HOT TOPIC Slave to fashion Can UK fashion houses compete with overseas labour markets?
OUT & ABOUT A simulating experience Enter a new world of testing for UK automotive
OPINION A parting note one of UK manufacturing’s top names looks at the state of the industry before he retires this month
WORKFORCE & SKILLS Take another look How women engineers are taking a stand through social media
MANUFACTURING SERVICES When less is far more How much service is too much service? In partnership with:
Can UK manufacturers meet the demand of an ageing rail network?
INTERVIEW Mark Elborne, CEO, GE UK & Ireland
www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Vol 18 Issue 7
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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
I
22
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Front cover image courtesy of Network Rail.
’m a stickler for service. If I find myself standing at the front of the queue of my local supermarket with the choice of a human check out assistant who is clearly unsatisfied with their job their focus more on their colleagues’ less-than-fascinating yet clearly captivating story of their latest romantic breakdown – or a machine which allows me to swipe through my purchases at a speed which should see my determined face hammered onto the “employee of the month” wall, I know which one I will take. Should I feel a sense of overriding guilt due to my open promotion of the need for machines to take on the more, shall we say, dull jobs from humans? No. Here’s why… A report (bear with me) released from professional services juggernaut, Deloitte this past month has taken on the task of examining the links between technology and jobs by dredging through census data from England and Wales dating back to 1871 (bit. ly/1NwT9aM). This is one hell of a piece of research, in fact it has been shortlisted for the Society of Business Economists’ Rybczynski Prize. And the overriding result? The introduction of technology since 1871 has been a job creator, rather than making humans obsolete. There’s obviously going to be a lot of “yeah, buts” with a piece of research with data reaching back to the 1800s. “A collision of technologies, indoor plumbing, electricity and the affordable automatic washing machine have all but put paid to large laundries and the drudgery of hand-washing,” says the report in one example. In more than just one sector, technology has cost jobs. And yes, manufacturing is one of those sectors. But as the report’s authors question: Are these really jobs that we want to hold on to? It’s obvious that the right piece of technology or automation can directly substitute muscle power, and in doing so, increases productivity. So I think we have to raise a few questions from this research.
1
Are our manufacturers crying out for jobs when they could be looking at filling these gaps with the implementation of automation and technology?
2
Do we still believe the way to increase productivity is to put more people to work in low skilled positions?
I’m not going to deny a skills shortage – to do so would be extremely stupid. But I must ask whether those businesses looking to recruit are recruiting for the right reasons and in the right positions? I would absolutely welcome your thoughts on this, and any of the other topics for that matter brought up in this current or future issues of The Manufacturer. Feel free to send them through as a letter to the editor care of c.bentley@hennikgroup.com and we will run them in the future editions. I look forward to hearing from you. Happy Reading!
Callum Bentley Editor September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 1
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
The Editorial Advisory Board ’s editorial advisory board provides insight and guidance to the editorial team on a regular basis, helping maintain the relevance and quality of the magazine’s content, both in print and online. The board also provides diverse and expert comment on key industrial developments.
Andrew Churchill Managing Director, JJ Churchill
Simon Edmonds Director, the Catapults Programme
Steve Evans
Manufacturing Engineer, FLAADS Manufacturing Engineering, ’s Young Apprentice of the Year 2014
Deirdre Fox
Director of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability
CEO, the Royal Academy of Engineering
Campbell Ferguson Director of Strategic Business Development, Tata Steel
Tony Hague MD, Power Panels Electrical Systems and Chairman of the Midlands Assembly Network
2 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Global Manufacturing Director, Accolade Wines
Ben Taylor Assistant CEO, Renishaw Plc
Dave Mooney
Philip Greenish CBE
Beki Davies
Richard Lloyd
GCS&S Operations Team Leader, Spirit Aerosystems (Europe) Ltd and ’s Young Manufacturer of the Year 2014
Hywel Jarman Director of External Affairs, EEF
Managing Director, Drallim Industries
Pamela Petty Managing Director, Ebac Group
Andrew Peters Director, Siemens Congleton Facility
To find out more about our Editorial Advisory Board and the work they do to improve The Manufacturer magazine’s offering to its readers, go to: www.themanufacturer.com
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ABOUT US
Meet the team Callum Bentley Editor
Victoria Fitzgerald Deputy Editor
Callum joined Hennik Research in 2013 as editor of ’s sister publication, the Lean Management Journal, before taking over as Editor of in June. He has a background in news for web and print, working for major regional news organisations in Australia. Callum has a passion for the automotive and aerospace sectors. c.bentley@hennikgroup.com
Victoria joined Hennik Research in January 2014 as editor of the Lean Management Journal after spending three years in New York City as a news journalist for an international online news organisation. As ’s deputy editor her focus is on industrial policy and initiatives driving the future of UK manufacturing. As a former teacher, Victoria has a passion for apprenticeships and education. v.fitzgerald@hennikgroup.com
Managing Director Nick Hussey n.hussey@hennikgroup.com
Editorial IT Editor Malcolm Wheatley malcolm@malcolmwheatley.co.uk
Contributing Editor Ruari McCallion r.j.mccallion@btinternet.com
Reporter Fred Tongue
Federico Ercoli Industry Editor
Jonny Williamson Web Editor Jonny joined having spent the past three years working as a print and online features journalist for global media outlets covering manufacturing, commercial aerospace and business leadership. Jonny is responsible for boosting and updating ’s online presence with a strong focus on community engagement. j.williamson@hennikgroup.com
Federico joined Hennik Research after having spent two years working as a producer, presenter and editor for international media outlets’ online and mobile platforms. With a background in international news, business and tech, he is responsible for ’s multimedia production and is passionate about the food and drink industry. f.ercoli@hennikgroup.com
f.tongue@hennikgroup.com
Sales & Marketing Head of Marketing Kate Birinder k.birinder@hennikgroup.com
Sales Manager Sarah Hough s.hough@hennikgroup.com
Telesales Manager Deborah Sowman d.sowman@hennikgroup.com
Henry Anson Sales Director
Tarquin Hussey The Boss
Henry is responsible for Hennik Research’s commerical activities, developing new concepts and products for ’s readership. He has vast international experience having set up offices across the globe and is keen to build a bridge between the manufacturing community and the service sector which supports it. h.anson@hennikgroup.com
Rescued from Battersea Dogs Home, Tarquin has always been part of Hennik. He can often be found asleep in his bed or attempting to raid the bins after lunch! He loves to chase squirrels in his spare time but says his favourite past time is enjoying a cuddle with anyone who happens to be passing. He is well travelled, having been to four countries, and is very much The Boss of the office!! info@hennikgroup.com
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September 2015
CONTENTS
08 News and regular columns
Manufacturing Technologies
A summary of manufacturing news and events with commentary on industrial research and policy 22 Out & About lands a fly-in visit to steering manufacturer Nexteer, drops in at Airdale Chemicals in North Yorkshire, and heads to Norwich for a spin at Ansible Motion, creator of driver-in-the-loop simulators 28 Best of Online What you wanted to read most about ’s website in June 30 Hot Topic: Slave to fashion Victoria Fitzgerald looks at the British garment industry and highlights why buying British is best 34 A parting thought Outgoing Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing boss, Professor Sir Mike Gregory looks back over a long career and gives his thoughts on what the future holds for UK manufacturing 38 Sector Focus: Frontline or downline Ruari McCallion asks if the UK is on the right track to achieve the ambitious plans set out by Government to create a 21st Century railway 44 Interview: Generally speaking Federico Ercoli meets with GE’s UK & Ireland CEO, Mark Elborne, to discuss why the firm is set to be at the forefront of the new industry revolution 48 60 second interview: Sanjay Ravi, WW managing director, Discrete Manufacturing Industry, Microsoft Corporation, reveals which technologies are helping to make “Connected Enterprise” a reality
62 Automatic benefits: Frank Hasleden from Toyota Material Handling UK reveals how the company is supporting manufacturers in taking their first steps towards automation 64 The winds of change: Jonny Williamson catches up with Artemis Intelligent Power’s Professor Win Rampen and Dr Niall Caldwell to discuss innovation in intelligent hydraulics 68 Reinventing our railways: The University of Birmingham reveals how it is working extensively with industry to meet key challenges within the sector
PILLAR FEATURES Manufacturing Leadership 50 Learn to lean: Outgoing Lean Management Journal editor, Andrew Putwain, provides some insight from July’s 6th Annual Lean Management Journal European conference 52 EEF Insights: Tim Hancock, head of Manufacturing at Vodafone UK, explores the insights from the 2015 EEFVodafone Innovation Monitor Report and the shifting trends affecting innovation in UK manufacturing today
Workforce & Skills 54 Employee of the Month: Steve Gaston, Business Development manager at the Midlands Assembly Network 58 I look like an engineer: looks at a Twitter phenomenon caused by sexist online responses to a recruitment advertisement for a US tech company
Finance & Professional Services 58 Exchange great: Provider of tailor-made currency solutions, World First, reveals how manufacturers can manage currency risk more productively
Manufacturing Services 60 When less is far more: Kaiser Associates’ James Tetherton explains why offering too many services can be damaging to service-based business models
6 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
IT in Manufacturing 71 Intelligent efficiency: Peter Edginton, managing director of Webro, explains how Exel’s EFACS E/8 has improved processes at the company 72 Talk of the Industry: Terry Scuoler believes the EU should take a leaf out of Obama’s book when structuring its emissions targets in preparation for meetings in Paris in December
THE BIG FULFILMENT PICTURE
Headline Sponsor:
SHD Logistics Autumn Conference 15th October 2015
London Zoo, Regent’s Park
9.30am to 4.30pm
Space is limited. To book visit www.shdlogistics.com/conference
NEWS www.themanufacturer.com/news
MANUFACTURING NEWS
THE MANUFACTURER MX AWARDS SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
Last year’s winner of the coveted, Manufacturer of the Year Award went to Xtrac
THE MANUFACTURER MX AWARDS CEREMONY AND GALA DINNER
The 2015 TMMX Awards will once again be held at the ICC in Birmingham on November 26
The innovative, the efficient and the all-round epitome of excellence in UK manufacturing will vie to be crowned the best in their field at The Manufacturer MX (TMMX) Awards 2015, sponsored by NatWest.
T
he shortlisted businesses from all 12 categories will now undergo the most rigorous judging process of any industry awards in the UK. This year for the first time, The Manufacturer magazine has combined its ever popular awards show with the Institution of Mechanical Engineer’s methodically rigorous judging process. This means the TMMX Awards 2015 will not only shine a spotlight on the absolute best businesses in industry, but provide feedback for each shortlisted entrant to help with future business improvements. Nick Hussey, CEO of Hennik Group, publishers of The Manufacturer magazine and organisers of the awards said it was “an incredible achievement to have been shortlisted.” “These are the largest and most rigorously judged awards in the sector so any company being shortlisted will have provided evidence to the judges of a superior level of understanding of what makes modern UK manufacturing so vibrant and competitive,” Hussey said. “Manufacturing is very much alive
8 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
and well in the UK and the shortlisted companies are exemplars of what advanced manufacturing looks like in terms of sustainability, innovation and world class competitiveness”. Winners from previous years have included Xtrac (The Manufacturer of the Year, 2014), Vaillant Group (Sustainable Manufacturing, 2014) and Sheffield Forgemasters International (Leadership and Strategy, 2013). Companies shortlisted in eight of this year’s categories will now begin the process of the judging team visiting their factories for assessment before an intensive judging day brings together all finalists for face-to-face presentations to the panel on October 14. Head of manufacturing at NatWest, Richard Hill said: “We are delighted to continue our support of the awards – celebrating some of the best achievements from across the industry. “The awards are an incredible reflection of the diversity, innovation and expertise that British manufacturing has to show. “NatWest has long been involved in
The winners will be crowned at The ICC, Birmingham on Thursday 26 November, where more than 1,000 industry leaders will come together for a night of reward, recognition and celebration. Secure your table at this year’s awards and join some of the biggest names in the industry at the largest networking night in the manufacturing calendar. www.themanufacturer.com/awards
the manufacturing industry, with teams across the UK dedicated to supporting our manufacturing businesses. “I’d like to wish all shortlisted businesses the best of luck and congratulate them for their nomination and contribution to the sector as a whole.” The Manufacturer MX Awards 2015 has been generously supported by a range of key industry partners to ensure this is yet another successful year of industry celebrations and recognition. We would like to thank all sponsors for their continued support. FURTHER INFO: For the full shortlist see pages 14-15
NEWS www.themanufacturer.com/news
The new Brompton Bikes facility is set to open in January 2016.
COMPANY INVESTMENT
New London premises for Brompton Bikes. Brompton Bikes is set to open a new factory in Park Royal in West London. Located in SERGO’s Greenford Park, the new manufacturing and distribution hub is just over 86,000 sq ft in size and is specifically for skilled engineers to produce the famous, folding bicycles and accessories. The new premises come as part of a bid to double output and meet the demand of commuters that favour the contraption. In addition, the firm wanted be more accessible to its London-based staff. bit.ly/BromptonMove
WORKFORCE & SKILLS
ENERGY
Apprenticeships suffer as university numbers soar. A record number of university entrants sees the number of young people in apprenticeships lag behind. This year more than 400,000 young people have been given university places on results day, and it is expected a further 100,000 will be given university places through clearing before term starts later in the year. Semta has carried out research that suggests the skills gap is widening and that apprenticeship applicants are getting older. The number of 16 year olds in apprenticeships is 25,500 compared to 161,600 over 25s, the largest number of any age group, according to its research. bit.ly/1WBkZGy
EEF announces creation of new National Sustainability role. Coinciding with the relaunch of its environmental sustainability offering, EEF has appointed James Wyse to the newly created role of National Sustainability Lead. Wyse will lead a team of highly knowledgeable, flexible and practical environmental consultants based throughout England and Wales. This expert team will support manufacturers with their sustainability agenda, including the transition to ISO14001:2015, energy and carbon management, the Energy Management System 50001, resource efficiency and compliance. Wyse will be responsible for growing the breadth and depth of EEF’s sustainability offering and developing key strategic partnerships in order to provide up-to-date and accessible solutions for manufacturers looking to improve their environmental performance, and to identify and reduce their future environmental business risks to help ensure sustainable growth. The Sheffield native in Yorkshire joined EEF in 2012 as a climate and environment consultant. bit.ly/EEFRole
Team GB celebrates success at World Skills Challenge. The Rio 2016 Olympics may be a year away, but some of the UK’s brightest young talents are already celebrating medal success on the global stage. Following five days of intense competition against almost 1,000 of the world’s most skilled young people, the nation’s team of talented apprentices and learners will return from WorldSkills São Paulo 2015 with a haul of eight medals and 25 medallions – including three golds. Taking place every two years since its inception in 1950, WorldSkills is the world’s largest skills competition, which is held around the globe to celebrate skills and share best practice between industries and countries. bit.ly/TeamGBSkills
10 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Government announces plans to fast-track local fracking bids. Following new planning guidelines, local authorities will be given a period of 16 weeks to rule on planning applications around shale gas projects. After which, if failing to comply, the decision will be put in the hands of ministers. The measures target councils that repeatedly fail to determine oil and gas applications within the 16 week statutory timeframe and allow subsequent applications to be potentially decided by the Communities Secretary. Ministers will consider calling in any application for shale exploration and will recover appeals on a case-by-case basis. The decision follows Lancashire County Council’s recent rejection of Cuadrilla’s shale gas applications after more than a year of stalemate deliberations. bit.ly/FrackingBids
MANUFACTURING NEWS
COMPANY ACQUISITIONS
Meggitt PLC acquires Cobham advanced aerospace division. Meggitt PLC, an international engineering group specialising in aerospace, defence and energy markets, has acquired the advanced composites businesses of Cobham plc for US$200 million in cash, financed from existing resources. Cobham’s composite businesses are global leaders in the design, development and production of highly engineered aerospace composite engine components (spinners, internal multi-stage components, exhaust flaps), radomes (C4I and defensive measures radomes, with a growing position in civil radomes), and complex secondary structures (air-to-air refuelling, structural munitions components). The businesses will be integrated into Meggitt Polymers & Composites (MPC), a division of Meggitt PLC. Cobham has operating facilities are located in the US (San Diego, California and Baltimore, Maryland) and in the UK (Shepshed, Leicestershire and Stevenage, Hertfordshire). The Businesses revenues in 2014 were US$81.1m. bit.ly/MeggittAcquisition GKN to acquire Fokker Technologies. British aerospace and automotive manufacturer, GKN has announced plans to acquire the Dutch aerostructures company Fokker Technologies for €706m (US$776m). This deal will consolidate GKN – and place it in a strong position in the aerospace industry – as the number two supplier for parts and components worldwide. GKN currently generates the majority of its profits from automotive parts, however with the new acquisition, it will become a major supplier of large aerospace projects, such as the F-35 jet produced by Lockheed Martin. Fokker Technologies dates back to the beginning of the aerospace industry and produced some of the first commercial airframes. In later years it was overtaken by newer and larger players, and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1996. Since then however, the company has made a strong comeback as a supplier of parts and components for aircraft. At the time of purchase, the company has a number of strong supplier contracts for new aircraft by Lockheed Martin and Airbus. bit.ly/GKNFokker
EXPORTS
Export boost for mother’s ruin. Gin exports have increased by over a third since 2010. Levels rose to almost £400m last year, spurring Government plans for the production of gin to compete with the whisky industry – which contributed £4bn to the UK economy last year. In March, it was announced in the Budget that there would be a 2% decrease in gin duty. The Government has also been serving the beverage at foreign embassies to attract new markets. Brazil, India and other parts of Asia are considered target markets for export growth. The UK already exports the alcohol to Germany, Spain, the US and Canada. Since 2010, more than 70 new distilleries have opened in the UK and the number of gin brands has doubled during the same period. bit.ly/GinExports
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY SEPTEMBER Exhibit at DSEI 2015 with NDI: London
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Taking place at Royal Victoria Dock in LondonDSEI 2015 will offer six seminar and briefing programmes dedicated to, land, naval, air, unmanned, security and medical & disaster relief. Through a series of panel debates, keynote sessions and live demonstrations, top level speakers from senior domestic/international military and leading industry stakeholders will share their thoughts on the latest future capabilities, technologies and innovations and procurement updates. www. eef.org.uk/business-support/seminars-and-events/dsei-2015
29
Food Safety Conference: Safer food and drink from the harvest to the home: Manchester Taking place at the Lawry in Manchester, Food Manufacture’s 2015 food safety conference will take a whole supply chain look at food safety and integrity. It will investigate the latest developments to ensure food safety from the farm, through manufacture and the supply chain, to products and packaging on sale. It will also discuss what more the industry can do to reassure consumers about the safety and authenticity of the food they eat. The one-day conference is targeted at practitioners in the food and drink supply chain who are involved with food safety: from operations and technical managers to regulatory specialists; and from new product developers to food hygiene managers in manufacturing, retail and foodservice. www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Events/Food-Safety-ConferenceSafer-food-and-drink-from-the-harvest-to-the-home
OCTOBER The Manufacturing and Electronics Expo,
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Kent Event Centre, Maidstone The Manufacturing and Electronics Expo is an inspirational business-to-business show that has been designed to support and showcase everything that is great about the manufacturing and electronics sector. The event provides an environment where industry professionals can assess and compare the latest products and services for manufacturing and electronics. As well as the opportunity to see over 80 exhibitors showcasing the very latest products and services for the manufacturing and electronics sectors, the visitors can listen to keynote speakers from leading industry sectors, see demonstrations of innovative new technology and take part in technical workshops. www.manufacturingandengineeringexpo.co.uk/
NOVEMBER Advanced Engineering UK 2015: Birmingham UK
4-5
Advanced Engineering UK 2015 taking place at Birmingham’s NEC is an opportunity for the supply chain to meet with visiting engineering & procurement decision makers from OEMs and top tier organisations spanning: Aerospace; Automotive; Motorsport; Marine, Civil Engineering, and more. It is the UK’s largest free-to-attend engineering Conference programme. Whether you are a visitor or an exhibitor, Advanced Engineering will not only provide you with a business forum and supply chain showcase for your own sector, but will also introduce you to new opportunities in industries using related technologies and services. www.advancedengineeringuk.com/
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 11
FOR THE DIARY
UPCOMING EVENTS Connect with our events team on twitter: @YourTMEvents. For general enquiries or to book your place, email events@hennikgroup.com or call us on 020 7401 6033 (Opt 3), stating which event you would like to attend and your contact details.
