Increasing digitalisation, the growing skills shortage and the uncertainty of Brexit — British manufacturing has a lot to contend with. Despite this, the United Kingdom is predicted to break back into the top five manufacturing nations by 2021. Martyn Williams, managing director at COPA-DATA UK, offers advice on how to withstand this growing uncertainty and prepare for the future. Invest in technology Manufacturers should plan for
TIME TO INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY, SKILLS AND SERVICE MODELS Identifying the best solution isn’t
the worst-case Brexit scenario, but this could create challenges regarding current business models. We’ve all heard about the importance of adopting new technologies, but this could become more difficult without the ease of open supply chains. That said, manufacturers cannot stagnate.
always simple. There has been a tirade of new technology on the market, much of which is veiled in technological jargon, sometimes making it difficult to comprehend. Rather than choosing the newest technology on the market, manufacturers must do their research, examine case studies and ensure they choose a reputable supplier before making investments. Adopt new service models Deploying technology is an
ideal way to manage pain points in manufacturing. However, technology can also boost profits by enabling new service models. This is particularly pertinent for investments in software platforms that can be integrated with the cloud.
Industrial software with predictive maintenance, for instance, can provide OEMs with opportunities to monetize their service revenues. Invest in skills Inside the factory, Brexit’s
potential change to free movement will have an impact on recruitment and skills. That said, the bigger challenge remains the same — the sector simply doesn’t entice enough young talent. People need to be encouraged to join the industry, but that’s a challenge for the Government. Manufacturers should take responsibility to invest and upskill their existing staff. This is important as organisations invest in digital technologies to automate processes.
www.copadata.com
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Happy New Year, and welcome to the first issue of 2019. As is customary at this time of year, we look forward to the topics that will be dominating the pages and portals of the industrial trade press in 2019. Last year, Industry 4.0, IOT and
Big Data were all still important areas of discussion in industrial manufacturing. Other subjects we focused our attention on included collaborative (and cooperative) robots (or cobots), wearable technology, augmented reality, cyber security, Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine learning, and digital twinning. Our news pages this month are
filled with company predictions as to what will be making the headlines this year. All of which, unsurprisingly, feature references to the Brexit situation and the uncertainty it brings. Whatever happens on March 29th, it looks set to be an interesting year! Michelle Lea Editor
PREPARING A BREXIT BATTLEPLAN IN PLASTICS
The UK plastics industry is one of the UK’s largest manufacturing sectors, turning over £25.5bn and employing 166,000 people. With a third of all our plastic and plastics products sent overseas, plastics are one of the UK’s top 10 exports, with a value of £8.2bn. According to Jo Davis, operations director at Broanmain, the potential problems for the plastics industry are numerous: could labour movement restrictions affect the 18,000 EU workers employed in UK plastics, worsening the current skills crisis? Could legal and regulatory changes hinder our ability to trade freely? And could customs duties and border delays prevent access to crucial supplies and eat into profits? One thing is for certain, SMEs need to prepare now for our withdrawal from the EU if favourable trade terms are not reached. Access to raw materials Larger firms are already stockpiling their raw materials, to enable them to continue operating should their European supply chain
be adversely affected. Pulling orders forward in a bid to counteract this brings its own challenges. Protecting profits Another threat to profit margins
is the fear of import tariffs being introduced. The inevitable outcome would be for companies across the industry to raise their prices. Furthermore, there is the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. Sourcing tooling from China for example is already proving more expensive; a hard Brexit could make this worse. Retaining EU workers Finally, there is concern over the
future of EU workers in the UK. Of Broanmain’s 25 employees, nine are EU nationals. Could we be in danger of losing some of our talented staff, or might we have to pay a premium to keep them? The last 12 months have seen us focus on productivity, to become a leaner and more efficient business, better enabling us to withstand any negative Brexit impacts.
www.broanmainplastics.co.uk
The digitalisation of customer services has been increasing exponentially in all industrial sectors for years. Under the banner ‘Service 4.0’, Minebea Intec’s aim is for users to be able to access support quickly when they need it in order to ensure the safety, availability and efficiency of production lines. As a result the company has
launched a new service tool miRemote. The tool enables a virtual, immediate on-site service to be performed no matter where the system is and provides direct access to the company’s services. miRemote is based on augmented
reality technology, in this case supplementing system images or verbal video chat communication with additional information that a service employee can send to a user directly via a smartphone or tablet. miRemote offers a range of intuitive communication options, such as the ability to make gestures via hand overlay technology. The service tool is available via an app, which runs on most smartphones and tablets.
www.minebea-intec.com
4 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019 | PROCESS & CONTROL
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