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www.themanufacturer.com | April 2013 | Vol 16 Issue 3

Releasing the potential energy in the HVM Catapult

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Manufacturing Leadership

Naysaying is out of fashion: Optimists storm EEFâ€™s National Manufacturing Conference

Workforce and Skills Interview Nigel Stein CEO, GKN

Driving forward by degrees: Building graduate level skills in the manufacturing workforce The Yes Man: What happened to the Young Manufacturer of the Year 2012?

IT in Manufacturing

Peering inside: The horse meat scandal raises questions for supply chain technologies Action or Paralysis: Are you ready to exploit analytics?

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Manufacturing Technologies The measure of success: What would we do without measurement technologies?

IMHX 2013

Highlights from the leading materials handling exhibition

Factory of the Month

Speedibake

In partnership with:

UNlOCk The pOTeNTIAl IN yOUR peOple No one speaks the international language of beauty quite like Revlon. To stay fuent and satisfy demand in over 100 countries, CIO David Giambruno chose proactive, easy-to-use Microsoft Dynamics business solutions. Now heâ€™s quickly transforming multiple, fragmented systems into a unifed view. This gives Revlonâ€™s teams the real-time data and fexibility to get beauty products manufactured in the U.S. moving across the globe. And Revlon is realising its mission of making the world a much more glamorous place. microsoft.com/uk/dynamics

Editor’s comment

A-lign dancing A predictably boring Budget announcement in March did not bring radical change in the scenery for UK manufacturers (p7). But other announcements did, or at least promised to. Government and industry made their biggest ever joint commitment to the development of the British aerospace industry with a £2bn fund (p8) which includes funding for an aerospace technology institute. The economic potential for nuclear new build came a step closer to being realised following government approval – finally – being granted for the Hinkley C power station in Somerset. However, strike price talks are still live and Centrica’s exit from the UK nuclear stage in February means the intricate farce over getting this important supply chain, and critical element in future energy security, moving is merely into another act.

New government investment of £18m in 35 nuclear research projects and a further £15m to create a resource hub for nuclear technology developers, alongside industry-led work to accredit potential nuclear suppliers in the UK, will, however, help provide UK firms with the technical and business capabilities required to compete in the domestic and global nuclear industry. Some of the work to “open SMEs’ eyes to certification” for nuclear is taking place within the High Value Manufacturing Catapult as it searches for the best ways to accelerate release of the commercial potential stored up in British companies and research centres. The Fit4Nuclear programme run by the Nuclear AMRC, an HVM Catapult centre, received around 100 applications from companies wishing to enter the £40 billion global nuclear industry in the year following its launch in 2011.

But is this work aligned with other schemes to build capability across strategically important industrial supply chains? In our lead story this month Will Stirling finds promising signs that the HVM Catapult is linking strategic intent with bodies such as the EPSRC (p24). And the Manufacturing Technologies Association is matching up its membership events programme with HVM Catapult competencies to deliver aligned education on skills and technologies (p71). But there is still scope for much more effective interaction between government policy, industry and its multitude of support networks. Nowhere is this more evident than in education, where debate over the future of the national curriculum in March completely failed to address its core purpose of producing people equipped to function in the working world. It’s an omission which today results in unemployable job applicants we find (p112). And while the independent actions of some schools to reach out for business advice are encouraging (p35), an alignment of national economic, industrial and education policy at the centre is a long way off.

Cover image: Is the HVM Catapult working? Will Stirling investigates on p24

If your company is managing to work through all this complexity and still prosper, you deserve a prize! And happily, opened The Manufacturer of the Year Awards in March 2013 – a perfect chance to pit your successes against UK manufacturing peers. Jane Gray, Editor

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The team Editorial

Nick Hussey, Managing Director

IT Editor Malcolm Wheatley

Nick has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry spanning titles in the UK, US, Asia and Australia. In addition to his commercial experience Nick has also worked in government, spending a year as Managing Director of Manufacturing Insight, a programme aimed at changing the image of Manufacturing. He holds several non-executive directorships and is a founder member of the IET’s Manufacturing Policy Panel. n.hussey@sayonemedia.com

malcolm@malcolmwheatley.co.uk

Associate Editor Roberto Priolo

r.priolo@sayonemedia.com

Reporters George Archer

g.archer@sayonemedia.com

Design

Art Director Martin Mitchell

m.mitchell@sayonemedia.com

Designers Alex Cole Vicky Carlin Nick Bond

Henry Anson, Sales Director Henry is a shareholder in SayOne Media and is responsible for the company’s commercial activities, developing new concepts and products for ’s readership. Henry is keen to build a bridge between the manufacturing community and the service sector which supports them.

design@sayonemedia.com

Sales and Events Head of Events Jon Tudor

h.anson@sayonemedia.com

j.tudor@sayonemedia.com

Subscriptions Manager Grace Gilling g.gilling@sayonemedia.com

Will Stirling, Editorial Director

Project Director Matt Chilton

Will edited for two and a half years and is now working to expand the SayOne Media publishing portfolio. He is responsible for the launch of new reports and special and for the maintenance of editorial supplements for standards across SayOne Media publications. Before joining SayOne Media, Will worked for Euromoney and IPC Media.

m.chilton@sayonemedia.com

Sales Manager Benn Walsh

b.walsh@sayonemedia.com

Sarah Hough

s.hough@sayonemedia.com

Marketing Manager David Farrow

w.stirling@sayonemedia.com

d.farrow@sayonemedia.com

Conference Producer Eva Lindsay

e.lindsay@sayonemedia.com

Jane Gray, Editor Jane joined SayOne Media in 2009 for the launch of the Lean Management Journal, sister publication to . Reporting for , Jane focused on industry skills development features and lean enterprise until she became editor in June 2011. She is a trustee of the D&T Association. j.gray@sayonemedia.com

Tim Brown, Web Editor Tim joined SayOne Media in 2009 after working as a journalist for six years in Australia on a range of lifestyle and business magazine publications. His primary areas of interest include the automotive industry and business development. t.brown@sayonemedia.com

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Joe Green

j.green@sayonemedia.com In order to receive your monthly copy of kindly email g.gilling@sayonemedia. com, telephone 0207 401 6033 or write to the address below. Neither The Manufacturer or SayOne Media can accept responsibilty for omissions or errors. Terms and Conditions Please note that points of view expressed in articles by contributing writers and in advertisements included in this journal do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the journal, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of the publishers.