TM NATIONAL SKILLS CONFERENCE 15-16 OCTOBER 2015, AMTC ANSTY PARK, COVENTRY How do you tackle the needs of the 21st century workforce? By addressing the skills gap and key issues including workforce flexibility, motivation and the manufacturing stigma. National Skills Conference, in partnership with the MTC, will help you do just that by bringing together manufacturers, policy makers and educators all in one place. Come along to the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre and discover how your business can gain higher productivity by focusing on the needs of your workforce. tmskills.com |
MSTLN ANNUAL CONFERENCE 23 SEPTEMBER 2015, BIRMINGHAM The MSTLN Annual Conference is an opportunity for the SME community, to explore new avenues for value creation and growth using product services. Delegates will have the opportunity to hear from other SMEs, who have successfully exploited servitized business models to add value and differentiate their brands from their competitors. This event will pave the way for higher margins and more predictable revenue streams through product services. themanufacturer.com/mstlnconference-2015 #MSTLN
SUPPLY CHAIN CONNECT 7-8 OCTOBER 2015, NO. 1 MANN ISLAND, LIVERPOOL A trusted supply chain is fundamental in achieving true competitiveness for UK manufacturers. Supply Chain Connect brings the OEMS and SMEs together to offer one-to-one meetings with companies in the Liverpool area that are already committed to securing a localised supply base. themanufacturer.com/supply-chainconnect-liverpool #TMSupplyChain
12 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
#TMNSC
FACTORY TOUR: PHILIPS AVENT 22 OCTOBER 2015, SUFFOLK Philips AVENT are leading manufacturers of baby bottles, breast pumps, and other parenting, baby feeding and health accessories. Since 1984, AVENT have been designing and manufacturing products, which are developed through extensive research and clinical trials. They are now opening their doors to provide an insight into their factory, so you can learn from a leading manufacturer about the complete journey their customers’ experience. themanufacturer.com/factory-tours/ philips-avent #TMFactoryTours
CONNECT ERP 4 NOVEMBER 2015, JAGUAR EXPERIENCE, CASTLE BROMWICH, BIRMINGHAM Exclusively for companies looking to implement or upgrade their ERP system. Connect ERP has changed the way UK businesses approach software selection by minimising the overall time and effort involved in qualifying potential enterprise software vendors. This unique event offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for you and your team to personally meet the leading enterprise software providers and hear from other companies that have successfully implemented ERP. connect-erp.com |
#ConnectERP
THE MANUFACTURER’S ANNUAL LEADERS CONFERENCE 25-26 NOVEMBER 2015, ICC, BIRMINGHAM The Manufacturer’s Annual Leaders Conference (TMALC) brings together the industry’s leading experts for two days of insightful discussion and opportunity to create true business change. The 2015 focus will be on the circular economy and the opportunity for manufacturers to explore new streams of revenue. TMALC will provide manufacturers with the knowledge to drive both themselves and their company forward in 2016. tmalc.com |
#TMALC
THE MANUFACTURER MX AWARDS CEREMONY AND GALA DINNER 26 NOVEMBER 2015, ICC, BIRMINGHAM The Manufacturer MX Awards are dedicated to encouraging and promoting competitive manufacturing in the UK, and celebrating the very best in the industry annually. Join us for this black-tie gala event where the winners of The Manufacturer MX Awards 2015 will be revealed, and over 1,000 industry leaders will join together for a night of recognition, reward and celebration. Secure your table and be a part of the biggest celebration of UK manufacturing! themanufacturer.com/themanufacturer-mx-awards #TMMXAwards
REFER TO ‘EVENTS’ ON OUR WEBSITE FOR FULL DETAILS: THEMANUFACTURER. COM/EVENTS
APPOINTMENTS
PROFESSOR ANDY NEELY
University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing
Professor Andy Neely has been appointed as the new head of the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) and Professor of Manufacturing. Neely is the founding director of the Cambridge Service Alliance and is currently Royal Academy
DIANNE SHARP
Business School and the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham. He was deputy director of the Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Research and elected a fellow and then president of the European Operations Management Association.
which manufactures domestic products including water coolers, dehumidifiers, chest-freezers and ground source heat pumps. Sharp will be responsible for the day-today production operation of Ebac
Limited, the quality of its products and will support the ambitious growth plans of the company. She brings a wealth of business experience to the position.
Doosan’s entire UK operations. This includes multi-million pound acquisition Rushlift Limited which added a leading national forklift supply and service business to DIV UK’s core import sales
business. Waples has overseen the initial integration of the two businesses following the completion of the deal in March.
Ebac Limited
Ebac Limited, part of the Ebac Group, has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of Dianne Sharp. Sharp has taken on the position of chief executive of Ebac Limited,
TIM WAPLES
of Engineering Professor of Complex Services. He is internationally recognised for his work on the servitization of manufacturing, organisational performance measurement and management. Neely has previously held appointments at Cranfield University, London
Doosan Industrial Vehicle UK
Doosan Industrial Vehicle has announced the promotion of Tim Waples to vice-president and CEO of the company’s expanded UK operations. Waples’ new role gives him overall responsibility for
JEAN-PIERRE TALAMONI AIRBUS GROUP
CHRISTIAN SCHERER AIRBUS GROUP
Airbus Group has appointed Jean-Pierre Talamoni, 58, as executive vice president marketing & sales for Airbus Defence and Space. In this position, he will become a member of the Executive Committee of Airbus Defence and Space and report to Bernhard Gerwert, the division’s CEO. Marwan Lahoud, Airbus Group chief mtrategy and marketing officer, said of the appointment: “With Jean-Pierre’s strong background in defence, having been the top salesman at MBDA for many years, as well as his international experience with institutional and private customers all over the globe, he is ideally positioned to lead the continued globalisation efforts of Airbus Defence and Space.”
Christian Scherer, 53, will take over Talamoni’s current position as head of Airbus Group International. Scherer will report to Marwan Lahoud. Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, said of the appointment: “Christian was a great contributor to the creation of Airbus Defence and Space, in particular with his broad international and commercial background. I’m pleased to have Jean-Pierre now with me to execute our global market strategy for our core business.”
To notify The Manufacturer of your company’s appointments, please contact Victoria Fitzgerald at: v.fitzgerald@hennikgroup.com or: 0207 401 6033
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 13
In association with:
2015 SHORTLIST REVEALED The shortlist for The Manufacturer MX Awards 2015 is revealed, with more than 50 companies, across 12 categories, vying for success this year. Congratulations to all of those shortlisted. We wish you the very best of luck!
APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
CUSTOMER FOCUS
EXPORTER OF THE YEAR
• • • • • •
• • • • • •
• • • • •
Scott Thompson, De La Rue Emma Wilding, Jaguar Land Rover James Doughty, Jaguar Land Rover Jade Aspinall, MBDA UK Amber Wild, Worldwide Fruit Tim Plows, Xtrac
Airedale Solutions Coty Manufacturing UK Durapipe UK Elster Water Metering Heatric Lambert Engineering
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LEGALLY MIND MINDED THE GAP & DIGITALLY MADE
LEGALLY MINDED.
Unreasonable exclusion of liability
D
Chris Stait, Associate Solicitor in the Science and Technology Team at BPE Solicitors, weighs in on mitigating risk and liability.
eciding where and how to exclude and limit liability in standard terms has always been a balancing act, weighing up the desire to extinguish or severely cap all liabilities and restrict the available remedies on the one hand, against on the other, the risk that such a stringent or all-encompassing course of action may be deemed unreasonable in law, thus leading to unlimited liabilities and remedies. Top tips to consider:
1
When attempting to exclude the statutory implied terms of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and adherence to descriptions, ensure that alternative (narrow) replacements are used instead of excluding a standard altogether.
2
Beware of excluding liability for a buyer’s failure to inspect and report a defect, particularly where a tight deadline is given; instead consider allowing for replacements to be sent and/or excluding liability to the extent that it has increased due to the failure of the buyer to inspect and report any defects. Also distinguish between visible defects from those which the buyer could not see or likely to discover prior to its use.
3
Suppliers in a strong negotiating position need to take particular care and should consider whether all indirect losses should be excluded, or whether some obvious exceptions should be permitted, subject to a limitation cap and reviewing its insurance provisions. The balancing act will continue, but today the scales tipped slightly in the buyers’ favour and it’s important, particularly for those with more aggressive standard terms, to review the most important terms in your sale contracts to avoid unlimited liabilities arising.
16 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
DIGITALLY MADE.
The social sell
’s digital strategist, Hayden Richards, advises on social selling for B2B manufacturers.
C
hances are, if your firm already has a social presence, you may have already participated in the social selling game. A good sales person will always seek to ensure their pipeline is filled with the right prospects, however, today’s social-seller will establish credible relationships in advance while simultaneously promoting themselves as thought leaders and influencers in their niche. The industrial B2B environment has undergone a fundamental shift. Today’s buyers are now in control and likely to conduct research and proceed far into their buying process before contact with your sales team is made. This means you need to take control of the sales cycle; for your well informed prospects no longer entertain calls from sales unless it suits their interests. When you begin to train your teams, don’t forget about aligning the marketing department. Did you know 50% of sales people ignore marketing leads? However, Marketo, marketing automation software provider, tells us a well synced marketing and sales team stand a 67% increased chance of closing business, a statistic not to be ignored. You need a slick, joint coordinated effort between the two departments and the technology that your firm uses will be the glue that holds it all together. Marketing blogger, Jack Kosakowski, suggests “dissecting your sales process and identifying the gaps” and “killing the noise”. He elaborates, “Noise is a productivity killer that MURDERS a company’s bottom line. It’s the day-to-day stuff like researching contact details, updating the CRM, or missing intelligence altogether because you’re using multiple technologies that don’t speak to one another.” Accenture’s 2013 Sales Performance Optimization Study is still relevant when it comes to sales revenue and robust customer relationships. Key takeaways include: 1. Integrating internal processes and handoff points between the two teams 2. Aim for a single customer centric ‘experience’ by integrating Sales, Marketing and Service. The “experience” to aim for will be based on all interactions and thoughts the customer has about your firm mostly gained online. If your sales teams need to generate their own leads in greater frequency as studies indicate, should they not be perceived as influential leaders? Should they not be social sellers?
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Letters to the editor
PRODUCTION LINES
Letters to the Editor
Additive manufacturing is such an exciting and dynamic area of manufacturing right now that CAD developers and even engineering course directors are finding it hard to keep up with the pace of change
Kieron Salter, Managing Director of additive manufacturing specialist, KW Special Projects (KWSP).
O
ne of the sector’s biggest barriers to growth is the lack of fully functional CAD systems designed to exploit the emerging 3D printing industry. Modern manufacturing techniques, which typically build up (as opposed to subtracting) a variety of materials, desperately need their own bespoke set of CAD tools, which are still running hard to keep up with the pace of change.
18 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Additive manufacturing has now moved beyond the capabilities of traditional CAD systems, which were originally developed to work with a subtractive CNC machining process. We are used to designing components and forms, with the understanding that we’d begin with a block of metal that would then be cut, milled or ground to produce the final piece. The advent of additive manufacturing has turned that concept on its head. The challenge for developers of CAD packages is to get ahead of current manufacturing techniques, so that the design process is far more intuitive and efficient. At the moment, the big CAD development houses are working hard to come up with a total, integrated solution, but this takes time. What’s needed is a fundamental shift from geometric, subtractive thinking to more organic structures which fully exploit the benefits of additive manufacturing. A great example of additive manufacturing in practice would be the construction of a tree’s roots. If a traditional CAD engineer was given this design task to be manufactured with traditional manufacturing methods, the outcome would have
to be highly regular and uniform. If designed to be manufactured using additive manufacturing, the solution would end up looking much more complex and organic. In this way, parts developed via additive manufacturing look much more organic, as they take into account the key stresses and load paths of the manufactured item. KW Special Projects (KWSP) is utilising finite element analysis (FE) tools to make design decisions first, then transposing this knowledge across to CAD. This is still too complex a process and we’re waiting for readily available, integrated software that enables this to happen far more quickly. We want to see FE driving the design, and as an integrated design tool. Additive manufacturing is such an exciting and dynamic area of manufacturing right now that CAD developers and even engineering course directors are finding it hard to keep up with the pace of change. Once we have the right tools in place to design additive manufacturing based solutions more easily, then I predict another surge in growth of this technology.
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Up to speed
This month BLOODHOUND’s Conor La Grue enthuses over the light at the end of the tunnel as the supersonic car comes together.
BLOODHOUND SSC is finally taking shape
W
ith BLOODHOUND’s rear uprights now in hand, the last large parts of the rear suspension which link to these stunning uprights are about to ship to the BLOODHOUND Technical Centre. These long rear wishbone elements will allow us to take a key step by assembling a fully mocked-up rear suspension that allows the car to be put onto its wheels for the first time. The primary structure build is getting to an interesting stage. We’re now
The long rear wishbone elements are en route to the BLOODHOUND Technical Centre
20 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
planning the remaining jobs that have to be done while the car is still on its two large surface tables and we need to complete these so we can start to look at final assembly.
