, as a full remit in terms of AGR’s total capability through feed systems and the level of automation we’re doing at the top end of our project context, we think we’re pretty unique in the United Kingdom. Our true competitors tend to be other global automation

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companies who have multiple locations and a much larger capacity than us.

“We’re kind of a David playing against Goliath in that sense as we come up through the ranks. We’re regularly supplying systems that are £3 million and more in value and, by identifying feed systems and process areas for technical innovation, we’re providing advantage in terms of productivity and quality. Bringing a distinct benefit to the customer, combined with our approach to managing projects, makes them feel extremely comfortable with us as an organisation and a set of people that bring their project to a successful conclusion.” www.agr-automation.com Telephone: 01241 872961

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FOOD AND DRINK FOOD AND DRINK FEDERATION

VOICE OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY THE

Angela Coleshill, Director of Employment and Skills at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) explains how they are helping to deliver an innovative future food industry

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FOOD AND DRINK FOOD AND DRINK FEDERATION

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ood and drink manufacturing is a great British success story. It is the single largest manufacturing sector in the UK, buying two thirds of all the UK’s agricultural produce and employing around 400,000 people.

At the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), the voice of the food and drink manufacturing sector, we believe that innovation is key to ensuring our sector continues to flourish. Throughout its history the food industry has embraced innovative new ideas and approaches which have

transformed consumers’ lives. For example, the average time taken to prepare a meal has reduced from two hours, 50 years ago, to only 18 minutes today. The UK’s 7,700 food and drink producers currently bring over 16,000 new products to the market every year, investing £1bn a year in innovation But as part of a global food production system we face fundamental challenges of world population growth, increased pressure on natural resources and the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Furthermore we face significant skills shortages in essential disciplines, namely science, technology and

engineering. Meeting these challenges will require concerted action – the right policy and collaboration framework to encourage innovation and sufficient flow of highly talented graduates is critical to our sector.

That is why FDF has worked with Sheffield Hallam University and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink to develop the UK’s first engineering degree at master’s level, dedicated entirely to food and drink manufacturing. The MEng Food Engineering course has been developed in collaboration with some of the UK’s biggest food and drink manufacturing companies, led by

Project Chair Richard Martin, Technical Director at Nestlé UK & Ireland. The course will create a pool of specialist engineers working on innovative projects with the latest high technology.

One recent example of getting young people excited about engineering in food and drink manufacturing saw a group of students from the University Technical College Sheffield enjoy a visit to the Worksop factory of Premier Foods to find out how products such as OXO stock cubes and Bisto gravy are made. The Year 13 students were given a tour of the state-of-the-art and high-tech food production facilities.

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FOOD AND DRINK FOOD AND DRINK FEDERATION To further tackle the skills shortage and ensure a solid succession plan for employment in our sector, FDF has partnered with youth skills initiative MyKindaCrowd and some of the UK’s largest food and drink manufacturers to promote careers for women interested in STEM, specifically engineering. In this new collaboration, FDF members, Cargill, Mars UK, Nestlé UK & Ireland, and PepsiCo UK & Ireland worked with FDF and MyKindaCrowd to deliver industry visits with practical challenges for female students to get a first-hand taste of the industry and food engineering in a bid to encourage more women to consider working as engineers in our sector.

Also, as part of the Government’s Trailblazer project,

FDF has worked in partnership with its members and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink to develop a gold standard for Food and Drink Mechanical Maintenance Engineer and Food and Drink Multi-skilled Maintenance Engineer roles. The new standard, due to be rolled out in 2015, will help create a more robust pipeline of specialist engineers, enabling industry to benefit from highquality Apprenticeships. With backing from the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the new standard will ensure individuals are able to progress towards professional accreditation. The first group of Trailblazer projects was launched by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) last

“The new standard will help create a more robust pipeline of specialist engineers.”

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year, when the then Skills Minister Matthew Hancock selected food and drink as one of eight sectors to pioneer apprenticeship reform.

