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NEWS INDUSTRY TASKFORCE NEEDED TO ASSESS SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE B


ritain’s manufacturers are calling for a cross-industry and Government taskforce to assess the UK’s current and future supply chain resilience and capabilities, as well as establishing


an action plan to protect the economy from any future significant disruptive event. The call was made on the back of a major report by Make UK and


Infor, ‘Operating without Borders – Building Global Resilient Supply Chains’, which shows the stark impact on UK manufacturers from the economic shocks of the last two years and the knock-on effects to supply chains from increased energy, transport and raw material costs, as well as transport availability. The survey of 132 companies was conducted between 2 and 23 February. The findings also indicate that the longstanding strategies


manufacturers have adopted to off-shore in response to globalisation, operating a ‘just in time’ process with virtually guaranteed transport links and low-cost production, have been turned upside down with disruption and increased volatility fast becoming normal. As a result, this has led to companies increasing the number of


suppliers so they have more options in the event of disruption, with these suppliers increasingly sourced back in the UK or Western Europe. Looking forward the report shows these trends were already accelerating in the next two years, to which the invasion of Ukraine and


COMMENT NEON REDESIGNED


As we all face up to the harsh realities of the cost-of-living crisis, some commentators believe the current circumstances will act as a catalyst for businesses and consumers to go green. Mark Sait, CEO and founder


of SaveMoneyCutCarbon, says new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that 51% of Brits are using less gas and electricity, while a further 40% are cutting back on non-essential car journeys. He explains that the energy crisis is acting as a conduit to reduce carbon emissions – particularly for businesses struggling to keep up with the price rise. SaveMoneyCutCarbon offer


services as a 'carbon mentor', to educate businesses and their employees about energy consumption habits. This will accelerate the trend of sustainable usage as workers integrate these tips into their everyday work and home life. It is now the plight of our


finances, rather than the plight of our planet, that will help drive carbon reduction. Michelle Lea - Editor


opportunities and inspiring careers resources in one place, has had a redesign to help teachers find the right experiences for their classrooms, specific to their education level. This means that both primary and secondary school teachers can filter the experiences to discover those that work best for them and their students. Primary teachers have always


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been in mind when designing Neon, however, analysis showed that the site was predominantly attracting secondary teachers. Research by Neon showed that teachers didn’t see the website as primary teacher friendly, and this highlighted the key areas to focus on and update. Changes include the following:


• All experiences now have a ‘primary’ or ‘secondary’ visual tag • Primary experiences now show


different topics which are the primary cross-curricular topics • When a teacher logs in, the site will pre-filter to only show them experiences for their phase of education • When a primary teacher logs in they will see an expanded filter set which includes the primary topics covered in the experiences as well as ‘Working scientifically’ to help teachers select which enquiry skills they want to cover. www.neonfutures.org.uk


4 MAY 2022 | PROCESS & CONTROL


eon, a platform to bring the UK’s quality engineering outreach


continuing disruption in China are likely to have given further impetus. Key findings include:


• Pandemic (93%) and Brexit (87%) have caused disruption to supply chains • 80% of companies say increased energy costs have caused


disruption to supply chains • Increased raw material (79%), transport costs (74%) and transport availability (54%) cause major supply chain challenges • Almost a quarter of companies have between 51 and 100 suppliers, 14% more than 200 • Over a third of companies have increased the total number of suppliers in the last two years, almost half of companies increasing their UK suppliers • In the next two years almost half of companies intend to increase UK suppliers, a quarter to increase suppliers from Western Europe, including Turkey • Almost three quarters of companies have an intermediate or advanced supply chain strategy • One in five companies have digital supply chain monitoring but concerns over smaller companies only having a more basic approach https://www.makeuk.org/insights/reports/operating-without- borders-building-global-resilient-supply-chains


ONLINE ACCESS TO MANUFACTURING BEST PRACTICE M


itsubishi Electric is opening up access to its


factory automation sites and showrooms through virtual tours with the aim of overcoming the restrictions on in-person visits caused by the pandemic. The tours are open to everyone visiting its FA website. Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing are now popular terms


being discussed in the manufacturing industry, but when companies start their journey in digital manufacturing, many of them look for best practices and how they could reference such practices in their factories. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitsubishi Electric’s factories in


Nagoya and Fukuyama, Japan, attracted thousands of visitors from around the world interested to learn how the factory automation manufacturer leverages digital manufacturing and its e-F@ctory approach to make their own products. Although it may still be difficult to travel across borders easily,


Mitsubishi Electric’s Virtual Factory Tour, now available through online videos, overcomes these restrictions allowing visitors globally to walk through the various technologies and solutions behind the manufacture of its FA products. Mitsubishi Electric has also renewed its Online Mechatronics


Solution Center, where visitors can learn about Mitsubishi Electric´s range of processing machines, computerised numerical controllers (CNCs) and other machine tools in a virtual showroom. Virtual Factory Tours available online include Programmable


Controller (PLC) production at the Nagoya Works, and production of power monitoring/distribution products at the Fukuyama Works. The first tour will provide examples of some of the actual work


processes in the factory, demonstrating how Mitsubishi Electric FA products provide the latest manufacturing technologies. The second factory tour will show how production lines at the


Fukuyama Works utilise the integrated FA-IT solution “e-F@ctory” to achieve digital manufacturing. The tour highlights how processes were improved using artificial intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge technologies in digital manufacturing. For more, visit Mitsubishi Electric´s Virtual Factory Tour at: www.mitsubishielectric.com/fa/cxcenter/factory


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