Bolting together the car
Odd though it may seem, it’s the nature of the beast that as we build BLOODHOUND we have to join bits together and then take them apart on a regular basis to get the design and assembly right. So it will be great to see key parts go together and actually stay together for once! These primary interfaces will be joined on the surface tables where we can both measure manually and use our Hexagon metrology Leica tracker to be sure of the final position of components when the car is bolted together. With the key parts bolted together for the last time, the entire car will be lifted off the surface tables using two gantries and put on a custom set of axle stands that are positioned at regular intervals down its
BLOODHOUND
length. This will give us the opportunity to line the car up with the big roller doors here at our Bristol base as at that point we will be moving full steam ahead to get the car ready to run at Aerohub in Newquay in November this year. The BLOODHOUND SSC trailer is a specially modified, one-of-a-kind Oldbury slider trailer provided by our fantastic haulage partner Arthur Spriggs & Sons. This will be lined up with the big roller door to await the car. The team from Spriggs has done an amazing job for many years moving priceless parts of the car all over the UK and Europe for us and the trailer it has have commissioned is a key part of the puzzle that will get BLOODHOUND SSC on the runway in November.
Planning the final summer build
During summer it is always hard to keep momentum going as many partners and suppliers have team members on holiday. We also let our team members take a well-earned break with their families over the summer, but we are very good at planning ahead to maximise what we can get done through this period. Firstly, more of the car will be painted and it will soon start to look more-or-less finished, but that’s not the case for the electronics and systems. With key parts of the car coming together in their final configuration for the first time, it’s only the beginning of the job for our systems teams. After all, without all the electrical, electronic, computing, sensor, hydraulic and pneumatic systems the car is just a sculpture, waiting for the systems team to bring it to life and turn it into a supersonic car! However you look at it, it’s going to be an interesting summer and we can start to see light at the end of a supersonic car assembly tunnel!
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September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 21
’s editorial team is out and about at a wide variety of industry conferences, debates and factory tours month in, month out. Let’s get a snapshot of the most interesting trips in August.
At the wheel
I
Federico Ercoli flies to Poland to learn how automotive manufacturer Nexteer is steering towards its latest accomplishment.
n February, the Greater London Authority announced the population in the UK capital reached 8.6 million. Last July, a U.S. census reported that almost 8.5 million people live in New York and at the same time a government report from Hong Kong revealed the Chinese city had 7.2 million inhabitants. All of these cities combined, plus the estimated population of Rio de Janeiro
(6.3 million in 2014) roughly account for 30million people. London, New York, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. Now try to imagine all four cities and magically substitute humans with steering units - 30 million car and truck steering units. It might be hard to picture this somewhat dystopian scenario (which is NOT a Terminator spin-off) and certainly
harder trying to imagine steering units queuing up for a cappuccino at a cafè, so let’s not get lost in semi-scifi ramblings. 30 million. Such is the number of electric power steering (EPS) units produced since 1999 by steering and driveline manufacturer, Nexteer. “Hitting this significant milestone comes at an exciting time as we celebrate not only how far we’ve come, but also where we’re heading with EPS and other technologies on the path to Advanced Driver Assist Systems and autonomous driving,” Steve Spicer, global product line executive, said. To celebrate the achievement, the company invited a bunch of UK journalists to its Tychy plant in southern Poland, an area with a long manufacturing tradition and home to one of Fiat’s biggest facilities along with several other automotive and engineering giants like Yamazaki Mazak. I gladly accepted, as successful manufacturing stories always make for good print, especially when the road to success has been particularly bumpy, just like the one for Nexteer. Founded as Jackson, Church & Wilcox Co. in 1906, the company was bought by GM-owned Buick in 1909. Since then, Nexteer was a part of the GM family until 1998, when GM created Delphi Corporation primarily as an automotive components business and
There’s still a lot of people going to engineering schools, that’s positive EPS units use a combination of electric motors, actuators, sensors and controllers
22 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Guilherme Pizzato General Director Europe Division, Nexteer
OUT AND ABOUT
Since 2010, Nexteer has invested nearly $80M in its facilities in Poland
the steering operations became a major business division under its name. In 1999, Delphi Corporation was spunoff by GM to become an independent, publicly held corporation. Ten years later, Delphi Corporation’s global steering operations were sold back to GM following bankruptcy and were renamed Nexteer Automotive. Then, in 2010, China-based Pacific Century Motors bought Nexteer from GM and in 2013 they successfully completed an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. To discuss Nexteer’s latest endeavours and status, I sat down and spoke with Guilherme Pizzato, general director for the European Division. “Nexteer just finalised a 2014 calendar year at $3bn of revenue. We’re well established in all regions of the world where the automotive industry is significant. We still have our global headquarters in Saginaw, Michigan and have important operations and customers in the US, South America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, China and India, with small operations in Korea and Australia,” Mr.Pizzato said. It sounded rosy, but does the firm achieve this? So I started wondering about scale again. With clients like BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, Toyota and PSA Peugeot Citroen, how big can a company like this be? Easy: 20 manufacturing plants spread across the globe, five regional engineering centres and 10 customers service centres in North and South America, Europe and Asia with a workforce of 11,000 employees. After the customary plant tour, the journalists were encouraged to drive some of the vehicles that feature Nexteer’s EPS units to see them in
action. Watching them in the making is interesting, trying them out is going to be fun, especially after noticing a BMW i3 in the parking lot. “Do you want to try the auto parking function on this one?” Product engineering manager, Alexander Murray, asked. I couldn’t help but stare in awe at the car perfectly parking itself between two other vehicles by just pressing a button. Automatically, I started thinking about what kind of talent is required to develop that kind of technology and if the skills gap is a consistent issue in Poland as well. “We’re very satisfied, at least here in Poland, that we’re seeing that the job market produces better young engineers. There’s still a lot of people going to engineering schools, so that’s
positive. Other areas of the world have more challenges than here, but it’s part of our culture to be focused on people. To retain and attract talent,” Pizzato told me. After leaving the plant, I had the feeling I stepped out of a fairy tale where all eventually fell into place and left everybody optimistic and lifted. It took Nexteer decades to project this image and reach such standards, but it certainly looks like they are steering in the right direction. For now.
FURTHER INFO: See ’s video of the Nexteer factory tour at www.themanufacturer.com/ articles/nexteer-at-the-wheel
Over 30 million EPS units produced since 1999 are said to have saved more than 11 billion litres of gasoline
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 23
OUT AND ABOUT
T
Chemical reaction Federico Ercoli travels to Cross Hills in North Yorkshire to see the latest developments after a major investment at chemicals supplier and manufacturer Airedale Chemicals.
FURTHER INFO: See ’s video of the Airdale Chemicals factory tour at www.themanufacturer.com/articles/airedalechemicals-chemical-reaction
24 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
ravelling to West Yorkshire on a good day is a blessing. Being hosted by a manufacturer whose facilities are buried in the same green pastures is the proverbial cherry on top. The company? Airedale Chemicals. The occasion? The firm just completed a £3m expansion project started in July 2014, which reportedly allowed it to improve its storage facilities, expand its distribution fleet and hire 45 employees to boost business growth. I had to see it for myself. “We just put some more staff in place in all areas over the last couple of years: accounts, operations, technical, maintenance, and sales as well. We’re just hoping to increase sales, get into different markets, probably improve on what we don’t export a lot of at the moment. One of our big points is trying to increase the business on this side but maintaining the service level,” Daniel Fox, operations manager, Airedale Chemicals said. Something that has been made possible, Craig Thomson, finance director, explains: “By investing £1.85m in property purchasing and the redevelopment of existing warehouse space. A further £500,000 has been spent on additional vehicles enhancing our fleet and £20,000 on new testing laboratories. This means we are able to support strategic product growth areas such as peracetic acid, which has increased in sales by 30% so far this year.” Stories of successful growth are too often centered on recent figures and achievements, leaving the past a memory for the nostalgics within the company. Luckily, this isn’t the case at Airedale Chemicals. The representatives I had the chance to speak to, all prided themselves on being part of a tradition that started 42 years ago, when late chairman and founder Mr. Brian Chadwick set out to manufacture dye products. Now, the company supplies over 200 chemicals to 25 different markets, from agrochemical to oil and gas and textile in the UK, Europe and worldwide from its 100,000sq ft plant in Cross Hills. It also employs 103 people, 95% of which, company representatives say, have been recruited from the local area and recently estimated its 2014 turnover exceeded £40m.
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A simulating experience Callum Bentley finds out that at Ansible Motion, the world of simulation is more real than one might think.
A
s I step from the cockpit of the driver’s seat of what was described to me as “a standard, run-of-themill saloon car, maybe just with its suspension chopped a bit”, my heart is racing and I’m grinning like Alice’s feline voyeur. I’ve driven cars like this before, but never quite in the same way. For those familiar with the concept of the uncanny valley, this is what I was experiencing, nay, embracing as I took this dodgy modified four-door on three breath-taking laps of the famous Spa race track from the comfort of Ansible Motion’s air-conditioned lab in rural Wymondham. According to the driver-in-the-loop automotive simulation company’s founder, Kia Cammaerts, the business started as a “back of the envelope sketch as an answer to a thought experiment”. The thought experiment to which he refers is what a motion system might look like if you designed it to actually do the job of ground
26 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
vehicle simulation with a driver “in the loop”. This was in 2009. Today the company has proven this experiment and is now engaged with some of the largest automotive and motorsport companies around the world. Simulation plays a role Kia Cammaerts in the for these companies simulator control room unlike ever before. The ability to rigorously test specific aspects of a vehicle prior to, during Validation times and after manufacture can be cut from 10 can save OEMs and their days to just three for components such as tier one suppliers millions stability control of pounds. “Vehicle dynamic capable driver in the loop simulation is a technique that can bring products either quicker, cheaper or better to market or a combination of all three,” Cammaerts informs me. “A typical example we see is to very easy in a lab style environment of a have physical test components that driver in the loop simulator. It’s possible you want to evaluate in a large range to run through, in only a few days, of test conditions. It is very difficult, more than 100 different suspension complicated and expensive to arrange configurations, where as in the real these test conditions physically, but it is
OUT AND ABOUT
world it might take weeks or might simply not be possible at all.” On top of this, all the while a company is testing in real world conditions, these conditions are likely to change, making the chances of getting a string of consistent test scenarios and conditions extremely difficult. But simulation isn’t new. Simulators have played a large part in automotive
and aerospace development for decades. However, the way these simulators moved on typical hexapods, and the detrimental latency issues coming from the plugin software limited the overall usability. These are the issues Cammaerts and his team at Ansible targeted from day one, and they did so by literally tearing it down and starting again.
We pushed really hard and put a lot of R&D effort into throwing away very highly developed, commoditised motion control algorithms that are used by thousands of users all over and wrote our own
Users plug in their own software sets in order to run their desired simulations.
The screen Ansible Motion uses has an eight metre diameter with 16 PCs running alongside it.
“We do almost everything ourselves,” he said. “That was one of the most ambitious things we decided to do as a tiny company. You wouldn’t do that normally; you would use these highly developed, highly sophisticated controllers and algorithms. “What we’ve done is pushed really hard and put a lot of R&D effort into throwing away very highly developed, commoditised motion control algorithms that are used by thousands of users all over and wrote our own. Which is simpler, but under complete control so we can fit for purpose. If they don’t work we can fix them - all the bits that didn’t work because the code’s our own. It was really arduous but it has just put us in a position where nothing phases us now.” This flexibility goes further than just the code Ansible writes for its simulators. Cammaerts tells me one of its pressure points was coming from the way simulators moved. Gear boxes coming from its suppliers were found to have too much friction, along with difficult to find ratios holding back the fluidity of motion required to give accurate simulation for the driver. The solution? “We do our own gear boxes for our actuators,” Cammaerts says, almost saying it with the same amount of surprise that’s expressed on my face. “Certain businesses will sell you 100 gear boxes, but the commercial gearboxes that carry the torque that we want aren’t stiff enough, they have high backlash and high friction, where we need low friction, no backlash and decent torque characteristics. We couldn’t buy this product, but we didn’t want to compromise. We didn’t want to build all of our own gearboxes, but we do. “That’s the underpinning of our philosophy. If we can buy it commercially off the shelf, and it’s good enough, then fine. But if it’s not good enough we can re-engineer it or redo it completely.”
If you would like to visit your factory or business, let us know by emailing the editor at c.bentley@hennikgroup.com
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 27
Tracking your top reads on www.themanufacturer.com last month
BEST OF ONLINE
What to watch on themanufacturer.com
A
team of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have become the first people to eat food grown in space. Lettuce grown within the The astronauts Veggie experiment on the ISS. Image courtesy of Nasa plan to harvest lettuce grown on board the ISS as part system also added green of Nasa’s ‘Veggie’ light to the mix, in order plant growth experiment. to improve the aesthetics Several red lettuce plants of the plants. from the ‘Outredgeous’ strain were grown within a specialised Watch the video at chamber over the course of bit.ly/1h9PYK2 33 days. While these plants only required red and blue light to grow, the designers of the
Top Tweets
With the announ the TMMX Awar cement of the shortlist final to jump in on thds 2015, the Twittersphere wailsts of e action with #T s MMXAwards quick
Popular blog contributions last month included:
Holiday pay – a practical guide to the law Why has holiday pay suddenly become a topic for board level concern at a number of manufacturing companies asks Akshay Choudhry – an associate at leading UK law firm, Burges Salmon. bit.ly/HolidayPay
Marketing for manufacturing – are you missing out? Hannah Fuller – of graphic design and marketing agency, Oyster Studios – argues that manufacturing and engineering firms are lagging behind in embracing the benefits of marketing and design. bit.ly/1Ms4xFy
28 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Taking your kids to work could help close skills gap The UK STEAM skills gap is well documented but arguably the manufacturing industry is failing to take meaningful steps towards helping to solve this crisis, argues Matthew Bell – global strategic partnerships manager, Autodesk Education. bit.ly/1fbUWDW
MANUFACTURING, THE NUMBERS
looks at some of the more interesting numbers in the manufacturing news in the past month.
The weight of the hull section of HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier section manufactured by BAE Systems which took to the water for the first time in Glasgow this month. bit.ly/HullSection The Isle of Man Government has announced the proposed creation of a £50m Enterprise Development Fund (EDF) to support local businesses and encourage new companies to relocate to the Island. bit.ly/ IoMFund
2015
$108.78bn 2014
$103.27bn
Tata Group, the UK’s largest industrial employer, has announced its revenues grew from $103.27bn in 2013-14 to $108.78bn in 2014 - 2015. bit.ly/ TataRevenue
The amount British sporting goods manufacturers are making from exporting cricket equipment to the nation’s biggest on pitch rivals, Australia. bit.ly/1gX4pkn
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 29
30 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
UK Fashion Industry
As London Fashion Week rolls around once more in September, Victoria Fitzgerald asks why UK consumers insist on buying throw-away fashion, when Britain has an abundance of talented British garment manufacturers available for all our shopping needs.
A
s I recall, each new university term would bring an exciting new quest for knowledge, and more notably, it generated the glorious triannual lottery win of the student loan, and by the culmination of said period my wardrobe would be plentiful, my knowledge minimal and my bank balance diabolical. A regular “loan day” would entail hitting the shops like Zsa Zsa Gabor after the divorce was finalised. Except I wouldn’t totter home in shiny Louis Vuittons, instead I’d blunder back to the student digs, laden with highstreet tatt, not even fit to dress a pound-shop Christmas tree. And to what expense? The monetary value was about fifteen quid, but just over a decade ago, I had no idea that the £1 earrings making my earlobes green were made by destitute machinists making 22p an hour, not enough to feed themselves let alone their families. Not only that, but my frivolous spending was perpetuating a cycle that was killing the UK garment industry. We cannot resist a bargain, and it seems that no matter what we know about the supply chain of a garment company, if the shoes cost £10 and you want them, you’ll more than likely buy them. However, when we delve deeper
If you are going to buy something cheap, it’s not going to last as long, so you’re better off saving the money and buying something that’s going to last
HOT TOPIC
The labels seemed to be a cry for help, reading, “degrading sweatshop conditions” and “forced to work exhausting hours” to which Primark responded saying, “Primark investigates all allegations of breaches of its Code of Conduct immediately to ensure the wellbeing of workers in its supply chain.” The reports came just two months after the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which claimed 1,138 lives, 140 of which were never found. Unethical supply chain issues have been thrust into the public domain and as a result, several BRI initiatives TIS H T
EXT Gross ILE IND v a UST lue a the se RY d is esti ctor in the ded for mate d at o UK ver
£11.5 bn.
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emerged BRITISH TEX to raise awareness of TILE IND the process. Fashion ... w ith GVA per head Revolution, which measured at an began on April 24 2014, one year after average of the Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka, is a global coalition of designers, academics, writers, business leaders and parliamentarians calling for systemic reform of the fashion supply chain. Along with a host of awarenessraising events the initiative started #WhoMadeMyClothes, where consumers were encouraged to take a selfie with
£ 34,220
into the supply chain we begin to see the very real reason why we should pay more and buy less. In June last year, the South Wales Evening Post reported the discovery of two handwritten labels found in two separate garments from a Primark store in Swansea, as well as another unearthing in Northern Ireland. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 31
the labels in their clothes and post on social media, asking the brand to reveal exactly who made them. The organisers of Fashion Revolution Day reported 71 countries officially participating this year, up from last year’s 60.
