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SECTOR REPORT MANUFACTURING


by Ged Henderson


CHAIN REACTION


We brought members of Lancashire’s advanced manufacturing supply chain, industry and education specialists and professional services representatives to at BAE Systems in Warton to examine the challenges and opportunities they face. The result is our in-depth sector report


Lancashire’s supply chains are on the cusp of a digital revolution that will dramatically alter the way they do business.


Data is set to play an increasingly important role in future manufacturing with the demand for more integrated and connected supply chains. And suppliers that fail to respond to this new digital world will face real challenges remaining part of those chains, industry experts warn.


Austin Cook, defence giant BAE Systems’ principal technologist in emerging technologies and systems, says digital transformation is happening at speed with all OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) now on the journey. He believes it is crucial that their supply chains also get on board.


He says: “When it comes to companies like ours, we are all trying to do similar things. We are trying to connect our supply chains into us so that we can share data and become more streamlined.”


And he believes that growing demand for connectivity means supply chain companies should be looking at all the information they can gather digitally from their production process to pass on to their customers as added value.


Austin says that information will become increasingly important, not just to ensure the quality of components but also to help on the journey to net zero.


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He adds: “We are going to be looking at a much more digital future – digital integrated supply chains, connected supply chains.


“We are saying provide us with parts but give us additional value in the form of data that helps us understand where there is embedded carbon and to help us as part of our business transformation.”


Austin believes that suppliers are in a good position to monetise the digital information they can harvest, using the additional value supplied as a result to boost their own margins.


We are trying to connect our supply


chains into us so that we can share data


and become more streamlined


And, as a result of this transformation, he says: “The skills in the supply chains in order to respond to this are also going to change, in terms of how businesses respond to those hyper-connected networks and how they ultimately exploit them for customers and also for business growth.


“It will mean you are not just trying to recruit for the roles that you have had traditionally, you are trying to bring in new skills.”


Digital data will play a major role in future projects, such as Tempest and its work to produce the UK’s next generation supersonic stealth combat aircraft, which will be delivered through the Global Combat Air Programme, in partnership with Italy and Japan.


Austin predicts that in the future up to 90 per cent of the new products BAE Systems is looking at, including Tempest, will be created in the supply chain. Additive manufacturing and other emerging technologies will be harnessed to this end.


He points out that OEMs such as BAE Systems and civil aerospace giant Airbus have to be globally competitive, which is another reason why data will be so important moving forward, with the ability to provide both performance and capability information along with the ESG impact of the product featuring heavily when it comes to securing sales.


He says: “The net zero agenda will continue. Other countries and other governments will continue to push those agendas. We have to adapt if we are going to sell international products.”


Lancashire supply chain companies are already seeing the impact when it comes to securing new contracts.


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