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Cranfield University EEF Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge

Contents 06 News and regular columns A summary of manufacturing news and events along with commentary on industrial research and policy

17 Lean on me

Roberto Priolo, editor of Lean Management Journal, on creating impetus for change, with or without a burning platform

19 The Naked Engineer

The big cheese – Hemlock Engineering dabbles briefly with the idea of going green

24 Lead It’s the knowledge, stupid: Will Stirling asks how well the High Value Manufacturing Catapult is fulfilling its remit to accelerate the conversion of knowledge into value for UK manufacturing

30 Interview Driving force: Nigel Stein tells Will Stirling why avoiding complacency is essential to his leadership of GKN’s relentless growth

Pillar features Manufacturing Leadership 37 Best behaviour: Business leaders discuss the relationship between behaviours, process and change management for more competitive UK manufacturing at Manufacturer Directors’ Forum Dinner debate

’s most recent

40 Naysaying is out of fashion: A review of learnings and opinion from EEF’s second National Manufacturing Conference

Workforce and Skills 48 Driving forward by degrees: Semta reports on its work to upskill the existing

manufacturing workforce and build graduate level skills in parallel with its apprenticeship campaigns

51 The Yes Man: Catching up with

’s winner of the Young Manufacturer of the Year

Award 2012

IT in Manufacturing 53 Peering inside: In the aftermath of the horse meat contamination scandal Malcolm Wheately asks what should be expected of supply chain software in terms of damage mitigation and mistake prevention

56 Action or paralysis: Leading commentators say that data and analytics are the secret to success, but what does this mean for your business?

66 IT news

d oun ts: Inb lemen p ds sup

68 Manufacturing Technologies

The measure of success: The importance of measurement technology to Rolls-Royce’s quality-driven operations

78 Finance and Professional Services

Patent Box unpacked: Pinsent Masons describes the ins and outs of government’s regime to induce more innovation in UK industry

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Each month conducts interviews and case studies with companies from the whole gamut of UK manufacturing – from large multinationals to niche SMEs across sectors. This month visits:

104 Speedibake 110 adi Group 112 Last Word: Manufacturers are experiencing poor calibre applicants for entry level jobs

Manufacturing Manufacturing policy The APMG Inquiry on Industrial Culture and Competitiveness (for which The Manufacturer is official media partner) held its first formal meeting. The expert industry steering group is chaired by Chris White MP. Occupying a unique position between the manufacturing sector, Parliament and Government, the inquiry process will examine how interactions between those stakeholders and others are contributing to Britain’s economic and industrial revival. “We believe we can be ambitious in suggesting to Government how they can support the sector’s competitiveness, but also spark a debate within the manufacturing community about whether the UK’s industrial culture – the behavioural

norms in companies – is sufficiently competitive,” said Thomas Kohut, a representative of Policy Connect, the organisation responsible for the inquiry. “We certainly won’t shy away from going where the evidence takes us, casting a friendly, but critical eye over business practices across UK industry,” Mr Kohut continued. The Steering Group will now meet around ten times between April and July, gathering evidence from across government, industry, and business support networks. You can follow progress of the inquiry on Twitter, using the hashtag #apmginquiry.

COMPANY RESULT S Acoustic equipment manufacturer TMAT announced a record start to the year. The company made close to £2million in sales across January and February, smashing its own budgeted sales target for 10% growth by a further 10% in each month. These figures come in spite of the Monthly Business Survey by the Office for National Statistics reporting that the seasonally adjusted index fell by 2.9% in January 2013 compared with January 2012, with a 3.0% fall in UK manufacturing. TMAT’s MD Jason Lippitt, acknowledged general stagnancy in the economy but was confident that TMAT’s growth strategy is sustainable. “TMAT doesn’t compete on price, and we won’t cut prices or even match them to those of our competitor. If that means that we lose one or two customers along the way, then so be it. We firmly believe that the only way to get on in a challenging economic climate is to provide a superior product and service to our customers,” said Mr Lippitt. TMAT currently has a sales pipe line of some £4.5million and recently announced plans to expand into Brazil.

ENERGY Siemens PEM technology should make it possible to store wind and solargenerated electricity

Numatic International, manufacturer of the Henry vacuum cleaner, announced the successful installation of a 250 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The system was provided by SunGift Solar, a South West renewable energy specialist, and will reduce Numatic’s carbon emissions by more than 120 tonnes per year. The PV system is also expected to generate energy bill savings and feed-in tariff payments totalling more than £50,000 per year, meaning the system will pay for itself in less than five years. The £250,000 system will help power the factory’s 34 computer-controlled injection-moulding machines.

German engineering firm Siemens has devised a new technology which allows the conversion and storage of power generated by renewable energy source. The development could potentially revolutionise the renewable energy market. Solar and wind power have often been ridiculed due their unreliability and inability to provide a consistent supply. The new technology uses electrolysis to convert the extra power produced by wind and solar facilities, which would otherwise go to waste, into hydrogen gas, which can then be compressed and stored for conversion into electricity at a subsequent stage. Installation of Numatic’s new £250,000 Solar PV system

News SUPPLY C HAIN More than a third of Chief Executives are disengaged with their supply chain, according to a survey of senior supply chain managers, carried out by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). The CIPS survey also found almost 50% of companies do not have a comprehensive supply chain risk mitigation strategy. Over 50% of supply chain professionals thought the recent horsemeat saga in the food production industry was a problem caused by the supermarkets squeezing suppliers (p53). In addition, almost 90% of supply chain managers feel regulators do not sufficiently understand supply chains. Positively, after the horsemeat crisis, 60% of supply chain managers reported taking supply chain risk more seriously than they did previously.

AUTOMOTIVE Bentley Motors announced its much anticipated sports utility vehicle (SUV) may be built in Bratislava rather than at Crewe. It would be the first time that the company, owned by German car giant Volkswagen, have built a complete car outside the UK. The plant in the Slovak capital already produces other SUV models for the group including the VW Toureg and Audi Q7 and locating manufacturing there would lower production costs for the new Bentley.

Top: Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in the House of Commons Bottom: The Gladstone Budget box

BUDGET Manufacturers labelled the Budget “timid” and “boring” but welcomed a rise in above the line R&D tax breaks to 10%. The Budget announcement came in the same week as a £2bn investment from government in UK aerospace and this was applauded by many. However, it was felt the Chancellor missed chances to stimulate growth. Jonathan Duck, CEO of flooring manufacturer Amtico International said housing measures would not help the failing construction industry, EEF criticised lack of infrastructure investment and Michael Last, MD of Portsmouth-based Formpalex, felt that the Chancellor “missed a trick in [failing to increase] capital allowances”. The Chancellor’s acceptance of many of the recommendations made in Lord Heseltine’s report, ‘No Stone Unturned’, including giving greater economic independence to the regions, was tentatively welcomed by manufacturing leaders such as Charles Morgan, MD of The Morgan Motor Company, who said “it might help our business get more appropriate support.”