What does this mean for the UK garment industry?
Rana Plaza is an extreme case, and in instances where UK firms are producing overseas from ethical establishments, the fact remains that it is still cheaper to manufacture overseas, which creates huge problems for young designers and the industry as a whole. Britain’s offshoring trend and rise of manufacturing in China, India and Eastern Europe has seriously damaged UK fashion manufacturing. In 1977 over 900,000 people were employed in fashion manufacturing in the UK, by the end of the last century this figure had fallen by 85%. Reputable clothes manufacturers produce overseas for two significant reasons: the first is cost, because offshore production of large volumes is cheaper; and the second is because of a greater quantity of skilled labour and specialist workers. Established UK brand David Nieper faced a very tough decision a couple of years ago whether to take business off shore, explains managing director Christopher Nieper, “We chose to stay in Britain and have never looked back. Since then the company has grown every year and we’ve remained steadfast in our commitment to local British skills.” The Derbyshire-based firm is setting up a sewing school that will be run by two of its most experienced employees, one of which is Carole Shaw, senior supervisor, she explains: “Our trainees will start by getting to know their machines and develop thread control. They will learn dressmaking essentials including cross-stitch, overlock, lockstich and bar tacking. We start with paper patterns to learn the basic principles then progress to a range of different fabrics including cottons, silks, elastics and wools and learn how to work with each.” B
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Sarah Watkinson-Yull poses with of her skilled machinists
The shoes made in Britain are 100% sourced in Britain
This re-appreciation of UK textiles goods and skills has been active for some time. According to EEF, there has been 10 successive years of export growth in the UK textiles industry and in the past five years sales across clothing and garment-making sector have surged 20% to £11.5bn. Also, initiatives like Make it British are raising the profile of the industry, proving that it is still thriving in the UK and providing valuable contacts and advice for existing and start-up businesses. Make it British has been a valuable tool in strengthening a “Made in Britain” brand that equates to quality, craftsmanship, endurance and ethical production and as Nieper tells , “The ‘Make it British’ symbol has become something of a badge of honour, and a symbol of brand integrity among the fashion and textiles industry. Customers like to know where their clothes are made and there is a tremendous appetite for well-made good quality British fashion.” I
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32 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
The Yull brand is now stocked in boutiques all over the world
Buy cheap; pay twice
Regardless of this renaissance, clothing manufacturers producing in the UK have great difficulty competing with those manufacturing outside, as Sarah Watkinson-Yull, founder of UK shoe manufacturer Yull, told me, “I can’t compete with firms like Marks & Spencer that are selling leather shoes for £20, when it costs me more than double that to make mine. It’s just annoying, all my friends have these nice, nude pumps and I ask them where they got them from and they say ‘M&S; £20’ and I think to myself, ‘Why do I even bother?’” But to eliminate this bargain hunting culture, she says, is to promote the idea that consumers should invest in quality, “If you are going to buy something cheap, it’s not going to last as long, so you’re better off saving the money and buying something that’s going to last. If you buy cheap you have to buy twice.” Not only this but the situation is exacerbated by Government charging VAT on products that are purely manufactured in the UK, she explains, “If Government want to function as ‘heroes of the economy’, small businesses need to see immediate action and decreasing VAT should be at the top of the checklist.
UK Fashion Industry
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“It’s much harder for small firms to absorb 20% VAT, instead we have to pass the cost on to our customer, reduce stock levels and dig deep to find other ways to save cost.” The entrepreneur says that a decrease would significantly help her to invest in skills within the business. Skills are a significant challenge within the business. “It is a massive struggle finding skilled employees. All the people that make my shoes come from Cyprus and Greece. They came over from Greece and that’s the only reason we were able to do it in the UK. They worked in a shoe factory in Greece, which went bankrupt and that’s
Britain’s offshoring trend and rise of manufacturing in China, India and Eastern Europe has seriously damaged UK fashion manufacturing the only reason we have been able to have the skills and to start making shoes in England again.” As always the problem comes down to education. If skills like these aren’t publicised in education, industry and by parents themselves, we will never attract young talent into the industry. WatkinsonYull emphasises the importance of education, advising those thinking about starting a similar venture, “Put in the time to start training people. I also think it’s known as a blue collared job to be a manufacturer and not so glamorous. That has to change, it is a really skilled art and people don’t seem to understand that, they think it’s a labourer thing.”
At the beginning of her journey, industry experts told her that to manufacturer stilettos in the UK was impossible, “They said it was too expensive, that it wouldn’t be a business and that we didn’t have the skills here anymore to do it. With a small grant from MAS, I’m about to expand my range even further. “I’m proud to be supporting British manufacturing and predict my sales and turnover will increase by 30% next year as a direct result of their support. “International customers love British-made products. When I began, everyone told me that it was hopeless to try and make shoes here and that I should give up. I was determined to prove them wrong.” Watkinson-Yull started Yull in 2011 while she was still at university. The 25-year-old entrepreneur self-financed the venture at first and then in 2012 was given funding from the Prince’s Trust to manufacture in the UK. Now almost five years on, the brand is stocked in boutiques around the globe and has opened up a studio in Battersea. 50% of the full range are 100% sourced and manufactured in the UK. The other 50% are made in China. However, WatkinsonYull makes it very clear on the packaging which ones are which and it can be easily told by the price. The Chinese shoes are more fun whilst the British shoes are much more classic. Watkinson-Yull is dedicated to providing a boutique luxury, affordable brand that strives to be truly British through and through: designed, inspired and manufactured in Britain. Watkinson-Yull is one of the only independent shoe brands manufacturing high heels in Britain and in July this year Yull partnered with Staffa Shoes in East London to produce her range of high heeled women’s shoes which sell in Europe, the US, Asia and Far East.
Sustaining the momentum
Continuing the upward trajectory of the industry will be maintained by industry connecting with education to attract talented, young people into the sector, so manufacturers won’t need to look to other economies to find the skills they need. Additionally, it relies on whether consumers can transition from buying throw away fashion to investing in good quality garments that cost more and last longer. British manufacturers need to
HOT TOPIC
The benefits of
UK production
1
“Made in UK” can add value to a brand
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Costs: Although production costs may be higher, there’s more control and they won’t fluctuate
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Smaller quantities: UK factories are more willing to produce small quantities
4
Control: it’s easier to check the quality and deal quickly with problems
5
Communication: communication will be much easier
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Scheduling: the ability to produce orders more quickly as there’s no need to allow extra shipping time
7
Delivery costs: can be kept to a minimum and removes the concern of goods getting stuck in Customs
see the benefits in producing here, as Nieper puts it “The winning combination Britain can offer is quality and short lead times and ethical production.” So the next time you find yourself queuing at 5am for the Next sale, ask yourself why? For a bargain? Or for a classic garment that will last and look good for a decade? As Watkinson-Yull so eloquently put it “if you buy cheap; you buy twice” or even more. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 33
A parting thought
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www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Mike Gregory – Retrospective
SPECIAL FEATURE
Professor Sir Mike Gregory from the Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing gives his retrospective account of the past, present and future outlook of the UK manufacturing sector ahead of his retirement this month.
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t first glance many of the products we use today look pretty similar to the ones we were using 50 years ago. Aeroplanes, cars, washing machines, fridges, televisions and lawnmowers all look pretty much the same. A bit sleeker and neater perhaps but completely recognisable in both form and function. The same might be said for factories. Cleaner and tidier no doubt and with rather fewer people, but still machines processing materials as they flow more or less smoothly through the plant. So has anything really changed or has it just got a bit more efficient? In fact I would like to argue that things have changed
If the performance of the majority could be raised to the performance of the best, problems of competitiveness and productivity would disappear overnight dramatically. It should be no surprise that the things we use have remained largely people-shaped and people-sized. The way they are made, however, has raced ahead in ways that are not obvious on the surface – and I believe we are on the brink of a rapid acceleration in the pace of change for manufacturing. It is customary to observe that manufacturing as a proportion of the economy has declined. Some of that decline is simply a relabelling of activities from inside to outside the factory but much is real, reflecting the growth of services which was only to be expected as societies became more affluent. The mistake perhaps was to assume that
because manufacturing formed a small proportion of the economy that it was relatively unimportant. Brains only form a small proportion of our body weight but no-one thinks they are unimportant. At the risk of stretching the analogy too far, our modern understanding recognises that manufacturing can be the ‘brain’ of the economy: integrating and co-ordinating ideas and actions to achieve strategic purposes. Modern manufacturing is increasingly recognised as the full cycle from understanding markets through design, production, distribution and service and increasingly connected digitally. It is also true that when we look at people we don’t see the brain at all, rather like manufacturing. Most people have never been inside a factory and seen the complexity of what goes on. It is this very ‘invisibility’ of manufacturing that masks the huge progress that has been made in the past 50 years and the revolution to come. It used to be said that manufacturing was about materials, men (and women), machines and money and perhaps those are useful perspectives on the changes that have taken place. Materials used to be fairly straightforward. Typically metals, they would be mined and refined and then delivered in various forms to factories where they would be shaped to meet the needs of the product. Today we have a wide variety of materials from plastics to ceramics and most recently graphene all capable of being configured in different ways so that materials themselves can be designed to suit particular applications. Still to come is the much wider use of natural materials. Fifty years ago we would have seen factories full of people. Many would have been doing practical hands-on jobs using individual machines to shape materials. The speed and accuracy of production September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 35
Mike Gregory – Retrospective
depended very heavily on the skills of people on the shop floor. Today there are roughly the same numbers of people doing professional and managerial jobs as there are manual jobs. Some of the practical skills have been captured in automated machinery, software and planning. In the wider manufacturing system there have also been dramatic changes. Armies of people progressing orders and scheduling production have been replaced by computer systems. Even the final transactions which used to take place in shops are now done over the internet. Almost everything can now be ordered from the comfort of our armchairs. Many machines look very much the same as they did 50 years ago. The functions of cutting, forming and coating materials have not changed dramatically though there are some new entrants such as lasers and, more recently, additive processing machines. But the real step forward is in sensing and control. Where once sophisticated skills were needed to set and run machines, today tested programmes can be downloaded to fashion a huge range of products. And the machines can be networked together globally as well as locally so that operations can be monitored from wherever is convenient. Money, the fourth ingredient of manufacturing, remains controversial. Is enough capital available to invest in more productive equipment? Will banks lend sufficient working capital for businesses to grow? The reawakening of interest in manufacturing has led to a realisation that banks could do more to assist manufacturers. It has been increasingly recognised that small and growing companies used to be well served by local banks and managers who really understood the businesses and could provide support and guidance rather than just money. There is some evidence of a welcome return to this style of banking. So what do we need to do in education, research and practice to take advantage of these trends and opportunities? Education is at the root of a robust modern industrial economy. Education of the general public to understand the role of manufacturing in the economy. Education in schools to stimulate interest and enthusiasm for the foundational principles of science and technology. Education at universities to ensure that the UK has the people to keep it
Brains only form a small proportion of our body weight but no-one thinks they are unimportant in the first division of technological nations. Research is needed not just to uncover new scientific insights but to explore how these insights can be translated into technologies and in due course wealth creating activities. Research is also essential to understand how to make better use of the things we already know. Nowhere is this more important than in understanding how to make goods using less energy and less material and extending their life rather than throwing them away prematurely. Sharing and developing good practices is at the heart of a healthy industrial economy. There are huge opportunities for industry, academe and government
36 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
SPECIAL FEATURE
Professor Sir Mike Gregory is retiring as Head of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) on September 30. Mike has been the driving force behind the IfM, creating an environment in which world-class researchers work closely with industry and governments to understand the challenges facing manufacturers around the world, and to educate new generations of manufacturing leaders. He will be succeeded by Professor Andy Neely, the founding director of the Cambridge Service Alliance and currently Royal Academy of Engineering Professor of Complex Services.
to come together to make appropriate expertise rapidly available to companies where they need it when they need it. If the performance of the majority could be raised to the performance of the best, problems of competitiveness and productivity would disappear overnight! I have had the privilege of being involved with manufacturing and observing the fascinating trends and developments. There has never been a more exciting time. Modern manufacturing can provide interesting jobs, raise standards of living for producers and users and do all this while preserving the planet for future generation. Big challenges. Great fun!
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Do HS2, Crossrail and the Northern Powerhouse demonstrate that the UK is still a topnotch rail country? The investment is there and the work is ongoing but there are hurdles in the way of building a 21st-Century network. Ruari McCallion takes a journey.
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here is good news and bad news about the rail sector in the UK. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the announcement and undertaking of a series of major rail projects including Crossrail, HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse, are clear and unequivocal indicators of a “golden age” of rail investment and a huge boost to the manufacturing and supply industry. Other projects, such as the proposed electrification of the Midland Mainline from St Pancras to Leeds, the Transpennine
38 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
route from Leeds to Manchester and the Great Western line from London to Bristol and South Wales, further emphasise good intentions. The total cost of £38.5bn over five years is a huge amount of money by any standards; it is the biggest transport infrastructure package ever proposed in this country. However, there are some hurdles along the way. The Great Western electrification has no start date and both the Midland Mainline and Transpennine projects have been “paused”. The
Northern Powerhouse’s timetable has slipped a bit and is talked of in some quarters as Transport for the North – TFN, for short, which is dangerously close to Jimmy Young’s old sign-off phrase: TTFN, or “ta-ta for now”. The existing rail projects are heading to exceed the £38.5bn budget laid down in CP5 – Control Period 5, the strategic plan that covers the period April 2014-March 2019 – and some projects are, as a result, being delayed. There is the unavoidable reality of the state of the country’s public finances; at the time HS2 and TFN were announced, it was questionable whether we could actually afford them at all. But the stated objective of revitalisation of the economy outside of London is absolutely dependent on improved transport infrastructure in the regions – it will stimulate growth and go some way to achieving a geographical as well as sector rebalancing the economy.
Rail
Even if it takes 60 years to revitalise the railways, as has been claimed in some quarters, it still must be done. The UK is the sole major economy in the world that is dominated by only one major city. France has Paris, Marseilles and others towards the Rhine. Germany has Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and so on. Italy has Milan and Turin. Japan has a number of major industrial and commercial cities. Even The Netherlands has more than one major economic hub: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Aachen. That is not to say that all those cities are the same size as London; they are more in line with each other. London is more than seven times the size of Birmingham, the nextlargest, and over 10 times the size of third-placed Glasgow. The idea of TFN is that it will enable the cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, along with Hull, to feed off and stimulate each other’s strengths and resources. Objectives laid out in CP5 include: an extra 700 trains a day linking key Northern cities; a 20% increase in available seats on peak commuter services in London and the SouthEast; new lines to increase capacity in Scotland; electrifying more of the network and introducing modern signalling. Clearly, the political will is there and the money is being found, one way or another, even if there are going to be some delays in the short to medium term. But what else stands in the way of modernising the country’s railways? Why have key projects been “paused” or delayed? Capacity to deliver, in short. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin in a speech to the Commons on the June 24, overtly criticised Network Rail’s handling of the five-year, £38bn investment plan and said there was “no excuse” for the delays. “Important aspects of Network Rail’s invest programme are costing more and taking longer,” McLoughlin said. “Electrification is difficult. The UK supply chain for complex signal work needs to be stronger. Construction rates have been slow. It has taken longer to obtain planning consent from some local authorities. But that is no excuse. All of these problems could have been foreseen by Network Rail.” That costs were found to have risen as they got more specific almost goes without saying; it always seems to be the case with the UK’s major infrastructure
SECTOR FOCUS
CONTROL PERIOD 5 FACTS extra trains a day linking key Northern cities
Existing rail projects expected to exceed
new lines to increase capacity in Scotland electrifying more of the network and introducing modern signalling
projects. As Pete Waterman observed (P42), the country’s regulatory framework seems to make our railways the most expensive in the world. It was to be hoped that laying out a clear strategy for the next five years and even beyond would have helped to “beef up” the supply chain but it does not yet appear to be the case. The established practices of “famine or feast” when it comes to tenders and orders remains in place. “If you’re an SME you can’t cope with it; if the tenders stop, you’re in trouble. If you have 40 employees, you can’t keep them going – and the banks haven’t been helping. A few years ago, Bombardier actually stepped in and paid suppliers’ bills because the banks wouldn’t support them,” Waterman maintained. So does this mean that the skills necessary to run the railways are being “hollowed out”? Skilled labour may be in short supply but if companies could be confident that they were going to get the work, they will invest and they will build, he believes. But what will they be building on? Derby has been through a crisis that has seen several companies disappear and factories close. Is the future of the UK rail industry to be repair and maintenance of equipment built elsewhere? Waterman has more confidence than that. “In some areas we lead the world,” he said. “Braking, for example – all High Speed Trains, everywhere in the world, use British brakes. Our emissions
technology is world-class. We have some excellent ideas coming out of Crossrail – we are still very innovative but we are not very good at sustaining long projects.” There are major issues with the physical infrastructure that will require major work along the way. In the North of England, at Warrington, a Victorian-era two-bore tunnel will probably have to be completely replaced. The Severn Tunnel is not big enough to allow overhead power systems – so does electrification stop at Bristol? Where does that leave the development of transport in Wales? At the same time as the country faces problems that are stopping projects dead in their tracks or raising costs and problems that could and should be foreseen, according to the Transport Secretary, the UK still has resources that can overcome pretty much anything. It is generally accepted that the UK leads the world in braking technology, for example; all High-speed trains, anywhere in the world, use British brakes. Our emissions technology is also worldclass. The technology and techniques developed during the Crossrail project are also world-leading, from tunnelling to signalling. The challenge is to put them together – and to ensure that the structure of project commissioning means that companies will be encouraged to invest, and, crucially, that employees will remain in the rail industry and their skills will not be lost to nuclear, marine, auto or other sectors. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 39
Rail
Is the UK still a front-rank rail equipment manufacturer or is its future to be maintenance and support for equipment made elsewhere? Ruari McCallion reports.