The industry is looking to innovate in other areas too. Food safety and authenticity, health and wellbeing, packaging and ingredients and manufacturing more efficiently to protect natural resources are all under the microscope.

Businesses in our sector have long-known the strategic value of innovation in driving business growth and increasing profitability by working collaboratively at the pre-competitive stage.

FDF has worked with Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network to identify the top priority areas for pre-competitive innovation. To take this forward the new National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering is being established at Sheffield Hallam. A standout example of how industry, government and

“The ambition is for the Centre to act as a hub for engineering innovation and skills solutions.” academia can collaborate to address innovation challenges, the new Centre is led by an Industry Advisory Board, chaired by Gavin Darby, CEO of Premier Foods. The ambition is for the Centre to act as a hub for engineering innovation and skills solutions – to help improve productivity and ultimately the competitiveness of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector. Having received a funding boost of £6.9million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and an addition £1million from leading

food and drink companies and equipment suppliers, the Centre will be fully operational by 2017.

By taking a more collaborative approach to innovation, the food industry and its partners can overcome shared challenges and deliver additional benefits for our businesses, customers and community to ensure the future remains bright and that food and drink continues to lead the UK manufacturing sector.

For more information visit www.fdf.org.uk

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FOOD AND DRINK HUNTSHAM COURT FARM

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Being told his beef was for selling, not for eating, came as a shock to farmer Richard Vaughan and caused a complete change in the way he operated.

His Huntsham Court Farm has been family-owned since 1650 and he’d developed it into one of the biggest beef producers in the UK, supplying about 1,000 cattle a year for the supermarkets, who held it up as a model of how things should be done. However, having studied beef production systems around the world and taken great pride in producing good quality meat, he was informed by his abattoir that his role was to only produce to the supermarkets’ specifications.

That, Richard recalls, led to him moving into lower volume production with an emphasis on quality, although he realised radical changes were needed: “The only way to make it work is to produce something that is stunning and sell it

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to the end user who understands what they’re buying and want to taste something completely different from what they get from the supermarket.”

That was sixteen years ago and he replaced his animals to facilitate the new business model. In came a herd of Longhorn cattle that had historically made England famous for its roast beef, Middle White pigs, a rare breed which the Japanese consider the finest pork pigs in the world and Ryeland sheep, known as the sweet meat of Herefordshire. Aside from selecting the best breeds, the next part of the equation was to give the animals an outstanding life because the way they’re fed, housed and looked after has a direct impact on the quality of the meat.

The venture, Richard recalls, soon attracted high level attention: “After a while, Heston Blumenthal picked my Longhorn beef as his

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idea of perfection and I was on television with him. That gave me confidence we were on the right track with our beef. Then, four or five years ago, Raymond Blanc called to say he’d eaten some of our lamb at the Dorchester, it was the best lamb he’d eaten in his life and would I supply him for a meal he was going to cook for the French President.”

It opened the door to supplying top end restaurants, such as those owned by Michel Roux and Marcus Wareing, some good pubs and domestic customers wanting best quality meat. However, having gone from high volume production where low cost was the most important factor to a less intensive method focused on quality, Richard knew he couldn’t compete purely on price. “We’re not trying to be expensive although we’re clearly not the cheapest,” he says. “But for most farm products, the customer pays three and a half times what the farmer receives. So if we can sell at the supermarket price, we have a lot more money to pay for the production.”

The aim is to produce meat for a price at which restaurants and pubs can make a profit from it. The main area for savings is the selling process because Huntsham Court Farm doesn’t have expensive sales premises, cuts out the administration costs associated with them and sells in quantities that are worthwhile. Richard explains: “We sell the customer a minimum of a quarter of a pig, do all the butchering and prepare it exactly how they want. But we sell them a reasonable quantity to pay for the carriage and we send it out on an overnight courier service, all packed and iced up so it arrives fresh and nicely labelled.”