FUNDING

Bentley Motors may build its new SUV in Slovakia

Manufacturing businesses urged to apply for a share in a new £120m fund from the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative. The fund aims to support research and development, skills training and capital investment in the manufacturing supply chains. For more information visit: bit.ly/amsciFUND

Manufacturing News ENERGY Planning consent was given to build the first new nuclear power station in the UK since 1995, but the government did not provide details of the ‘strike price’ agreement with French energy firm EDF who will build the new power plant. The planned £14bn nuclear project at Hinkley Point in Somerset will generate enough low carbon electricity to power the equivalent of five million households and support between 20,000 and 25,000 jobs during construction and 900 permanent jobs during operation. Liberal Democrat MP Martin Horwood opined in parliament that the “planning decision does not actually represent a decision to go ahead with Hinkley C” and that it “pales in significance beside the strike price negotiation”.

Entries opened for The Manufacturer is of the Year Awards 2013. searching for the best names in British manufacturing, large and small, to enter for the chance to take one of its coveted awards trophies back to their factory. The 2012 awards were The Manufacturer’s biggest and most successful yet. Over 600 people attended the glittering ceremony. This year the awards programme is set to be even better and the magazine will take over Birmingham’s Hilton Metropole Hotel on December 5 to celebrate British manufacturing and crown the winners of The Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2013. For more information visit: www. themanufacturer.com/awards/

The proposed site for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Photo courtesy of EDF Energy

A W A RD S

EQUALITY

Five men behind the invention of the world wide web – Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Marc Andreessen, Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn and Louis Pouzin – were awarded the £1m Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. The new global prize recognises world-changing advances in engineering that have made a difference to humanity. Engineers do not have a Nobel Prize, the highest award for achievement in science and the arts, so the Queen Elizabeth Prize was devised to ensure that engineers receive recognition for their game-changing work.

EEF released its first detailed report on gender balance in manufacturing. The report found that manufacturing companies in the FTSE 100 have a higher than average number of women on their boards compared to the rest of the index. Out of the 29 manufacturing firms within the FTSE 100, women account for 19% of board positions, which is slightly higher than the 17% average of the entire FTSE 100. Of the 309 FTSE 100 manufacturing board seats, 59 seats are held by women. The research was produced in partnership with Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking and Cranfield School of Management (p45).

AkzoNobel’s UK Decorative Paints business was certified one of Britain’s Top Employers 2013 by the CRF Institute, in association with The Guardian newspaper. Alongside a select number of companies such as John Lewis Partnership, Bentley Motors and PepsiCo UK & Ireland, AkzoNobel has been independently certified by research company the CRF Institute as being among the best employers in the UK. The certification recognises exceptional working conditions and commitment to workforce engagement and development at AkzoNobel.

FUNDING The UK’s aerospace sector received a pledge of £2bn from government and industry to fund jobs, research and development. Job security was a big feature of the announcement, with up to 115,000 jobs secured over seven years as the funding is gradually released. It is the biggest ever single pledge of publicprivate investment for the aerospace sector. The announcement and framework of actions was the government’s response to a report; A Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace prepared by aerospace trade body ADS and published at the Farnborough International Air Show in July 2012.

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Manufacturing News A W A RD S Emma Willett, from The Petersfield School in Hampshire, recieved the EEF Manufacturing Prize at the prestigious National Science and Engineering Competition. The talented student was unveiled as the winner at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair, held at the ExCeL International Convention Centre in London. She received her award from Phil Brownsord, Region Director of EEF. Emma was one of 450 innovative young finalists chosen to showcase their work to a world-class panel of judges at the finals of the Competition, and she captured their attention with her saucepan overheating alarm; a device which fits on to any saucepan to provide an audible and visual warning if the pan is overheating and in danger of boiling dry. The aim is to reduce incidents in which this causes household fires.

Raspberry Pi is everybody’s favorite little computer. Photo courtesy of SparkFunElectronics

ELECTRONICS The largest distributor of the Raspberry Pi mini-computer, element14, a division of Premier Farnell, has moved all production of the Linux based device back to the UK. The device was previously built in two factories in China and Premier Farnell’s decision to relocate has been hailed as a welcome addition to cases of ‘reshoring’. The Pi will now be built at Sony’s UK Technology Centre in Pencoed, Wales. The £25 Pi, a credit card sized device is designed to teach children in schools how to program and has become a surprise hit, selling more than 1 million units since its launch last year.

Survey What is the real role of the CIO in today’s manufacturing world? This is the question being asked in a new survey looking at information technology in manufacturing. Do CIOs and IT managers have a seat at the top table? Do they lead from the front? Are they carrying the mantle of innovation and change on their shoulders, driving the business forward through new technologies? The survey is being run in conjunction between PMSI and The Manufacturer magazine. The findings will be published in a subsequent issue of the magazine and online. Take the survey here: http://bit.ly/TMCIOsurvey

Emma Willett, from The Petersfield School in Hampshire, accepting the EEF Manufacturing Prize

F O O D A N D DR I N K Symington’s, the manufacturer of food brands including Ragu, Chicken Tonight and Golden Wonder pot noodles, announced production of its noodles is to move from China to the UK. Up to 50 jobs will be created when food group Symington’s opens the noodle factory in Yorkshire later this year. The factory in Hunslet, near Leeds, will take on production work which had previously been carried out in two Chinese factories; one in Guangzhou province, inland from Hong Kong, and one in Hangzhou, inland from Shanghai.

SKILLS Manufacturing firms committed to training the next generation of engineers by supporting new, government-backed Higher Apprenticeship in Engineering Environmental Technologies. UK industry giants including Cummins Turbo Technologies helped in the development of the Higher Apprenticeship to address the shortage of highly-skilled engineers that is limiting sector growth and productivity. The government committed £25 million to help employers train more of their workforce to gain qualifications at Level 4 and above. Funding will be available to employers through the Skills Funding Agency with the size of contribution dependent on sector, size of business and the apprentice’s age.