‘‘T
he rail industry” is a simple term that straddles a wide and complex array of businesses and activities, including construction, civil engineering, electronics and communications, as well as mechanical and electrical engineering. Although the UK was the pioneer of not only the railways themselves but advances and developments along the way, from high-speed vehicles to tilting trains, it’s clear that other countries have pulled ahead, in terms of track, speed and technology. Derby could once have claimed to be the hub of world railway engineering and manufacturing but that is not the case now. The awarding of the contract for the latest Thameslink trains, the 700 Class Desiro series, to Siemens in Germany looked dangerously like the final nail in the coffin for rolling stock manufacturing in the UK. However, the award of Crossrail rolling stock contract to Bombardier, for
65 new Class 345 Aventra trains and worth £1bn, along with ongoing London Underground work, has helped retain a key business in the sector, which has revenues of around £2bn annually and employs over 5500 people in the UK. The Crossrail contract will support 760 UK manufacturing jobs and 80 apprenticeships; depot construction will create 244 jobs and 16 apprenticeships, with a further 80 jobs once operational to maintain the new fleet. An estimated 74% of the Crossrail spend will remain within the UK economy and Bombardier has pledged to target 25% of the value of the contract on SMEs. Rolling stock contracts that are, by their very nature, long term – the InterCity 125 trains are now 45 years old. They are now being replaced, by the Hitachi Class 800 Super Express. The first batch has been designed and manufactured in Japan but 122 of them are to be assembled at a new plant in Co Durham. Until the Hitachi plant opens,
of Crossrail spend will remain within the UK economy
40 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
SECTOR FOCUS
Bombardier remains the only major train manufacturer in the United Kingdom and accounts for over 75% of industry revenue. Smaller companies have, for the moment, effectively one domestic manufacturer to deal with, which means that Bombardier’s influence within the industry is large. That can be positive (we all know where we stand and what the rules of the game are) or negative (if the biggest domino falls, everything goes with it). As the Transport Minister observed, the supply chain is perhaps not as robust as could be wished although initiatives are in place to help it improve, including the Rail Industry Association (RIA) Value Improvement Programme, which aims to drive waste out of the supply chain and is in addition to its BS11000 collaborative framework initiative. The Department for Transport announced in 2014 a £500,000 investment in the Rail Supply Group, intended to help rail suppliers secure new business at home and internationally. While rolling stock can be built anywhere in the world, infrastructure and maintenance have to be on the spot. RIA’s list of companies that provide maintenance includes Alstom, Hitachi, Serco and Voith Turbo, as well as Bombardier. Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited, formerly Westinghouse Brakes (UK) Limited, invested millions of pounds in a new headquarters in Melksham, Wiltshire. It offers rail braking systems to the UK and Irish and markets. The Westinghouse Brakes brand is retained for international markets. Westcode (UK) Ltd is one of a number of companies that provides overhaul and repair of HVAC, door, brake, air suspension and air supply equipment. In the infrastructure area, Unipart Dorman, for example, is a leader in LED signalling and has installed over 90,000 units on the UK infrastructure and overseas. It is one of Network Rail’s suppliers of cables and associated cable fixings and fittings. The relationship between OEMs and the supply chain is symbiotic; neither will be completely healthy without the other. On the other hand, maintenance and infrastructure will always be there and so will the need to service it. The high visibility trains may be built elsewhere but the provision to build, service and maintain the infrastructure they run on has to be provided locally. That may not be the most glamorous of futures to some, but it’s the essence of the system.
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Cutting a new track Pete Waterman may be better known as a record producer but he now spends most of his time on manufacturing and engineering – especially railways – and he holds some pretty trenchant views, on training especially. Ruari McCallion listened to a few of them.
P
ete Waterman is probably most familiar from TV shows such as Pop Idol and as the producer of acts like Steps, Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue. But he is better known in manufacturing and engineering circles as a dogged champion of Britain’s railways. He established London & North Western Railway, an independent railway maintenance company, in 1997 and sold it to Arriva (now DB Schenker) in 2005. He also owned London & North Western Railway Heritage Company, an independent facility in Crewe for the repair and maintenance of diesel locomotives, until 2014. He led the campaign for a National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, of which he has been a Patron since its establishment in 2010, and accepted an invitation to join the Government’s HS2 Growth Taskforce in 2013. HS2 has been so controversial that the question has to be asked: will it ever be built?
[Waterman] is better known in manufacturing and engineering circles as a dogged champion of Britain’s railways
“Absolutely. It removes the need for 20 lanes of motorway – it has to be built,” Waterman replied. But there are hurdles in the way and regulation is far from the least of them. “Legislation for major projects is horrendously expensive and very long-winded in this country; everyone wants a say, and that makes our transport system probably the most expensive in the world. The timetable for HS2 has that the first ground will be cut in December this year – five years on.” He relates a tale that may have lessons for planning in the UK, from just across the Channel. “I was doing a programme for the BBC about the Channel Tunnel. I asked the Mayor of Calais what sort of issues they faced with planning. ‘You don’t ask the frogs if you want to clear a pond’, he said. You can check it on YouTube,” he declared. So how do you get over the planning problems and objections that seem to pepper every mile? “People should be assured that they won’t be disadvantaged. You need to talk to them, explain what is happening and why and assure them that they won’t lose money. There will be opportunists en route but in five years it will all be forgotten.” The skills base is another issue that is very close to Waterman’s heart. He is deputy chair of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and established (jointly with infrastructure company OSL Rail Ltd) the Railway Exchange
42 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Training Academy (RETA), which is based in Crewe. RETA’s four-year apprenticeships have a focus on ‘heritage’ skills but also on overhead power infrastructure, and points and signals technology. After 17 years’ experience in training over 120 apprentices to Level IV NVQ and City & Guilds standards, the reason for establishing RETA was pretty straightforward. “I believe that the current training regime is not fit for purpose,” he stated, and it’s a problem that goes back 30 years, to the time when the government ended financial support for apprenticeships – and the number of places plummeted as a result. While welcoming the Chancellor’s recent announcement of the Apprenticeship Levy, he is adamant that the money should go where it’s needed: providing training, rather than funding an auditing/ tick-box exercise. “I want to see companies, especially SMEs, get the benefit of training. If all we are doing is building more campuses, then I’m not interested,” Waterman said. As the UK is looking at an unprecedented period of investment in railways, the skills base has to be reinforced and grown – and as the generation of traditional, time-served apprentices is rapidly approaching retirement age, time is short. “The money must be directed to people who can’t get jobs and need skills. We need our apprentices to learn what the older guys can teach them.”
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INTERVIEW Generally speaking GE’s UK & Ireland CEO, Mark Elborne talks to ’s Industry Editor, Federico Ercoli about the heavy stake the company is putting behind the future state of manufacturing.
T
here is often a thin, nervewracking aura of pressure looming in the air before an interview with the president or the CEO of a big multinational. Usually due to the stereotyped portrait that depicts the job title as an inaccessible, workaholic and machine-like individual with more ego than humanity, the task seems daunting most of the time. In fact, when asked to interview General Electric’s (GE) president and CEO for the UK & Ireland, Mark Elborne, colleagues smirked and sarcastically threw a “no pressure” at me. Thankfully, succumbing easily to despair is not one of my weaknesses.
44 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Mark Elborne
After a couple of rescheduled meetings due to two, very dear to Londoners, tube strikes, I headed to GE’s headquarters in Hammersmith on a promisingly overcast morning. As first impressions go, the building largely lived up to the company’s reputation. From the outside, The Ark (such is the name of the building) looked so modern it seemed a 3D render. Seeing me captivated by it Elborne courteously filled me in about the history of the building. “It was designed by a British architect who worked for most of his life in Sweden,” he told me. “Before us it was occupied by a Canadian corporation (Seagram) that dealt in alcoholic drinks,” he added. It quickly became clear that Elborne is far, far away from the stereotypical category of CEOs earlier conveyed. A comfortable and relaxed mood rapidly filled the room and I almost forgot I was there to talk about business and manufacturing with one of the most influential figures in the industry. Everything was steering away from the grey scenario I thought I would walk into. Elborne naturally made room for an even more interesting conversation. So, first things first.
Our ability to operate without barriers within Europe is hugely important, not just in terms of how we support customers with our products, but also in how we ensure that we’ve got all the best people coming into the company to help us support our growth Looking up to certain people usually makes me wonder how they deal with the roles they cover. Do they manage to separate work and private life? What does their average day look like? “My average day is long, I’m at the office by 8am and I rarely leave before 8pm, unless I am going out for an event in the evening, which probably is two or three nights a week,” Elborne said. “We all have to manage emails and manage the responsibilities of delivering what’s key to us as a company. I spend a lot of time engaging with customers, government and external stakeholders and all that takes time. In the end, there has to be a balance between time doing work in the office and the rest.” Just as I imagined. Although, he appeared rested, so there must be a secret he didn’t let me in on.
INTERVIEW
The first of a GE industrial internet event
The revolution is here
GE has been featured heavily in the mainstream press recently, citing a “new industrial revolution” as currently under way. According to Elborne, there are three things driving the change: “The first is the progression of what we can do with analytics and the creation of, for example, algorithms that provide the ability to be more predictive. The second is the ability to do more with gathering data, for example, additive manufacturing enabling companies to put sensors in place in machines where traditional manufacturing wouldn’t, so one can really start gathering data that is meaningful towards driving that greater outcome. The third thing is the world being more and more connected.” These are all, to the modern manufacturer, sounding synonyms of big data, servitization and IoT. All tools and models that can undoubtedly serve as catalysts for this new revolution. So what is really driving it?
The importance of driving technology through an integrated European platform is key “What’s driving it, is a need to create new business models. The opportunity that comes from the ability to analyse and understand data creates a situation where we and our customers need to think more intelligently about how we can September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 45
INTERVIEW The subsea pipeline manufacturing in Newcastle
Staying energised Still one of the most pressing issues among UK industry is energy security. Recently released government figures show that fossil fuels are still the key energy source in the UK despite hitting a low record of 84.5%. Low carbon emissions sources are on the rise with 14.2% and only 7% of those account for renewables supplies. Being still a long way from making renewables a reality as a viable alternative in energy sources, Elborne thinks that they are, nevertheless “at the front of the industrial agenda right now”. “There is a clear ambition and a path to delivering sufficient renewable energy generation, at least to meet the 20% renewable generation target,” he said. “I believe that to ensure that we meet the 20% target for both transportation and heat, we will need to put in place the use of renewable energies, this will create challenges for 2020.
We need the UK and Ireland to fully support the EU policy around creating an interconnected energy market across the whole of Europe so that we can truly optimise the supply and distribution of energy
GE’s Little Raith Wind Farm in Fife, Scotland
Mark Elborne is President & CEO of the UK & Ireland at GE
help optimise production, reduce costs, drive better efficiency, create better outcomes and deliver solutions,” he said. “It’s all part of a journey. Take the transformation from selling a product to selling a solution, for example. The solution doesn’t necessarily have to be a piece of equipment that delivers a different outcome, it is the universe within which that equipment may operate and what you can do with the information you gather from it that changes everything.” Servitization can be a way of delivering outcomes for customers whose financial model makes them
46 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
unsuitable for the very significant cap-ex investments required for some technology. But if implementing servitization means changing business model and perhaps re-targeting and re-shaping the core business of a company, big data and IoT will require adequate infrastructures, efficient and environmentally safe energy sources as well as manufacturers’ willingness to update production practices and the potential ability to change the cultural mindset of consumers. All of which are subject to time constraints, technological advancements and essential governmental support.
Mark Elborne
“What we should focus on is the biggest challenge: managing our energy mix against the government requirements on balancing energy security, cost and carbon reduction. “The UK has, generally, the right mechanisms in place to manage this today. Obviously we need a new generation of nuclear and gas energy harnessing and depletion techniques. For example, gas is a lot cheaper now and with the termination of a number of coal plants, progress can be made.” GE’s involvement in the run to renewables development and deployment is substantial and is easily justifiable if considering the large commercial interests that revolve around the sector. Recent examples include the company’s decision to increase the annual production capacity of its Campinas wind turbine factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil (from 400 to 500 units per year); the fulfillment of the order for a supply of five turbines to a wind farm project near Crosey Le
Grand, in France; the supply of 60 wind turbines for the Meikle wind project in British Columbia, Canada; and 50 solar inverters for the Hosoe Project on Japan’s Kyushu island. As much as it is globally, energy is also a crucial issue in the EU and several politicians and manufacturers say the UK cannot stand alone in the energy race. Something that Elborne doesn’t seem to disagree with. “We need the UK and Ireland to fully support the EU policy around creating an interconnected energy market across the whole of Europe so that we can truly optimise the supply and distribution of energy, which ultimately will bring down the cost of energy to consumers. We have to have indigenous energy generation in the UK, where a significant amount of gas is imported. We need to be interconnected, which helps us with supply from markets in Europe that have surplus.” That is, if the UK does not exit the European Union.
Future vision
The opportunity that comes from the ability to analyse and understand data creates a situation where we and our customers need to think more intelligently about how we can help optimise production Should we stay, or should we go?
Mark Elborne is speaking at National Skills Conference, book your place now at http://tmskills.com
Elborne has been relatively vocal in the press, stating his strong opposition about the UK opting out of the EU. Almost two months ago, American financial services company, Standard & Poor’s, warned that the UK could lose its triple-A credit rating if leaving the EU. Elborne stressed the detrimental effects of an exit for both the UK and GE, which has a large part of its $175bn conglomerate and 18,000 employees in the UK. “Our ability to operate without barriers within Europe is hugely important, not just in terms of how we support customers with our products, but also in how we ensure that we’ve got all the best people coming into the company to help us support our growth,” he said. “The importance of driving technology through an integrated European platform is key. From a regulatory standpoint, having a single set of requirements makes doing business easier and as part of the European Union, in terms of trade deals or in terms of reaching trade agreements with other countries, this power is possible.”
INTERVIEW
Companies like GE have the power to shape markets and any corporate transformation the company undergoes can resonate heavily throughout the industrial landscape. Recently, the biggest shift in direction has been the re-balancing of the business towards being predominantly an industrial company. “At the beginning of this year we were 75% industrial 25% financial,” Elborne said. “It was a huge decision made in spring this year by the chairman and the board. We’re retaining three of our businesses that support our industrial production at our aviation company and as we go towards rebalancing, obviously we’ve got the Alstom acquisition that is very important. It’s going to add significance to our energy portfolio. Obviously the chairman and the board will be looking into the key infrastructure areas that need re-balancing (oil & gas, energy, renewables, healthcare, transportation) and into the areas we need to continue to grow while continuing to invest in order to stay competitive.” If we are, and we most likely are, undergoing a new industrial revolution, it is safe to say we will see GE and similar companies at the forefront, driving the new shape that manufacturing will take - whatever that shape might be.
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 47
6Osecond Sanjay Ravi
Sanjay Ravi World Wide Managing Director, Discrete Manufacturing Industry, Microsoft Corporation
Which technologies are helping drive the idea of a “Connected Enterprise” to a reality?
Manufacturing has traditionally been one of the most data intensive industries, but businesses can now leverage the cloud’s unlimited computing power combined with advanced rich data platforms to oversee vast quantities of data in realtime; what Microsoft refers to as the “Intelligent Cloud”. Given the rise of the Internet of Things and connected devices, the Intelligent Cloud allows manufacturers to transform their business models from focusing purely on production and selling goods, to one offering ongoing manufacturing services [servitization]. This model shift is opening up a whole new era for manufacturers in terms of business opportunity.
Have manufacturers got the skills necessary to successfully leverage this era?