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HOW THINGS SHOULD BE DONE

Richard Vaughans extensive knowledge and pride in the quality of his meat has lead Huntsham Court Farm to supply 1000 cattle a year to UK supermarkets

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It isn’t a process where much efficiency can be achieved through automation although that came about to some degree when the farms’ abattoir went out of business and a replacement was needed. The solution was to build inhouse hanging and cutting facilities with good refrigeration that, as Richard outlines, cut out cost but also helped the quality of the product: “The key to long-term hanging is moisture content because you need a dry atmosphere and going in and out constantly upsets the humidity. We can hang pigs for 55 days and the top chefs say they have never had pork like it.

“We hang a regular cow for 32 days and others up to 75 days and the long hanging means the meat is losing water and intensifying the flavour.

We have several refrigerators that service a central hall, a refrigerated space where the work is done, which means the refrigerator doors can be kept closed.”

The facility was purpose-built to the farm’s specifications and was a significant investment as well as time-consuming to ensure everything was right. That included the slope of the floor so water escaped after washing out the refrigerators and making sure everything conformed to high standards demanded by the Food Standards Agency. There is spare capacity in the cutting room and that’s available for other businesses with the prospect of employing another butcher as demand increases.

Huntsham Court Farm has come a long way from the type of industrial farming demanded by the supermarkets but is now producing meat that Richard is genuinely proud of.

“Farming in my mind is splitting in two directions,” he says. “One is large scale industrial production to get the price right down. The other is smaller operations that are producing something special that tastes different and is better, that the customer can focus on and understand what they're buying.”

The solution was to build in-house hanging and cutting facilities with good refrigeration that, as Richard outlines, cut out cost but also helped the quality of the product

www.huntsham.com Telephone: 01600 890296

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ELECTRONIC DELAY STORAGE AUTOMATIC CALCULATOR

One of the UK’s Pioneering Computers One of the first computers ever built in the UK – the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) – has come back into public consciousness after a piece of the machine, thought long since lost, was found in the USA. The part is a significant component of EDSAC which was originally built at Cambridge in the late 1940s to serve scientists at the university. The discovery came to light after publicity surrounding an effort to rebuild the computer. The part has now been kindly donated to the rebuild project and will be used to complete the finished machine.

The EDSAC was inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, and was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. It was the 80

second electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service.

Later the project was supported by J. Lyons & Co. Ltd., a British firm, which was rewarded with the first commercially applied computer, LEO I, based on the EDSAC design. Work on EDSAC started at the end of 1946, and it ran its first programs on 6 May 1949, when it calculated a table of squares and a list of prime numbers. EDSAC 1 was finally shutdown on 11 July 1958, having been superseded by EDSAC 2, which remained in use until 1965.

Until now, there was no known whereabouts for the missing parts of EDSAC following its decommissioning in the 1950s. The component discovered, part of what is known as the Chassis 1A, has been taken to the reconstruction project headquarters at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park where, upon

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examination, it was revealed that sections of EDSAC were auctioned off to different buyers.

The parts were then scattered far and wide, including, as it turns out, ending up in the United States.

"Details of the 'auction' are unclear, but there is a possibility that other parts of the original EDSAC still exist and could even be in the Cambridge area stored away in lofts, garden sheds and garages," said Dr Andrew Herbert, who is leading the reconstruction project.

The Chassis 1A found its way to America after Robert Little, who resides in Pennsylvania, acquired it from Dr Robert Clarke, a Cambridge scientist, who had bought several pieces of EDSAC at auction with the intention of turning them into shelving.

The EDSAC reconstruction is due for completion by the end of the year.

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DOESN’T EXIST? DOESN’T MATTER

AGR CAN DESIGN IT. AGR’s Managing Director Derek Gaston gives us the insight into the company’s bespoke design solutions ISSUE 414

BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

HEWLETT PACKARD

The Evolution of Mobility

The Smallest Things can Make the Biggest Difference

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ALSO INSIDE...

4Futronics 4WG Jones 4Huntsham Court Farm

...Plus much more