YOUR COMPLETE OFFICE IN THE CLOUD. Developing solutions for a better world doesn’t happen in isolation. DuPont’s culture of innovative collaboration relies on OfÀce 365 to connect its nearly 59,000 employees to each other and to their many partners around the globe. By utilising OfÀce 365, they can work together to solve the world’s greatest challenges. FIND OUT WHO ELSE IS ON AT NOWONOFFICE365.CO.UK

Events Upcoming events The Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2013 Entry deadline: Wednesday 31st July 2013

The Manufacturer of the Year Awards is specifically designed to acknowledge and celebrate the strength and diversity of UK manufacturing. The awards aim to spread best practice, inspire others and show the important role UK manufacturing plays in today’s economy. Put your business in the spotlight!

www.themanufacturer.com/awards

Caterpillar Building Construction Products Factory Tour Tuesday 30th April 2013, Desford, Leicester, 09:30 to 15:30

Caterpillar, winners of the People and Skills Award at The Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2012, will be hosting a unique one-day event combining a best practice site tour together with a deep dive session. For further information or to book your place, contact Benn Walsh on 020 7202 7485 or email b.walsh@sayonemedia.com

4th Annual LMJ Conference

21st and 22nd May 2013, The Hilton Metropole (NEC), Birmingham This year’s conference will focus on how to create and sustain a culture of continuous improvement. Case studies and speakers will be asked to provide their insights into how they have supported a cultural transformation whether at departmental, plant or organisational level.

www.leanmj.com/annualconference

Future Factory – Energy Management Conference Tuesday 16th July 2013, The Hilton Metropole (NEC), Birmingham

The Flexible Workforce will provide a practical opportunity for manufacturers to learn from industry experts, academics and government officials to gain insight into manufacturing best practice. Covering topics such as annualised hours and human capital management this meeting will discuss how companies can maximise effectiveness by ensuring their staffing plans match their needs, ultimately ensuring a company gains maximum ROI from their human capital.

www.themanufacturer.com/energy2013

Future Factory – The Flexible Workforce Conference Tuesday 16th July 2013, The Hilton Metropole (NEC), Birmingham

www.themanufacturer.com/flex2013

The Manufacturer Directors’ Forum Dinners

Join industry leaders for professional debate and knowledge-based networking The Manufacturer hosts a series of invitation only private dinners throughout the UK each month. These dinners are focused on knowledge-based networking and strictly limited in numbers. Apply to become part of this exclusive forum by emailing directorsforum@sayonemedia.com

The Manufacturer and LMJ events feature key decision-makers, professionals and academics in the field. If you would like to get involved and have a unique story to tell - I would love to hear from you. Jon Tudor

Head of Events, The Manufacturer

Email: j.tudor@sayonemedia.com

News EDUCATION 76% of UK graduates over the past two years say they were not informed about the alternatives to university before leaving school according to a poll of 1,774 people. Of this 76%, more than half (54%) said they would have picked an apprenticeship or vocational training route instead of their degree had had they received better information. The top reasons why the graduates would have opted for vocational training as opposed to university were to avoid debt (77%); to gain a better position at work (61%) and because of a belief that it would be less stressful than university (39%). Around a third (31%) said that they were now in an industry for which their degree was “completely irrelevant”. The survey was conducted by www.notgoingtouni.co.uk, a website offering students information on the opportunities that exist away from university.

HEAVY MACHINERY JCB won a £40 million order for more than 1,000 backhoe loaders in a deal which is designed to help transform parts of rural Brazil. The machines will be manufactured at JCB’s new $100 million factory near in Sao Paulo, opened last September by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Datesfor yourdiary April

Develop3D Live takes place at the Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick. A must attend event for all design engineers and users of CAD or PLM software. This year’s event includes a keynote from Autodesk president and CEO, Carl Bass as well as an exhibition displaying the latest in product development technology. To register at this FREE event visit: www.develop3dlive.com

17-19

The Global Manufacturing Festival takes place at a variety of different locations in Sheffield, including the Cutlers Hall and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The Global Manufacturing Festival (GMF) is a FREE event, designed to connect SMEs in the UK’s materials based engineering supply chains with major international customers. Visit www.globalmanufacturingfestival.com/book-now-2 to register.

AP&T Group hosts an opportunity to update your knowledge of the exciting possibilities that press hardening offers. This seminar at the NMC Venue at the National Metalforming Centre in West Bromwich, delegates will hear from leading expertise in OEM or Tier 1 and field experts. Virtual simulation experiences will also define Experience the press hardening process ‘from within’. To register, contact Peter Karlsson, managing director, AP&T DK/UK at: peter.karlsson@aptgroup.com or +45 40 44 85 87

Caterpillar hosts a Building Construction Products Factory Tour with The Manufacturer. The event focuses on lean and its successful application to manufacturing businesses. Delegates will see and hear about the Caterpillar Production System and how six sigma is used across the business. For further information or to book your place, contact Benn Walsh at b.walsh@sayonemedia.com or +44(0)207 202 7485

May

President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and governor of Rio Grande do Sul state, Tarso Genro, walking by the Backhoes

MANUFACTURIN G PAY The latest survey from EEF/JAM revealed that manufacturing pay deals are holding steady. In the three months through February, they were at 2.3% on average, the same figure as in the three months through January. Nearly 90% of settlements in the sector were finalised at 3% or less. Lee Hopley, EEF chief economist, said: “The main bargaining period for manufacturing companies is passing with no evidence of pay pressures despite the increase in the cost of living. See ’s May issue for more on manufacturing pay trends and their implications.

Electronics Sourcing LIVE 2013 takes place at Stadium MK. This is a free one day networking event specially designed for the UK electronics supply chain community, designers and manufacturing engineers and offers an environment where professionals can network with a wide variety of exhibitors. Visit http://uk.electronics-sourcinglive.com/register-uk/ to register.

21-23

The LMJ Annual Conference takes place at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham featuring keynotes from North America, South Africa, UK and Europe; facilitated interactive workshops; 12 case studies; peer-to-peer networking; and inspiration for your continuous improvement programmes. For more information and to book contact Benn Walsh at b.walsh@sayonemedia.com or +44(0)207 202 7485

July

The Manufacturer hosts Energy Management 2013, a Future Factory event in Birmingham. The conference will help manufacturers understand how to manage volatile energy costs, security of supply and environmental responsibility. This conference will provide delegates with knowledge around procurement options, energy optimisation technologies and on-site power generation choices. Another Future Factory event on Flexible Workforce requirements will be co-located with Energy Management 2013. For further information or to book your place, contact Benn Walsh at b.walsh@sayonemedia.com or +44(0)207 202 7485

For all of the latest news in the manufacturing world visit www.themanufacturer.com

ManufacturingAppointments UK Appointments Ian Tyler BAE Systems

Ian Tyler was appointed non-executive director at BAE Systems with effect, May 8. Mr Tyler stepped down from his previous position as chief executive of Balfour Beatty at the end of March. He held the role for eight years. Tyler is also a non-executive director of Cable & Wireless

Communications, a former non-executive director of VT Group and is a chartered accountant. Dick Olver, chairman of BAE Systems said: “Ian’s knowledge and deep understanding of long-term contracting businesses and his boardroom experience will be an asset to the Board.”

John Leighfield CBE WMG Academy for Young Engineers

John Leighfield CBE, businessman and former pro-chancellor of the University of Warwick was named as the first chair of governors at WMG Academy for Young Engineers.