A key area for Microsoft is ensuring that advanced capabilities are available to everyone, with a particular
The Intelligent Cloud allows manufacturers to transform their business models from focusing purely on production and selling goods, to one offering ongoing manufacturing services
48 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
focus on productivity - both personal and organisational. Microsoft’s Azure Machine Learning service, for example, has been designed to be very intuitive. It provides a platform which an organisation can very quickly utilise to run trials on and make smarter, faster decisions, and that – Microsoft believes – is going to be critical for the future. Another area Microsoft has made crucial investments in is Power Business Intelligence [BI], using rich visualisations to bring data to life so that people can actually understand it, gain insights from it and act upon it.
Radically changing your business model can be a daunting prospect. What advice would you give?
Capabilities have been greatly democratised. Previously, in order to process large amounts of data to gain greater insights, you may have needed to be a sizeable organisation to make the necessary investment in data centres, significant internal resourcing, and deep investments with data scientists to develop the insights required. But today, anyone can achieve that same level of capability by leveraging the Intelligent Cloud; available without making any upfront infrastructure investments, as well as an intuitive analytics platform that allows more individuals within organisations to directly gain the needed insights. Also, as you only pay for what you use, it is scalable to the size of an operation. The scale advantage that might have been a challenge previously for small manufacturers, arguably don’t exist anymore.
INTERVIEW
Would you advocate step change or a more dramatic single leap?
Today, you can drive change and transform parts of your business in quite an agile manner; it no longer requires a two or three year investment to drive a business model change. Companies can now integrate agile, methodology-phased approaches focusing on certain aspects of the business, innovating processes and discovering the best model, and then take it and rapidly apply it across the organisation locally, nationally and internationally. Again, it comes down to the benefits of cloud. For example, starting with an isolated area of a particular connected business service within a manufacturing organisation, tying it to a select number of customers’ business models and once successfully integrated, the model can be rolled out organisation-wide in a very rapid manner thanks to global platforms powered through the cloud.
You’ve said before that we need to reimagine manufacturing. What happens to the people who aren’t willing - or don’t have the capabilities - to move with the times?
On one hand, today’s technologies provide an opportunity to disrupt business models and find new sources of revenue - which obviously comes with a risk; on the other hand, the risk may be too high for some or dynamic innovation isn’t something they are familiar with or want to undertake, but subsequently that opens their business up to being disrupted by a competitor. Equally, of crucial importance is thinking through and discovering the right business model that will drive success for your company, which is a challenge. Find it, however, and you are in a much stronger position to evolve, expand and actually disrupt some of your competitors business.
FURTHER INFO: An extended version of this interview can be found at: bit.ly/ConnectedEnterpriseTech
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www.leanmj.com
Learning to lean
T
his year’s conference was a melting pot of sectors and industries with legal, finance, aerospace, high tech manufacturing, retailers, broadcasters and agricultural specialists and practioners all presenting.
The conference
The event showcased the best lean practitioners in Europe and aimed to provide a year’s worth of knowledge in two days. Conference chair and Edinburgh Napier University’s Steve Yorkstone provided the opening remarks for this year’s festivities. Adrian Ruth from the BBC presented on how the conglomerate has taken on lean. Did you ever expect to see videos of how Songs of Praise and Radio 1’s
LEAN MANUFACTURING
This month LMJ’s outgoing editor Andrew Putwain rounds up all the content from the LMJAC in Amsterdam in mid-July. Live Lounge have been leaned? There was a great response when Fearne Cotton popped up on camera to say how beneficial she’s found 5S. The great thing about the LMJAC is that it is cross-sector, meaning all the delegates are learning from one another. This year we were well stocked with lawyers. Multi-national Clifford Chance LLP spoke about the struggles of engaging lean in an industry where taking your time and spending hours on something will earn you more money. Radiant Law’s Jason McQuillen, a regular contributor the LMJ, discussed this at length. It is a London commercial law firm that has taken billable hours off the equation completely. It now negotiates a fixed fee upfront, so no matter what the workload, there is no temptation to be any less productive. From a manufacturing perspective, Andre Lahy and his colleagues at Panalpina Logistics (who recently wrote for us in the July/August edition, so make sure you read about their efforts in full) presented on the cultural challenges involved in a lean transformation. Lahy’s a firm believer in less admin, something he made clear in his talk, saying he’s happy to be left out of the loop, occasionally on a programme initiation, if it means the process isn’t dragged to a halt through endless cc’ing and double checking of “is this OK?” And “Do I have permission?” If a lean transformation is to work, employees must be empowered with the tools to succeed and make decisions.”
LMJ Lean Top 25
The inaugural LMJ Lean Top 25 awards ceremony took place on the evening of the first day of the
Conference chair Steve Yorkstone congratulates George Donaldson, group continuous improvement manager at News UKNewsprinters Limited.
conference, with the deserving highlighted individuals presented with certificates that showcased their excellence. The 25 came from a wide range of countries: Serbia, Denmark, Italy, Hungary were all represented. The recipients excelled in one or more of three categories: innovation, champion and publicising lean. The Lean Top 25 aims to recognise the unsung heroes of lean, those who have dedicated their entire careers to improving environment and processes within their respective organisations.
Over and out
Finally, the time has come for me to bid a fond farewell to a publication which has brought me an enormous amount of insight and pleasure. I’d like to say thank you to all our writers and readers over the past 12 months, who have provided such a valuable contribution to LMJ in my time here. A new editor will be taking over in the coming months to continue to foster and build on the growth of the magazine, sowing the seeds to provide another thrilling annual conference in 2016. So for the final time, from me, Andrew Putwain, happy reading. FURTHER INFO:
The great thing about the LMJAC is that it is cross-sector, meaning all the delegates are learning from one another
50 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
To find out more highlights from the conference and other articles visit http://www.leanmj.com/com
Autodesk
The Future of Making Things
T
Asif Moghal, Manufacturing Industry Manager at Autodesk, explains why the future of British manufacturing lies with SMBs.
he UK has long had a strong heritage of being a global leader in manufacturing. While this reputation may have diminished in recent decades, everyone in the industry will agree we’re seeing resurgence in British manufacturing as we have emerged from our recent economic troubles. However, the industry as a whole is still under incredible pressure. There are a number of factors at play that are making manufacturing more challenging than it’s ever been. On a macroeconomic level, increasing globalisation and competition are creating a complex and difficult environment in which to operate. For example, June 2015’s index of production from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK’s total manufacturing output fell by 0.3%, due in part to the strengthening pound. Alongside this are a number of catalysts for disruption that are fundamentally changing how products are being designed and manufactured. The future of making things is being influenced by advances in additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques, along with a greater use of the cloud
MANUFACTURING LEADERSHIP
The future of making things is being influenced by advances in additive manufacturing. Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
and mobile in the design process. The concept of connected devices is also allowing manufacturers to extend their involvement in their products long after they’ve rolled off the production line. For a UK manufacturing firm of any size, especially smaller manufacturers (SMBs), these pressures are adding to an already difficult situation. The traditional approach for senior management in these firms is to try even harder to reduce costs, improve productivity (which four fifths of SMB manufacturers struggle with, according to research from the Business Growth Service) and innovate with their products or manufacturing processes. The difficulty all firms face is that many of these strategies are not sustainable. Any new product, method or process will ultimately be adopted across the industry, and any competitive edge gained will soon be lost. While this may sound bleak, smaller firms are actually in the best position to respond to the changes in the market, adopt these new technologies and come out on top. SMBs can be more agile than their larger competitors and, as a result, can respond to opportunities much faster, creating a tremendous advantage for them. With this in mind, the smaller British manufacturers that will succeed are those that quickly figure out how
to collaborate and personalise their products and services, flexibly design and manufacture them and, ultimately, step into the world of connected services. The tools and technology to achieve this are already out there and smaller manufacturers can start meeting the increasing demand for the highly customised, connected and more intelligent products and experiences customers now expect. The difficulty can be working out how to get there, especially for SMBs that don’t have the resources of their bigger competitors. That’s where Autodesk is
Smaller British manufacturers that will succeed are those that quickly figure out how to collaborate and personalise their products and services, flexibly design and manufacture them and, ultimately, step into the world of connected services playing its part. We’re enabling British manufacturers to look at where they are today, where they want to be and helping them to make the journey into their future of making things, developing a product innovation platform that delivers repetitive advantage, not just competitive advantage. All the UK’s manufacturing industry needs to do is be prepared to take that first step. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 51
EEF Insights
MANUFACTURING LEADERSHIP
Innovation and manufacturing Tim Hancock, Head of Manufacturing at Vodafone UK, explores the insights from the 2015 EEF-Vodafone Innovation Monitor Report and the shifting trends affecting innovation in UK manufacturing today.
S
ince the industrial revolution began in the late 18th century, Britain has been synonymous with manufacturing. Today, it remains an important sector and the UK is one of the most attractive countries in the world for direct foreign industrial investment. But in this increasingly competitive market awash with threats from new entrants and overseas competition, it’s clear that manufacturers must continually innovate to stay ahead while driving the right organisational change. We are delighted to partner with EEF to produce the 2015 Innovation Monitor. This report offers valuable insights, exploring the challenges faced by manufacturers and investigating how they are innovating to enhance product, process, service and marketing. With our own strong British heritage, we understand the crucial role that manufacturing plays within the UK economy. It’s essential that in business
we create the right environment for continuous innovation that supports this backbone of UK industry. The report establishes that almost all manufacturers are innovating in one form or another, but with a variety of business goals. It’s the prioritisation of goals and clear measurable progress against objectives that seem to be proving challenging for a number of reasons. The report also establishes that the level of innovation that can be taken on without disrupting day-to-day operations can be severely impacted by factors such as an organisation’s size and complexity. At Vodafone, from our conversations with a broad range of UK manufacturers, we’ve found that responsiveness, productivity, full visibility of a connected supply chain, along with knowledge security and IP protection are all key areas of focus. This is evident throughout the report with 45% of respondents saying they expect
45% of respondents say they expect innovation to significantly boost their productivity, 51% see enhancing margin as the biggest innovation driver; while 54% expected it to streamline their supply chain with positive impact on their exports
52 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
innovation to significantly boost their productivity, 51% see enhancing margin as the biggest innovation driver; while 54% expected it to streamline their supply chain with positive impact on their exports. Those very challenges were the catalyst for collaboration between Vodafone and a global lift manufacturer. While the company had a deep understanding of its own manufacturing business and could see the obvious benefits of a ‘lift monitoring capability’ it didn’t have the in-depth technical expertise to design the solution or map that across into specific business goals. It didn’t know what was in the realm of the possible. In partnership with Vodafone a system was designed and delivered; collecting real time data from all of the firm’s lifts in operation across the globe and consolidated that data into a centralised repository. That information was subsequently used to predict impending service requirements and enable proactive field maintenance. The lift manufacturer then quantified the impact of the system in terms of reduced outages, a lower field maintenance cost base, an improved safety record and higher customer satisfaction; all of which flowed through to its order book. If there is one lesson that we’d take from the report, it’s that innovation and manufacturing are intrinsically linked; with over half of the companies surveyed already committed to running multiple innovation projects in parallel. We believe that at Vodafone we can help by bringing technical knowledge and experience aligned with the capability to map initiatives across into measureable business goals. FURTHER INFO: To download your copy of the report visit www.eef.org.uk
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EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH September 2015 Steve Gaston
Business Development Manager at the Midlands Assembly Network (MAN)
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
What is your role and what are your main responsibilities?
It’s my job to go out and win new work for the Midlands Assembly Network and this is primarily focused on positioning us for projects that suit our complete supply chain capability. This means finding firms that would benefit from using two, three, four or even all of the MAN companies, providing one single-source solution for their production requirements. Increasingly, innovators are approaching us to help them with anything from design and prototyping, through to low and high volume manufacturing. Once we have identified a strong enquiry, I will act as the initial facilitator between potential clients and the nine companies in the group, followed by assisting with project management.
What are the key technical skills you use?
CV IN BRIEF Steve Gaston Age: Six decades Education: Woodlands Comprehensive in Coventry followed by De Montfort University. Career to date: Started as an apprentice at Jaguar Cars then worked my way up to electrical buyer at JLR, working on both Jaguar and Land Rover platforms. From there, I moved to a Sales engineering role at Wilmot Breedon, before becoming sales director at Bycrest Ltd in 1979. I joined the Midlands Assembly Network in 2006, a group of eight sub-contract manufacturers and one specialist engineering design agency, that all work together to win work in the UK and overseas. In recent years, I have been appointed as business development manager for the entire collective. Hobbies and interests: I’ve got a real passion for vehicle restoration and motorsport. Away from cars, I enjoy watching tennis and cricket, especially when England bring the Ashes back home.
54 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
We have numerous manufacturing disciplines in the group; aluminium casting, chemical etching, CNC machining, contract electronics manufacture, electrical and electronic assembly, fabrication, high volume precision pressings, PCB development and plastic injection moulding. Understanding the technical capabilities of each company is a huge task and that’s before you work out how each one can come together to deliver what the customer wants. Fortunately, I’ve been working with the group for nearly 10 years now so I could do a pretty good sales job for each firm, let alone the Midlands Assembly Network as a whole. Other technical skills I utilise include estimating, bill of materials and supply chain management.
What personal characteristics help you in your role?
An organised mind and remaining calm under pressure. I’m a people person, which can really help when you’re dealing with nine strongminded managing directors.
What do you consider to be your biggest personal success at the company so far?
Last year alone, I played a small role in bringing in £4.5m of collective new work for the Midlands Assembly Network, a good share of which was reshored because we could make it better and more competitively. As part of this new sales drive I was tasked with delivering a truly collaborative project that involved more than six different firms in a £2.6m global contract.
What are the most rewarding parts of your job?
Seeing firsthand the unimaginable, a group of independent but like minded companies working together to achieve a common goal: to make UK manufacturing more competitive and to create engineering jobs. I get to work with some of the best industrial talent we have in this country; it’s not always easy and it’s certainly never dull.
Do you have a grand career ambition?
At my time of life, I am pretty happy with my lot. However, we have been talking about it for a while now and I’d like to see the Midlands Assembly Network come up with its own product that we can design and manufacture under our own brand.
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Natacha, Leila and Aude-Emmanuelle work in Vascular Medical Systems Production at GE Healthcare
A
n online response to a recruitment advertisement for a US tech company has reinforced the sexist notions and stereotypes which continue to exist in the 21st century workforce. The recruiting advertisement for OneLogin features Iris Wegner, a platform engineer for the company, with a positive quote about the team she works with. The advertisement has been visible throughout transit stations in the San Francisco area, which led to online users commenting about the female engineer featured in the ad. One Facebook user said: “I’m curious that people with brains find this quote even plausible and if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like.” Iris Wegner responded with a post of her own, writing on her blog: “As for
A sexist response to a US recruitment ad sparked a social media backlash that garnered unprecedented support for women in engineering.
the comments about the ad… Is it so unheard of that I genuinely care about my teammates? “Some people think I’m not making ‘the right face’. Others think that this is unbelievable as to what ‘female engineers look like’. “News flash: this isn’t by any means an attempt to label ‘what female engineers look like.’ This is literally just ME, an example of ONE engineer at OneLogin. The ad is supposed to be authentic. My words, my face, and as far as I am concerned it is.”
Isis Anchalee, software engineer at OneLogin
Of the industries perceived to have the most macho atmosphere amongst the women polled, brewing (41%), construction (40%) and security (24%) were the highest
56 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
#ilooklikeanengineer
Wegner’s response prompted online users to start a hashtag on Twitter, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, with users posting Lindsay Harell is a images to show what Six Sigma black belt systems engineer engineers do like. from Caterpillar Inc In reaction to the criticism of the OneLogin advertisement, research conducted by clothing manufacturer Stormline has accumulated some intriguing information in regards to sexist attitudes in the workplace. The research states that one in five women can expect to encounter patronising colleagues in maledominated industries such as breweries and construction sites, which the research found were the two least appealing work environments for women. A poll of more than 1,000 women GE PowerWater team of engineers conducted by Stormline found that working in ‘macho’ atmosphere is the characteristic most likely to put a woman off a job in a traditionally male orientated industry. Of the industries perceived to have the most macho atmosphere amongst the women polled, Brewing (41%), construction (40%) and security (24%) were the highest. The industries perceived as most likely to force women to endure being patronised by male colleagues, saw aviation (42%), medicine (32%) and agriculture (29%) as being the highest.
WORKFORCE & SKILLS
Tana Utley, Vicepresident of Large Power Systems at Caterpillar
Lisa designs injectors for rocket engines at Aerojet Rocketdyne
Janis Murphy, Dam Designer and Inspector at Freese and Nichols
57
World First
FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Exchange great World First, provider of bespoke currency solutions, elaborates on how it can help businesses manage currency risk more effectively.
I
n May this year Rolls-Royce told investors that adverse currency moves could affect its revenues by as much as £350m as a result of the pound’s strength against the euro and the Norwegian krone. Likewise GKN Driveline lost £19m in the first half of this year because of the weakness of the euro. The love/hate relationship that manufacturing has with the currency world is similar to a client and their personal trainer; pressure from a strong currency hurts a manufacturer at first but the discipline eventually provides longer term health benefits.
financial crisis as central banks weaken their currencies in an attempt to reinvigorate their economies. Currencies are like a see-saw; when one falls, another rises and the problem shifts to another economy. Take the Chinese manufacturing sector as an example. It is roughly the same size as the entire French economy ($2.7trn vs $2.8trn in 2014) but slowing – and its putting the dampeners on the global economic recovery. In a bid to prop up this behemoth, the Chinese authorities have kept the yuan as weak as possible.
Who would be a manufacturer?
Volatility within currency markets is a natural side effect of these conditions and is also a constant risk for lots of businesses – yet too few actively manage that risk. In the past 12 months, sterling has strengthened by 6.20% on a trade weighted basis and for manufacturers from Coventry to Cornwall this has meant rising prices and a necessary shift toward a low cost, high value world. British manufacturers have needed to take on those higher costs, trim fat and streamline factory conditions in order to offer more specialised products
Manufacturers around the world have been hurt through the global
Whatever your exposure to currency fluctuations, it’s important to have a plan in place so that you feel in control 58 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
The ripple effects
for higher margins, often around 1015%. However, while a 10% margin may be a decent enough buffer for a company with no currency risk – i.e. producing and selling in one country – it is insufficient as soon as we cross international borders. In the past 10 years, the average yearly percentage movement in the rate of the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar has been 17%. In the first six months of 2015 alone, it has been 14%. Exchange rate moves have the ability to wipe out even the best of margins.
What to do?
Whatever you do, don’t do nothing! If you have exposure to currency markets then the best advice is to put a currency strategy in place to actively manage your risk. At World First, we’re market leaders in bespoke currency solutions for clients. For more than 10 years, we’ve been helping businesses manage currency risk more effectively. Whatever your exposure to currency fluctuations, it’s important to have a plan in place so that you feel in control. Exchange rates can move quickly – and often unpredictably – and could make a huge difference to your bottom line.
FURTHER INFO: To speak to one of our currency experts call us on 020 7326 9124 or go to worldfirst.com.
Columbus
MANUFACTURING SERVICES
Leading manufacturing services provider, Columbus, along with sister company, To Increase, explain how companies can stay competitive and innovate by embracing servitization.
P
recursors, in every industry, field and sector, are usually called innovators. Although sometimes, more than creating, what some people really do is steer and shift in a new direction. Steve Jobs said “people don’t know what they want until you show them,” and this might be true for a supplier-customer focused approach, but not for all. For today’s manufacturers, innovation needs to be driven by customer needs in order to have business value. What has been proven over recent years is that the manufacturing sector has been subject to all sorts of trends and changes in implementation of services, production techniques and practices. Many makers of complex, typically high-cost items also see that they lose out on revenue and
It becomes more effective to extend a productive engagement and product innovation throughout the product lifecycle, and equipment-as-a-service (EaaS) or servitization as a natural next step
competitive opportunities if they limit their customer-focused efforts to the early stages of the product lifecycle, when they design, build, and deliver machinery or other products. For them as well as their customers, it becomes more effective to extend a productive engagement and product innovation throughout the product lifecycle, and equipment-as-a-service (EaaS) or servitization as a natural next step. Columbus, alongside sister company To Increase, has embodied the change and pioneered the sector for over 25 years. “When product ownership remains with the manufacturer, and the customer benefits from machinery or other complex products within an EaaS agreement, it becomes easier for manufacturers and their customers to collaborate on product innovation,” said Bjorn Kuijt, VP of Product Management at To Increase. “Within this framework, customers’ risk is low, because they pay only for the value they receive and the innovation that makes sense for them, and they can avoid investing in assets that will sooner or later become obsolete. For the manufacturers, servitization provides a constant stream of additional, incremental revenue, while together with their customers they create new product features that help them to become more competitive,” added Kuijt.
Columbus’ most innovative manufacturing customers have rapidly made inroads in combining the internet of things (IoT), the cloud, and mobility to ensure they understand the performance of their products on customer sites and maintain a high level of responsiveness in their servitization model. “The industrial manufacturer, is getting demand from their clients and they’re trying to supply that experience but at the same time they’re trying to figure out a different way of monetizing their products,” said Luciano Cunha, VP of Sales at To Increase. Columbus has been operating many levels of servitization for many years developing among others, a component called ‘asset service management’ that allows industrial manufacturers to provide services to their customers. According to To Increase, “it’s not a question of ‘should it’ or ‘shouldn’t it be implemented’, the simple fact is, demand is already there.” As Cunha stated: “Servitization should be embraced by manufacturers. Both the product manufacturers and the industrial manufacturers should. The very end customers, are demanding better products at a lower cost. The manufacturers need to focus on differentiation and strategic advantage at all costs in order to create and innovate new products to bring to market.” September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 59
When less is far more
Can offering too many services actually be detrimental to your shift towards a service-based business model? James Tetherton of Kaiser Associates explores.
S
ervitization is a hot topic for manufacturers of all sizes and across sectors. With productivity stagnating, and competitive pressure squeezing margins, manufacturers are increasingly pressured to develop advanced services that help their customers attain the maximum performance benefit from purchasing new products. For manufacturers, the potential benefits of servitization are compelling; secure, long-term customer relationships through the life of the product (and in many cases, beyond), stronger differentiation vs. low-cost competitors, and a more diverse revenue base that is less reliant on new product sales. So, if servitization is so important, why are so many manufacturers struggling to execute a winning strategy? My experience suggests a slightly surprising
answer: put simply, the greatest barrier to successful servitization is often too many services. When developing a service-based strategy, manufacturers must carefully balance both the breadth and depth of potential services offered, against the increased costs of service development and operation. With limitless potential offerings and combinations of service offerings, the average manufacturer is actually more likely to launch far too
many services, not too few. This can often result in either overwhelming their customer base, or failing to capture their attention with unfocused messaging, and inferior experiences. Manufacturers frequently spend a great deal of time coming up with new ideas for potential service offerings before entering into servitization, however the more important question of “what should my service offering EXCLUDE?� largely remains untouched. As a result, uptake can fall below expectations, costs skyrocket and margins suffer, leading manufacturers to re-evaluate their place in the service market. From here a manufacturer may either give up entirely on their service shift, believing the market isn’t ready, or take a step back to understand the market and optimise its service offering. Service proliferation tends to take one of two distinct forms. In the most
Faced with the risk of picking the wrong choice, many customers simply preferred to delay the decision to another day
60 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Kaiser Associates
extreme cases, manufacturers will be guilty of both. 1 Overwhelming breadth: Slowly but surely, in efforts to keep up with perceived competitions, companies add more and more services (everything from a simple helpline and break / fix service, right up to remote monitoring and advanced outsourcing), and one day wake up and have far too many - and too many ineffective ones 2 Overwhelming depth: Identifying a few “big ideas”, but adding more and more options and therefore complexity to the services offered. To put this into context, a recent client of ours – a global capital equipment manufacturer - was seeking to implement advanced remote monitoring services as part of an overall Internet of Things strategy. Eager to please every type of customer, the client developed six different levels of service. Although this level of customisation sounded good in theory (an optimal offering for every customer type), the reality was very different. On the positive side, the overall idea of the service resonated strongly with customers. But, customers felt confused by the complex range of services on offer. Put simply: too much choice made decision making more difficult for the customer, not easier. And faced with the risk of picking the wrong choice, many customers simply preferred to delay the decision to another day. At the same time, the manufacturer’s own internal teams (particularly, its sales force), found the new concepts hard to understand and explain. As often happens, the manufacturer had significantly under-estimated the amount of training that was required to drive a shift from selling products to selling services. The solution: significant simplification from six different services down to only two; rapidly increased customer adoption; and a much quicker and less costly sales team training programme.
MANUFACTURING SERVICES
To avoid this service proliferation and complexity, and help prioritise options and develop an optimized service portfolio, Kaiser Associates developed a checklist of seven key questions that we believe any manufacturer needs to answer:
1 2
How difficult is this problem for the customer to solve? Is this a major challenge, or an easy fix?
How important is this service (or the service option) for the customer? Is it absolutely essential or a nice to have?
3
4
5
6
7
Is this service genuinely new or adequately met by other providers in the industry (including the customers themselves)? Can we place a monetary value on this service and successfully articulate the cost / benefit equation to my customers? Do we have the ability (or can we create the ability) to meet customer needs better than anyone else in the industry? If we reduce the options associated with the service, do we increase or decrease customer response?
James Tetherton, Senior Vice President, Kaiser Associates.
If servitization is so important, why are so many manufacturers struggling to execute a winning strategy?
Will this service allow us to significantly enhance our relationship with the customer?
By answering these seven questions, manufacturers can optimise their service offering, truly create long-term value for their customers and develop a service business model that is economically rewarding.
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 61
Toyota Material Handling UK
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES
Toyota Material Handling UK has an experienced Logistics Solutions team that will provide support for companies that can benefit from its growing range of automated products
The BT Autopilot system is a standard fork lift truck that drives itself
Automatic benefits
Frank Hasleden, Logistics Solutions Manager at Toyota Material Handling UK explains how the firm is supporting manufacturers as they begin to automate their processes.
M
aking the move to implement automation in materials handling is a challenge for many companies that operate forklift trucks and warehouse equipment. Although automation offers many advantages in terms of cost savings and efficiency, many companies are still unsure about how automation could work in their operation and the support available to them from traditional materials handling suppliers. Toyota Material Handling UK has an experienced Logistics Solutions team
62 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
that will provide support for companies that can benefit from its growing range of automated products. The Logistics Solutions team is responsible for managing automation products and projects. This includes established solutions like the BT Radioshuttle high density storage plus new developments in semiautomatic VNA trucks and
BT Autopilot automated warehouse trucks. The team combines members with a long experience in materials handling, racking solutions and engineering and is able to help companies understand the benefits automation can bring to their business and provide them with support from initial concept through to full installation. Frank Hasleden, Logistics Solutions manager comments, “We notice now that more and more distribution businesses are looking at automation right through the whole retail supply chain, but a lot of the activity is still focused further up the supply chain – manufacturing, primary distribution and food manufacturing because these operations have more experience in this area. Retail distribution is also a very amenable environment for automatic trucks - the technology has progressed to the stage where you have ‘mix-and-match’ automatic trucks in a manual warehouse with manual trucks as well.” The Toyota Logistics team is focused on providing support for three different automation products: the BT Radioshuttle high density storage system that combines specialised racking and the fifth generation shuttles; the latest VNA trucks with Zoning and Positioning (ZAP) technology, which uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to accurately position trucks in an aisle; and the BT Autopilot automated warehouse that can help to increase efficiency in replenishment and picking. Hasleden adds, “Automated warehouse trucks have been around for many years, and the perception of them is that they are highly bespoke specialist machines that are complex and difficult to support because they use specialised support remote from the customer. Our philosophy at Toyota is totally the opposite. Our BT Autopilot system is a standard fork lift truck that drives itself – it just takes the operator away. Most of our Autopilot solutions look like and drive like conventional fork lift trucks and can also be driven manually like a fork lift truck”. The Logistics Solutions team is working with a number of companies, from across a number of different industries, including manufacturing to drive forward automation in materials, to help them to improve productivity and efficiency using the latest technology. FURTHER INFO: To find out more about the latest automation developments from Toyota visit www.toyota-forklifts.co.uk
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The winds Jonny Williamson talks intelligent hydraulics with Artemis Intelligent Power’s Professor Win Rampen and Dr Niall Caldwell.
The first MHI 7 MW wind turbine fitted with a Digital Displacement transmission currently on test at the Hunterston facility
T
he UK is experiencing a boom in wind energy. Generation from renewable sources grew by 21% during 2014, according to the latest government figures, with wind accounting for 32% of that growth; the 5 GW installed wind capacity milestone has now been surpassed with a further 0.7 GW under construction; and the head of Offshore Wind, Huub den Rooijen has noted that currently, “The UK has more offshore wind turbines than the whole of the rest of Europe put together.” Reading this, you would expect the future to be pretty bright for wind power generation, but there’s a catch – a problem many are unaware of. Modern wind turbines typically have an input rotor speed of between 10 and 20 rpm, but their generators want to turn much faster. The usual solution to this issue is a speed-up gearbox, commonly at a 100:1 ratio; so the input shaft enters at 15 rpm and the output is closer to 1,500 rpm. According to chairman of Artemis Intelligent Power, Professor Win Rampen the problem lies in the teeth that the gearbox gears transfer this load across. “Most of these teeth aren’t in mesh at any one time, so the entire load is being taken by only a handful of teeth at any given time. This can cause teeth, and the whole gearbox, to become deformed and result in mechanical failure,” he explains. This is a common problem in wind turbines, and one only exacerbated
It’s an exciting time currently as Artemis transitions from what was, quite recently, an R&D organisation, to a company that designs, develops, tests, manufactures and distributes
64 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Professor Win Rampen, Chairman, Artemis Intelligent Power
as turbines – and their respective gearboxes – grow in size. Edinburgh-based Artemis has developed a digital hydraulic power system that it believes unlocks the ability to generate much greater levels of power and solve this issue. Its advanced Digital Displacement (DD) technology leverages the advantages of hydraulics – providing variable speed gearboxes where are all of the mechanical load components are shared equally – to create a controllable, modular, efficient solution.
Alongside dramatically improving power capacity, the smart DD system has been designed to overcome the significant reliability issues associated with existing turbines – particularly those located offshore. “The modular-nature of the design means that should one of the components which transmits the power fail, that break can be remotely identified electronically and taken out of action until the next scheduled maintenance, but crucially the turbine continues operating,”
Royal Academy of Engineering
describes Artemis’ managing director, Dr Niall Caldwell. Caldwell adds that swapping out these components can be carried out by a solitary technician carrying nothing more than a backpack. A far cry from the 100 tonne crane and crew necessary to replace a conventional gearbox, an operation with a reputed price tag of £1m – enough to wipe out a year’s generating revenue. Producing the DD technology required the fusing of mechanical engineered custom valves – vastly different to standard hydraulic valves – with purpose-built electronics and software. “The system is similar to a modern rail diesel engine in that you have several hardworking mechanical components and a number of precisely calibrated valves all being controlled with sophisticated software ensuring each valve is fired at exactly the right time,” says Caldwell. Artemis is already delivering such systems, significantly improving the operational and cost efficiency of turbines, and with it, the prospects for future exploration of wind power. The business – wholly-owned by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) – has seen the first MHI 7 MW wind turbine fitted with a Digital Displacement transmission (DDT) currently on test at the Hunterston facility near Glasgow – a land-based site that has been created to test prototype wind turbines intended to operate offshore. The second 7 MW MHI DDT turbine – assembled at Onahama port – is destined to operate as a floating wind turbine in deep water 20 km off Fukushima, Japan. This will be the largest wind turbine of any kind in Japan, and the largest floating wind turbine in the world. Artemis is also applying the same technology to reduce the fuel consumption of commuter trains and buses. A regenerative braking energy storage system based on DD can be retrofitted to existing diesel trains, and recent trails with Ricardo and Bombardier have indicated that fuel consumption can be reduced by upwards of 10%. The system also generates less noise and helps cut exhaust emissions within transit stations. “Conventional electric hybrid systems for city buses add around 50% additional cost, which means the payback period is longer than the life of
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES
(L to R) Dr Niall Caldwell and Professor Win Rampen (both Artemis Intelligent Power); HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, and Professor Dame Ann Dowling (President of the Royal Academy of Engineering)
In July, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Phillip presented the UK’s most prestigious prize for engineering innovation – the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award – to a team from Artemis Intelligent Power. Renowned for highlighting the “next big thing” in the technology sector, the MacRobert Award identifies outstanding innovation with proven commercial success and tangible social benefit. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, the judging panel selected Artemis from the three finalists for its potential to help solve one of the most significant global challenges while demonstrating technical engineering excellence. Describing the Artemis story as “truly compelling”, chair of the panel, Dame Sue Ion DBE FREng commented: “The company has achieved a technical advance of global importance, making significant power delivery from offshore wind considerably more credible and realisable, and facilitating the global goal of reducing Co2 emissions. “As a UK SME, Artemis represents the very best of modern UK engineering with global significance.”
the bus. As such, current hybrid buses don’t make a valid business case and have to be supported by subsidies,” Caldwell told me. “By contrast, hydraulic systems are far cheaper to manufacture, more compact and because our technology provides such a boost to fuel efficiency, it can pay for itself within two to three years.” Artemis is also looking to produce a similar hydraulic system for fixed industrial applications such as injection moulding machines, presses and power packs. The business launched E-dyn 96
– its first commercial product offering – in April with pilot production taking place in Edinburgh. “It’s an exciting time currently as Artemis transitions from what was, quite recently, an R&D organisation, to a company that designs, develops, tests, manufactures and distributes. “One of our objectives over the coming months is to assemble a UKbased supply chain for E-dyn 96, as much as is possible, and make use of the high quality suppliers we have on our doorstep,” Win concludes. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 65
Man machine or
Since manufacturers introduced the first robot arms onto assembly lines in the early 1960s, the fear that they will take human jobs has slowly spread. European Automation’s Darren Halford continues the discussion.