Mr Leighfield worked in the IT industry working at well known British companies such as Ford Motor Company and British Leyland as well as AT&T and RM Education.

Vince Middleton Newburgh Engineering

Vince Middleton, chair of Newburgh Engineering, was appointed chair of the new AMRC Training Centre. The board met in the same week that the centre held its first assessment day for would-be apprentices, and the first structural steelwork was erected for its new building. Other businesses

represented on the Training Centre board include Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Tata Steel, Evenort, JRI Orthopaedics, Maher, MTL, Nikken and Polypipe. Newburgh Engineering is a progressive contract manufacturer with advanced production facilities in Rotherham and Bradwell, Derbyshire.

Derek Carter Portakabin Group

York-based Portakabin Group appointed Derek Carter as its new CEO. This appointment follows the retirement of Stephen Price who served as managing director and then executive chairman of the Portakabin Group for 17 years.

Mr Carter said; “Coming from a successful background heading up two of the world’s leading leisure marine manufacturers, I am looking forward to taking the Portakabin business to the next stage in its evolution.”

Rick Davies Sarginsons

Rick Davies was appointed as process development manager at Coventrybased precision aluminium diecasters Sarginsons. The appointment comes after the company unveiled a £2.5m capital investment programme in response to an increase in market

demand for its expertise in low pressure diecasting in October last year. Mr Davies is six sigma qualified and will be based at Sarginsons’ flagship foundry in Torrington Avenue. This is the only site in Europe to provide low pressure, gravity and sand diecasting, all under the same roof.

Coopervision announced the appointment of Debbie Olive as vice president of marketing for Europe, and Dimple Shah as professional affairs & relations consultant. Previously director of marketing at Alcon – CIBA Vision, Ms Olive comes equipped with a range of experience across high profile retail and FMCG brands, including Kraft Jacob Suchard, William Grant & Sons and Marks & Spencer.

To notify The Manufacturer of your company’s appointments, please contact George Archer at: g.archer@sayonemedia.com or: 0207 401 6033

Obituary Dr Alan Richard Reece, one of the most successful engineering entrepreneurs of his generation, died aged 85. Recognised as an inspired mechanical designer and philanthropist, he was responsible for creating a number of engineering companies on Tyneside with a combined turnover of over £300m and 700 employees. His ideas enabled the safe installation of cables and pipelines under the sea bed and have helped save the lives of hundreds of soldiers in recent conflicts in the Middle East.

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BacktoScuoler

Policypoint Tony Whitehead, IET director of policy, on changing the narrative for UK manufacturing.

lready in 2013, the manufacturing community has run a gamut of industry conferences. The BIS Manufacturing Summit, the EEF National Manufacturing Conference, the UK Manufacturing Summit (hosted at the IET), to name just a few. We all know which issues will come up at such events: skills, access to finance, investment, exports and energy. And we all know that more needs to be done to address these – but how much more? The national media has become obsessed with reporting on monthly snapshots of manufacturing statistics. This is a mistake. Some months the statistics are up, some months they’re down. Either way, they tell us very little and, more worryingly, obsession with them reinforces lack of confidence, resulting in under-investment in manufacturing. But in the absence of any change in the economic debate, the media have little else to fall back on. Therefore, the IET (along with other professional bodies) is working to change the narrative for UK manufacturing – to improve understanding among politicians of what life is like for a UK-based manufacturer by talking to manufacturers at the sharp end. The interviews so far have demonstrated clearly that where a long term strategy is in place, business prospers. This lesson applies to government and is behind the recommendations made in our report Engineering an industrial strategy. But it also applies to manufactures themselves. Not every manufacturer has a long term strategy and, as a sector, we need to challenge ourselves to ensure that best practice is really spread through the supply chain to boost international competitiveness and alter the narrative of industry as perceived by outsiders. Focusing on the food and drink sector, the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, the IET is working on a detailed study to uncover its opportunities to innovate business practices and processes. Furthermore, as part of the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group inquiry into British industrial culture (p6), the IET will investigate in detail why short term business cultures exist. Armed with the findings from these investigations we hope the Spring conference season for 2014 will offer a clearer statement on where UK manufacturing is heading and provide meaningful evidence as to what is being done to move in that direction.

The UK’s stretched infrastructure is hampering economic rebalancing and progress on Government’s target to double exports to £1tn a year by 2020. EEF’s CEO Terry Scuoler talks through the findings of the organisation’s first transport survey.

e urgently need to take the politics out of infrastructure, reassess investment priorities and be bolder on big issues like airport capacity and funding Britain’s road network. Investing in the nation’s transport network would give the economy a shot in the arm and lay the foundations for competitiveness tomorrow. Quality infrastructure lowers the cost of doing business, helps attract inward investment and provides access to international markets. The road network is the backbone of the economy. Four-fifths of manufacturers Getting identify it as business-critical. It underpins transport policy everything from moving goods and raw behind efforts materials in a lean fashion to accessing to grow the economy means labour. But high levels of congestion on tackling longkey arteries and poor maintenance for standing issues many local roads are adversely impacting – chiefly, political operations. More than half of firms report prevarication, significantly increased operating costs and skewed nearly a third a loss of productivity as investment a result. priorities and lack And it’s not just roads letting business of ambition down. Aviation connects the UK to the global marketplace. Three-quarters of export-intensive manufacturers identify aviation infrastructure as important to new business opportunities and half of foreign-owned firms, representing a significant proportion of UK manufacturing, say it is key when deciding where to invest. Getting transport policy behind efforts to grow the economy means tackling long-standing issues – chiefly, political prevarication, skewed investment priorities and lack of ambition. Step one is to establish an independent infrastructure commission – an apolitical body tasked with identifying Britain’s long-term needs and forging political consensus on major infrastructure issues. Step two is getting our investment priorities right. A greater share of public spending on transport infrastructure should be allocated to roads, on targeted projects for maintenance and upgrades. Step three is being bolder and acting faster. All options for funding investment in the road network, including road pricing, should be considered. The timetables for HS2 and the Airports Commission need to be accelerated. Bringing forward the latter will give the next government a clear mandate for progressing its favoured airport capacity option. In EEF’s opinion, there is a strong case for additional runway capacity at Heathrow. The Budget was a missed opportunity to up the ante on infrastructure with no additional spending announced on infrastructure before 2015 despite an £11bn ‘underspend’ by Whitehall last year. Britain deserves better.

This version of Back to Scuoler is abridged. For the full version go to:

Monthly columns

Leanonme Roberto Priolo, editor of Lean Management Journal, on creating impetus for change, with or without a burning platform.

ast month I was inundated in questions about February’s general election in Italy. The results gave the country a hung Parliament, caused panic in financial markets and left European leaders scratching their heads as to how they might regain stability and growth. People were asking me how it was possible that 30% of Italians decided to vote for the coalition led by scandal-prone media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi (oh dear), or that a movement made of common citizens, started as a blog a few years ago, became the number one party in the country. I am still left utterly baffled and embarrassed when faced with the first question. I can’t answer it. But I am pretty sure I know exactly how former comedian Beppe Grillo and his movement managed to gather so much support. Simply put, the promise of a revolution and a consequent new course is appealing, especially when things are not going well. In other words, Mr Grillo gave Italy a burning platform. People in lean know a thing or two about this and in some ways Grillo could be seen as the equivalent of a lean guru, brought in to analyse a company’s current state and help it figure out what measures need to be taken to improve performance. Italy’s endemic corruption - one of the main reasons for the country’s woes and an important point in Grillo’s

The promise of a revolution and a new course is appealing, especially when things are not going well. In other words, Mr Grillo gave Italy a burning platform Roberto Priolo, Editor, Lean Management Journal

agenda - can be seen as the waste lean tries to get rid of. A lean leader will find it easier to bring change about if they can enthuse and engage a workforce that is tired of feeling disillusioned and scared. The same is true for a politician or an activist: Grillo promised Italians a reformed system, based on honesty, transparency and a shared belief that the country can raise from its ashes if it is united and determined. Politics is often described as ‘the art of the possible’ – however, it seems to me that, by gaining 25% of the vote, Grillo achieved the impossible. Lean, too, is capable of bringing extraordinary results to a company that is willing to question itself and change. If people accept how bad a situation is, they will embrace radical measures to address it and a turnaround can be easier to achieve. This is what has always made those turnaround stories that don’t start with a nearto-bankruptcy situation so interesting to me. While all lean efforts and success stories are commendable, I have always found the companies that have introduced lean without fundamentally needing to – without having a burning platform – incredibly inspiring. HarleyDavidson is an example, and LMJ features a case study on the company in the April issue.

The rest of the April issue focuses on the tools a company can use in its lean implementation. Professor John Bicheno gives an overview of the evolution of lean tools over the years, while Alice Lee from Beth Israeli Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts explains how visual management supported the implementation of lean in one of the hospital’s departments. What is visual management if not an effective way of communicating one’s purpose and progress? Returning to the Italy analogy, Grillo has been able to win the hearts and minds of so many also thanks to a very clever form of political campaigning which relies on his visibility among the people and on the web, rather than through slogans and TV. Have a clear strategy in mind, communicate it effectively to your people and the results will follow. No doubt this is easier said than done – lean truisms and myths often blur our ability to communicate directly and effectively. If you are curious to read about this, make sure you get your hands on a copy of the May issue of Lean Management Journal. To purchase a one-year subscription (ten issues) to Lean Management Journal - for £295 – please email Roberto on r.priolo@sayonemedia.com

For more information about LMJ, please contact the editor, Roberto Priolo, on: r.priolo@sayonemedia.com

Production lines 3 new messages

Letters to the editor

Andy Drummond, Managing Director Lettergold Plastics

ast month featured Business Continuity Awareness Week. In its aftermath I urge The Manufacturer’s readers to look beyond Business Continuity Management (BCM) as simply a tool for emergency planning and disaster recovery and to consider it as instrumental to unlocking new opportunities and growth. We are reaping the benefits of implementing ISO 22301, the new international standard for BCM. The standard not only helps us safeguard the continuity of production and mitigate risk, but also to strengthen

our organisational capability and consider new ways of working. For example, we now proactively test new suppliers on a regular basis for quality, lead times and shipping costs. As a result we now run a more thrifty and efficient operation. We have also ensured that this structured way of working is externally verified through an accredited certification body, in our case BSI. This is because we are finding that in many cases we need this independent review in order to fulfill tender requirements and win new business.

Andrew Churchill, Managing Director, JJ Churchill

Teresa Hands, Managing Director, Wilmat

would like to take the opportunity to reiterate the call to arms, issued in the March issue of The Manufacturer, for business leaders to give their input into the consultation on the Design and Technology curriculum. The suggested programme of study for D&T which was published in February fundamentally fails to recognise this subject as ‘applied STEM’ and a critical enabling subject for young people with the potential to take up engineering and manufacturing careers. Suggesting, that manufacturers can play a part in returning the economy to growth without access to students who understand D&T in this light is wrong-headed and diametrically out-of-kilter with the 21st century skill-sets we desperately need. Without D&T being a cornerstone of our national curriculum, the step from pure maths and science into advanced manufacturing is simply too great. Students will not knowingly consider manufacturing as a sector where talent in these subjects can be expressed and business will continue to find it difficult to make a reasonable assessment of aptitude. Manufacturing employers must communicate their need for robust D&T skills. Without our input, government and education will not be able to develop or deliver an appropriate curriculum.

n mid-March, Foreign Secretary William Hague told the British Chambers of Commerce that innovative exporters were driving the economy. This is all very well. But there is still plenty of potential for growth far closer to home which UK manufacturers overlook at their peril. Despite the continued economic doom and gloom, we enjoyed steady growth during 2012, culminating in a record December in which we took orders worth more than £200,000 compared to around £30,000 in the same month in 2011. This is the result of a conscious decision to concentrate on building strong UK sales rather than exploring new overseas markets. Ninety five per cent of our sales are to other UK businesses, many of them in the manufacturing industry and there’s massive potential in new markets in different business sectors in the UK. Sometimes it’s better to ask who else in the UK could benefit from what you are doing rather than ploughing thousands of pounds and months of your time setting up distributor agreements in farflung foreign territories. Now is the time for a concerted effort to promote British manufacturing rather than just hoping that growth in other countries will provide the boost that the industry needs to help drive the UK’s economic recovery.

Readers can read the draft programme of study for D&T at: www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning and can contribute to the consultation by emailing nationalcurriculum. consultation@education.gsi.gov.uk. Please CC Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for education and childcare Elizabeth Truss: elizabeth.truss.mp@parliament.uk

for more from Teresa See the May issue of Hands and Wilmat on UK driven growth

If you would like to respond to one of ’s articles or comment on current manufacturing trends and events please email your letter to j.gray@sayonemedia.com

Monthly columns

Thenaked engineer: The big cheese Dubious pay back ratios for green power investment shake the resolve of Hemlock Engineering’s leader. Our anonymous columnist observes his commitment wane.

uge stink in the boardroom this morning. Apparently there was a galactic-sized malfunction of some equipment installed for a local client last month by our commercial food equipment division. Resulted in 40 tonnes of mozzarella turning green and slightly furry – so it wasn’t only a metaphorical stink. Our customer now has 40 tonnes of cheese trying to form its own escape committee which you can smell from four miles away. Main purpose of the board meeting, apart from trying to find a way to appease our cheesed off customer, was to look at installing some environmentally cuddly onsite power generation capacity. Apparently Sir Patrick has had his arm twisted by some bigwig from the Department for the Environment or whatever it’s called this week. He seems to have come over very green all of a sudden – very much like the mozzarella in fact. Jimmy the Greek (FD) had returned from his Lambrusco fuelled trip to Lanzarote for the meeting, looking like something the cat had dragged in, then thought better of and dragged out again. He lobbed a report on the table showing ROI figures for installing a wind turbine, PV (whatever that is) and a biomass boiler. He’d taken enough time out from gloating over replays of the Wales-Scotland Six Nations game to work out that if we installed a biomass boiler to heat Hemlock HQ it will cost around a mil and a quarter and the government would encourage us to the tune of £4.85.