I
n facilities all around the world, many jobs have already been delegated to robots, including: assembly; farming; surgery; and even vacuuming. This speed of technological change has led Google’s director of engineering, Ray Kurzwell, to estimate that robots will, “reach human levels of intelligence by 2029”. For many, the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) surpassing human intellect is a daunting thought. While certainly not the first example of evil AI in pop culture, HAL the homicidal computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey is a prime example of the recurring “robot uprising” theme we see depicted in film and literature. However, even in the far-flung worlds of science fiction, robots have proven to be predominately helpful – just as they have in manufacturing.
66 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
Advances in programming mean that some robots can now operate, without enclosures, alongside humans on the factory floor From traditional six-axis, SCARA and Cartesian robots to Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), robots generally create jobs, increasing the overall number of positions available. One of the automation trends for 2015, AGVs are mobile robots that navigate
independently using magnets, lasers, vision and geoguidence and are used commonly in industrial settings to transport materials and goods in a factory or warehouse. AGVs can increase efficiency, ultimately reducing costs and, because of this, their market is growing at a rapid pace.
Man or machine | European Automation
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES
While some might argue that IT and communications led to a decline in heavy industry, others would say it freed workers to ‘break the habit’ and pursue a wide range of vocations outside of the factory increasing the productivity of menial tasks and frees human workers to focus on jobs that are more sophisticated. Although still in its early stages, this man-machine collaboration is a huge step towards humans and robots working harmoniously together.
Robot trends
Unlike AGVs, more complex manufacturing robots are usually confined to operating inside cages known as robotic work cells. These physical barriers protect human workers from potential accidents and the sheer power and speed of malfunctioning robotics. Despite this restriction, advances in programming mean that some robots can now operate, without enclosures, alongside humans on the factory floor. This integration revolutionises the job roles of both robot and human workers,
Cell free robotics was a theme at this year’s Hannover Messe, which also featured ABB’s wonderfully sophisticated YuMi – a two-armed collaborative assembly assistant that can see and feel its way around an application. YuMi has soft, padded arms that allow it to interact safely with its human counterparts. There’s no denying that some very menial labour will be replaced with technology. In fact, Deloitte and the University of Oxford predict that robots could ultimately replace 10 million unskilled workers. However, throughout history, technology has created thousands of new jobs while eliminating old ones. Consider the first half of the twentieth century, where a large percentage of working Londoners were limited to work in manufacturing and heavy industry. While some might argue that IT and communications led to a decline in heavy industry, others would say it freed workers to ‘break the habit’ and pursue a wide range of vocations outside of the factory. This, in turn, established London as the cosmopolitan metropolis and
services hub that it is today. The first robots might have been installed in factories in the 1960s, but we are only now truly entering the golden age of robotics. It will open doors to new industries and generate new roles requiring creativity, judgment, empathy and a thirst for innovation – human skills which robots can’t yet replicate. So it’s not time to worry about HAL and his compatriots just yet, your job is probably safe. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 67
The University of Birmingham provides an update on its global and UK railway research and development projects.
T
he University of Birmingham has been involved in railway research and development projects in Britain and around the world for several decades and is working extensively with industry on the key challenges within the sector. For the past ten years, these activities have been delivered by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE). BCRRE is the largest universitybased railway research and education group in Europe. With over 120 staff and researchers and over 200 enrolled students, it is a
unique resource for educating the next generation of railway leaders. BCRRE is an internationally leading interdisciplinary centre, with worldrecognised expertise and facilities that allow it to conduct research into most aspects of railway technology and performance: High speed rail and metro systems Railway traffic management and network optimisation Railway condition monitoring Railway data management and cybersecurity Railway power and traction systems Aerodynamics Climate effects and resilient infrastructure
68 www.themanufacturer.com | September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18
BCRRE researchers are, for example, currently investigating data architecture and models for future European train control systems and supporting its strategic partner Network Rail with traffic management investment decisions. Furthermore, BCRRE have been selected by Future Railway as the academic lead for the Command and Control theme of the UK’s Railway Technical Strategy to help deliver the Digital Railway programme. In addition they are working closely with the UK Department for Transport on improved methods for analysing railway capacity and applying new technologies
The University of Birmingham
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES
Tapping into the rail expertise at the University of Birmingham
We believe that we will be able to develop a product that will give us a clear competitive advantage in the UK market. It will also allow us to expand into the Chinese market
such as 3-D printing and additive manufacturing processes into the rail sector. The Centre is also working in collaboration with industry to address the energy concerns of main line and metro railway networks. This includes investigating alternative power and traction systems and optimising efficient operations in all parts of railways through the use of advanced simulation technology, for both existing systems and proposed new generation systems. In terms of education, BCRRE offers a wide range of short courses and postgraduate programmes, including taught masters and doctoral studies. The postgraduate programmes are available on both a full-time and distance learning basis. Recently, the Centre has developed undergraduate programmes in Civil and Railway Engineering and in Electrical and Railway Engineering and are gaining industry support to provide placements and sponsor students enrolling on these programmes.
HS2 College coming to Birmingham
The University of Birmingham will play a key role in the training of engineers working on the HS2 rail link, following the announcement that the National College for High Speed Rail will have its headquarters in the City. The College will make use of the internationally leading expertise within BCRRE. The recent Government announcement followed the news that Birmingham will also be the location of the new headquarters for HS2 construction. The bid for the College was led by Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), with partners including the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council. Central to the submission was the involvement of BCRRE and its multidisciplinary team of over 120 people whose work is at the heart of plans to transform the UK’s railway network over the next 30 years. As well as having a hand in the training and continuing development of the College’s teachers, BCRRE will advise the college on best practice from similar overseas projects and offer access to a wide range of high-quality facilities. BCRRE will also contribute to the governance of the College and provide pathways into higher education for the college’s students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
BCRRE works very closely with many industrial and academic partners in the UK and overseas. Successful businesses are crucial for economic growth and we believe that by partnering with us we can help to grow and continue the success of your business. The following case study is an example of this:
Cogitare Ltd - A train of thought Cogitare Ltd is a niche consultancy serving many clients in the rail sector. Its core business is the sale of solutions for the optimisation of rail infrastructure and operations. Cogitare’s Systems Optimisation Process helped London Underground reduce whole-life system costs by almost £0.5bn and saved five billion kW hours of energy. The costs associated with the building of new rail infrastructure are vast and to remain competitive Cogitare wanted to develop better and more economical methods to measure and model “real” rail capacity and to validate and improve capacity simulations and simulators. The company looked to researchers at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Railway Research and Education, for help to explore this opportunity. Cogitare has now embarked on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project with the university that will seek to develop a more sophisticated and accurate measurement and modelling solution. Successful delivery of the partnership will significantly enhance both partners’ reputation as technological leaders in the field. It will enable Cogitare
to gain access to the University of Birmingham’s academic knowledge, capacity and skills in rail capacity simulation and traffic management and in turn the University researchers will benefit from applying their research into a real life situation. In addition, Cogitare will be introduced to a number of international partners through working in collaboration with the University in its newly formed Chinese Railway Research Institute, the Anhui-Birmingham International Research Institute in Rail Transportation (ABIRIRT). This will help the Company to develop an international network to enhance the sales and marketing of its new products. Larry Fawkner, Optimisation Director for Cogitare Ltd, said “by combining the knowledge of our Company with that of the Centre for Railway Research and Education at the University of Birmingham, we believe that we will be able to develop a product that will give us a clear competitive advantage in the UK market. It will also allow us to expand into the Chinese market.” If you are interested in working with The Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, contact our Business Engagement Team. They can help you to navigate your way through the funding opportunities that may be available for your organisation.
FURTHER INFO: We want to work with you. Mr Tim Yates, Business Engagement Marketing and Communications Manager, University of Birmingham T: +44 (0)121 414 8635 E: t.yates.1@bham.ac.uk
September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 69
GT Nexus
T
IT IN MANUFACTURING
World class manufacturing begins with a world class supply chain, Diane Palmquist of GT Nexus tells IT Contributing Editor Malcolm Wheatley.
here’s a simple and straightforward difference between companies which are already world class manufacturers, and those that aspire to be world class manufacturers. Namely, supply chain excellence. So says Diane Palmquist, vice president for manufacturing industry solutions at GT Nexus, the world’s largest cloud based e commerce network, which connects 25,000 businesses collectively carrying out over $100bn in trade. “You have to operate your supply chain as efficiently as you operate your factory— which is easily said, but surprisingly difficult to do in practice,” she stresses. “It’s about having visibility into what’s going on in the supply chain, control over what’s going on in the supply chain, and being able to intelligently communicate and collaborate with the various suppliers and logistics providers in the supply chain.” Which is no mean feat. And yet, says Palmquist, mastery of two basic skill sets goes a long way towards delivering the required capabilities. The two skill sets in question: agility, and innovation. Take agility, for instance. From better supply chain visibility to better
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pricing, improvements in agility can deliver a surprising range of supply chain efficiencies. Look no further than the responses to events such as the Japanese tsunami, or the recent disruptions to freight movements caused by the migrant crisis at Calais: by pooling information, and resources, companies can work around such difficulties. But don’t be reactive about it, emphasises Palmquist: proactively strive to build this resilience and agility into your supply chains from the outset, as latent capabilities. Nor is it solely about responding to events, she stresses: take the manner in which large electronics and automotive companies are exploiting their own economies of scale to secure better pricing from contract manufacturers, by buying directly from suppliers, and then having the goods shipped to the contract manufacturers. “Companies used to do this just for key components such as microprocessors, but leading edge manufacturers are now starting to do it on secondary components as well,” says Palmquist. “It complicates ERP
processes, as you have to track multiple types and ownerships of inventory, but the gains can be substantial.” Similarly, developing innovation as a supply chain skill set can build useful supply chain prowess. So ‘think outside the box’, urges Palmquist, and re-think basic assumptions about what your supply chain looks like, and how it operates. To avoid unnecessary SKU proliferation, for instance, manufacturers could consider redesigning products, packaging and product configuration so as to produce products that meet the requirements of multiple markets or applications. From an individual product perspective, says Palmquist, the result is to add extra cost. But from the perspective of the overall supply chain, result is usually lower inventory holdings as well as higher availability level and greater flexibility. Another option is to exploit the ‘virtual warehouse’ aspect of inbound goods in transit, by actively including the relevant products and materials in inventory planning calculations, even though the vessel might not have docked in port. Likewise, she adds, it’s worth looking at postponing the point at which ownership is taken over inbound goods in transit— perhaps when a ship crosses an invisible line, for instance. “It’s a very different view of supply chain management—but these are the sorts of things that world class manufacturers are doing,” concludes Palmquist.
Exel
IT IN MANUFACTURING
Intelligent efficiency Managing Director of Webro, Peter Edginton, reveals how investing in Exel’s EFACS E/8 has increased efficiency within the firm.
F
ormed in 1981, Webro is a £14m turnover company supplying high quality cables and connectors to a wide range of sectors including broadband, satellite, TV, automotive, telecoms, security and renewables. Managing director Peter Edginton explains some of the main challenges the company faces. “In short we source cable from a number of different suppliers in order to supply the right cabling solutions to our customers. However, each of our approximately 800-strong core customer base expects next-day access to over 1500 lines from 3.5mm to 25mm outer diameter, in lengths from 50m to 1000m.” Stock and order visibility are also paramount because each time someone has to go and check something and call the customer back, it adds to the possibility of losing a sale. Another key challenge lies in the fact the company can only buy mixed container loads which contain hundreds of kilometres of cable and has to deal with lead times that are four to six weeks from Europe
and up to 12 weeks from the Far East. Prior to investing in EFACS E/8, these challenges were tackled by a rudimentary DOS-based CRM/ management system supplemented by a number of spreadsheets. Shortfalls included high levels of data entry duplication, repeated manual checkingin of goods, a cumbersome paper trail as well as very little visibility throughout the company. A search for a modern, integrated replacement began in 2010 and lasted three to four months where, as Edginton puts it, “we had our minds blown in a positive way”. He continues, “EFACS stood out light years by having all your standard functionality such as Stock Management, CRM, etc., but also including other elements such as Document Management and Container Bookings as part of the integrated solution. We also liked the fact that the system was designed to be customisable to the way we wanted and needed it to work.” EFACS E/8 went live in 2013 with the resulting benefits being felt from
Prior to investing in EFACS E/8, these challenges were tackled by a rudimentary DOS-based CRM/ management system supplemented by a number of spreadsheets
Webro provides the cable connecting two-thirds of the UK’s televisions, and every year it produces enough cable to circle the world
The increased efficiency has enabled Webro to operate more effectively at an overall business level the outset in the form of centralised information that provided increased visibility and access, automation of simple tasks and the eradication of duplicated processes. For example, now when a customer rings for a price, there is no need for someone to physically have to go and find the relevant paperwork and call the customer back. Edginton adds, “If a customer asks for a 400m length cable we can now see immediately if this is available and avoid unnecessary re-cutting.” EFACS E/8, especially the Document Management module, has also helped standardise product data and provide instant access to past customer records. The increased efficiency has enabled Webro to operate more effectively at an overall business level. For example, EFACS E/8 allows technology to be integrated throughout the warehouse, which means that stock management can now be done within the warehouse where it is most effective. Looking to the future, Webro has plans to implement non-conformance reporting, as well as making increased use of the Container Booking module for pricing and EFACS E/8’s powerful mobile workforce capabilities. September 2015 | Issue 7 | Volume 18 | www.themanufacturer.com 71
Terry Scuoler - EEF
TALK OF THE INDUSTRY
Green negotiations EEF CEO Terry Scuoler examines Obama’s plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the US and how the EU should follow suit when structuring emissions targets in Paris in December.
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resident Obama’s new plan to force US states to cut the carbon dioxide emitted by their power plants was met with warm words last month, particularly from overseas. The plan may prove to be a key step in reaching a global deal in the UN climate talks being held in Paris at the end of the year. But whether it can really be described as ambitious is less clear. In 2030, the US power sector will still be emitting roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as UK generators do now. Figures from the US Energy Information Administration, suggest the carbon intensity of the US’s power
supply was around 0.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour in 2005, the peak year for US emissions and baseline it uses for all its climate pledges. The UK’s electricity sector by comparison currently emits 0.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (which includes a small amount of other greenhouse gases) per megawatt hour. However, the projections drawn up by the Committee on Climate Change see this being cut by 2030. That is because our wider climate target is for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2025 – beyond our share of the EU’s 40% target for 2030 and the US’s 2025 goal of a 26-28% reduction below 2005 levels. So why might the US’s role turn out to be so pivotal in Paris? For a start, there’s its share of total global emissions, which still stands at 14% to the EU’s 10%. There’s also Obama’s ability to get China, the biggest emitter and traditionally keen to use its developing country status to avoid emission targets, on board too. But some of the power of the US is also in the way it plays the game. In coming back to the table as the prodigal
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son, ready to take some kind of lead again, it has won far more kudos than the ever virtuous EU. Meanwhile, other traditional troublemakers like Australia, India and Saudi Arabia are still holding their cards close to their chests. EEF’s recent position paper on Paris argues that the EU, which negotiates on the UK’s behalf, must be much smarter about how it approaches the talks. Desperate to get positive outcomes from such negotiations, it is often the one that makes concessions, going further than its original position to get others on board. It turned up at the last big set of talks in 2009 in Copenhagen, as now, with shiny new targets (then for 2020) but ended up being sidelined entirely. The EU’s focus for this next set of talks must be on bringing others up to its level as rapidly as possible. This is important for the climate and for energy-intensive industries like steel trying to compete
The EU’s focus for this next set of talks must be on bringing others up to its level as rapidly as possible in global markets but finding the tables increasingly tipped against them. If EU countries are smart about developing low-carbon technologies, a world with more ambitious climate targets should also bring more export opportunities for their firms along the lines of this £4.5bn UK solar export deal. As the pledges currently submitted ahead of the talks fall well short of the EU’s level of ambition and are unlikely to improve substantially during the discussions, it is essential a mechanism is agreed not just for reviewing pledges over time, but also ratcheting them up. These later discussions are when our own national capacity to help extend the EU’s target, based on our more ambitious domestic goal, should come into play. Arguably one of the strengths of Obama’s plan and an aspect that is indeed ambitious is its establishment of a structure that, like the UK’s Climate Change Act, can be used to increase ambition over time. Paris negotiators should aim for the same.
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