Sir Patrick’s face fell at this news. “It could save us about £24k a year in running costs though,” said Jimmy, valiantly striving to find the up side against the odds. “Sorry to burst the biomass bubble Jimmy, but that would make the best case scenario for payback about half a century,” I said, perhaps a little too scathingly bearing in mind Jimmy’s delicate condition. “And that’s assuming the bits of smashed up MFI furniture and reject cricket bats we buy to feed into it don’t go up by 50,000% when everyone else jumps on the bandwagon.” Jimmy’s not in a state to maintain optimism. Embracing negativity, he points out that to actually gain the tempting government incentive and cover the cost of one celebratory glass of

Sorry to burst the biomass bubble Jimmy, but that would make the best case scenario for payback about half a century

merlot down Cavendish’s, we would have to jump through so many hoops that we’d all end up looking like circus lions HR director, Janice ‘ahems’ and casts us holier than though look. “Installing green energy capacity would do wonders for Hemlock’s image and workforce morale,” she says. Not a winning argument for Sir P. The meeting closes with a distinct shelving of Sir Patrick’s green phase. He exits with a blast of exhaust from his Aston’s quad tailpipes followed swiftly by huge quantities of CO2 created by flying first class to Monaco. Apparently he’s planning on bedding in early for next month’s Grand Prix. It’s going to take more than questionable government largess to get anything more than momentary idealism from Hemlock’s fearless leader. As Sir Patrick headed for the fleshpots of the Mediterranean I wondered idly if 40 tonnes of rotting cheese could be used as fuel for a biomass boiler? Any similarity of characters to persons living or dead is completely intentional.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

On the road again

AND ABOUT

’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 last month.

Embrace your failures Jane Gray joins the panel for the BAE Spring Lecture at Brunel University.

AE Systems sponsors this lecture at Brunel University, one of the UK’s leading academic centres for mechanical and aerospace engineering, every year. The aim is to challenge business and technology paradigms and engage teaching staff, students and local business leaders in forward thinking debate. This year the headline topic was open innovation, and James Baker, MD of BAE’s Advanced Technology Centre, led the evening of questions and answers with inspiring insight into just why the defence giant feels it can no longer innovate alone to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Both in terms of commercial competitiveness and keeping ahead of military threat, James showed how BAE is looking for expertise anywhere it can in order to move faster than the opposition. It’s been a tough change to achieve for the more traditional aspects of BAE’s business said James, and a lot of the progress made in accelerating and diversifying approaches to innovation has been made using lessons from Detica, the fast paced cyber security acquisition made by BAE in 2008. It was a great privilege to join reps from QinetiQ and TWI on the panel that supported James in taking questions from the audience –

Developing a real connection Tim Brown remarks on The Manufacturer’s seventh ERP Connect event.

RP Connect, held on March 20 in Northampton, provided delegates with a rounded perspective of ERP implementations; their requirements and benefits. The day commenced with a forward looking presentation from Allan Behrens, managing

though if I felt like the group naysayer. For while BAE’s examples of super high-tech innovation programmes and platforms, surrounded by enthusiastic boffins from a range of companies and research groups across a surprising collection of sectors, are very exciting, they are not what you might call usual. Open innovation is not a full blown trend yet across UK manufacturing. The average firm still has trouble understanding if it currently innovates internally, what that process looks like, and if it entitles them to an R&D tax rebate. But even so, the BAE Systems Spring Lecture afforded some excellent broader observations on the need for greater risk taking in order to flout uncertainty. It also highlighted why companies should take a more positive view of failure. The positive impact of failure on an organisation which is willing to learn was a message hammered home repeatedly by both James and Miles Adcock, QinetiQ’s MD of training and simulation services. James even shared that he is trying to get BAE to start up an internal prize for the ‘best failure’ alongside its accolades for top performing employees. @janefagray

director of analyst firm Taxal who highlighted the complex interaction between the desire to standardise processes for flexible, scalable solutions and demand for personalised products and services that recognise individual clients rather than markets or even niche groups. ERP helps companies cope with the complication this creates in manufacturing said Brehens and other speakers. Keith Nicholl, business improvement manager at KMF (Precision Sheet Metal), shared how ERP was essential to his company’s capability to introduce an average of 500 new parts into the business every month. he is keen to investigate Following ERP Connect, Nichols tells the relationship between ERP functionality and the principles of lean manufacturing... watch this space for his observations. ’s next ERP Connect event will take place in the Autumn. @BrownNewsUK

Out and about

Wraith revealed Harry Dalton swans up to the launch of the Rolls-Royce Wraith in style.

fter enduring delays with Southern Rail it was a more than usually soothing treat to be collected from Chichester station by a Rolls-Royce Ghost – but better was yet in store! It takes something special to get me out of bed at 4:30am and the unveiling of just the third new model from Rolls-Royce Motor Cars since it became a subsidiary of BMW in 1998 definitely qualifies. The Wraith is a coupé based on the popular Ghost saloon and will

share that car’s production line at Rolls-Royce’s ten year old factory. The company will not begin full scale production until the autumn with customers receiving their cars by the end of the year. Jörg Bause, the director of manufacturing for Rolls-Royce, unveiled a working prototype of the car in the company’s inner sanctum – the analysis area, where new cars are put through their paces. Rolls-Royce has sold record numbers of cars in the last three years - 3,500 were sold in 2012

Take heed of Lockheed It was about time that visited Lockheed Martin UK’s Ampthill site, the company’s largest British manufacturing facility. Harry Dalton gets up to speed with the defence manufacturers activities.

he UK is the second largest market and base of operations in the world for Lockheed Martin (LM) employing 2,500 people around the country. The company maintains the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent, supplies computer systems for the National Air Traffic Service and helps sort 60 million letters a day for the Royal Mail. One of the projects that I was allowed to see on the highly classified site was the newly renovated systems integration lab where a team of engineers is currently carrying out a £1bn contract to upgrade

The Wraith: a rare new model from RollsRoyce Motor Cars

alone. But Mr Bause says the luxury car maker is holding true to its aura of exclusivity in the midst of this relative boom. “We are not driven by volume. Rolls-Royce will never enter the mass luxury business and our cars must be a precious drop in the automotive ocean,” he said. Rolls-Royce employs 800 highly skilled workers at the final assembly factory at Goodwood, where almost all processes are still done by hand.

the Warrior armoured fighting vehicle for the British Army. The contract, LM UK’s biggest, saw £642m directly awarded to Ampthill and should be completed by 2018 with the Warrior in service until 2040. The lab features a £1m rig capable of testing 8 tonnes of turret, simulating difficult to replicate real world conditions. Lockheed is using expertise from developing the Warrior and the Scout reconnaissance vehicle to compete for the new Ground Combat Vehicle contract in the US. This includes drawing knowledge from an 800 company strong UK supply base LM UK’s business model is based on bringing US developed technology into the UK. Alan McCormick, vice president and MD at LM UK said: “The UK should use any capability that we can from wherever we can get it and leverage other people’s money because we are only a small country. “We are not just a shop window like some subsidiaries. I’ve sat in classified meetings where it is clear that the UK is leveraging far more into the US than the other way round. We are exporting higher level UK technology into the US.”

The UK should use any capability that we can from where ever we can get it and leverage other people’s money because we are only a small country Alan McCormick, Vice President and MD, Lockheed Mmartin UK

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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HVM Catapult centre

l ea d e r s

It’s the knowledge, stupid

There are seven Catapults due to come online in the next year or two – the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult became operational last year and has the responsibility of demonstrating the concept can work to help big companies prove manufacturing processes without tying up capital, and smaller firms avoid the “Valley of Death” en route to proving that a new product is market-ready. Investors often fail to back a company at an important stage it its progeny because it is one or two Technology Readiness Levels short of being investable. The HVM Catapult in turn comprises seven nationwide centres of competence for certain manufacturing disciplines. While some are multifunctional, others work in explicit fields, such as composite materials or metal forming.

Technology access

Is the High Value Manufacturing Catapult working?

econstruct manufacturing in your mind and a factory is merely a building, a box where knowledge is applied. Knowledge is the key. Knowledge of how to make something cheaper, quicker, stronger. This is the essence of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, according to its chief executive Dick Elsy. “The biggest anchor point for innovation in the UK is this knowledge,” says Mr Elsy, who spent 30 years developing technology businesses. “If we develop the knowledge in the UK, it acts as the main binder to lock stuff into the UK.” Without this, it follows, manufacturing can be more attractive in regions with similarly qualified people but lower labour costs. Take the next generation of composite aircraft wings, for example. “Imagine all the embedded effort in developing the manufacturing processes. It is not easy to flick that manufacturing abroad because the knowledge has created the value.” “Catapult” is the name given to government’s vision for accelerating this conversion process of knowledge into value.

Part of a Catapult’s remit is to provide technological capability that is inaccessible to many companies. Does the HVM Catapult do this? Visit the University of Sheffield AMRC with Boeing and it is clear that it does. Here giant machine tools, like the Starrag Heckert HEC 1800 with its unique planetary turning and milling technology that can machine enormous parts on a 10-metre bed, are being optimised for research projects that will fulfil the Catapult’s mandate in fields like power generation. Other HVM centres also use big technology. Early in 2014, the National Composites Centre (NCC) will install a Large Resin Transfer Press (RTM) to trial manufacturing processes for large scale composite materials. Many aerospace and automotive companies, prime sectors for the application of composites, couldn’t afford to have this piece of kit in the corner of their workshops, which may not be working full-time. Locating it at the HVM centre pools the resources of companies with NCC

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult Dick Elsy

AFRC Archie MacPherson

AMRC Prof Keith Ridgway

CPI Nigel Perry

MTC Dr Clive Hickman

NAMRC Dr Alan McLelland

NCC Peter Chivers

WMG Alan Curtis

Leadstory High Value Manufacturing Catapult

The Catapult sprung: Case studies AFRC – Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce worked with the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) to improve the manufacturing method for compressor aerofoils by extending the life of dies used in the hot forging process.

AMRC – IBM

people in collaborative projects. And the scope of projects the centre can undertake is growing. £28m from the Department for Business and Skills, announced in the 2012 Autumn Statement, will double its size. Furthermore, as the HVM Catapult matures, more opportunity will arise for crosscentre working, multiplying the value of the Catapult’s kit and capabilities. Will Barton, head of manufacturing at the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), gives an example. “There is a lot of work being done to automate production of automotive components and much excitement about the use of composite materials for automotive components. “So the NCC develops a method for making a part which has never been made in composites before. And MTC engineers, which specialise in automating processes, work out how to produce it faster and more efficiently.” Many such applications are not suitable for the average £5m precision engineering firm or biotech company. But small companies, such as LED manufacturer PolyPhotonix (see p28), have been helped by the Catapult. “It is not all about helping big industry,” Mr Elsy says. “For example, the Nuclear AMRC has Fit4Nuclear, a programme that opens SME’s eyes to certification so they can compete in the nuclear build industry.”

The AMRC worked with IBM engineers to develop a new remote MRO (Maintenance and Repair Operation). Considerable interest is being shown in the prototype by companies from the aerospace, energy and utilities sectors. The system has the potential to improve a company’s flexibility, improve its environmental footprint and up skill its workers.

MTC – Hewlett Packard

Working with MTC, HP developed new, more accessible and affordable product lifecycle management software. Working with smaller business members at MTC allowed HP to understand their requirements better. The new software should offer a ‘template’ for the rampup and scaling of factories.

Nuclear AMRC – Newburgh Engineering

Newburgh worked for several years with an overseas customer to produce large components for the energy industry. These parts require a lot of machining on largebed machines at Newburgh’s Bradwell and Rotherham sites. It is working with the Nuclear AMRC to make sure its machining processes are optimised and to look at new technologies for making these parts. Newburgh production engineer Andrew Wright now works full-time at the Nuclear AMRC.

NCC – Jaguar Land Rover

The NCC is involved in early stage research with Jaguar Land Rover and other automotive companies to develop a process to mass manufacture car panels from composite materials.

WMG – Boomerang Plastics

Recycling company Boomerang Plastics worked with WMG’s SME team to explore ways of re-using a well known yoghurt manufacturer’s plastic pots. Boomerang saw the potential of developing a material out of the waste that could be resold into new markets. WMG’s Dr Kylash Makenji helped test the thermal properties of the waste material, characterise it and injection mould it to assess the feasibility for re-developing and re-selling it.

For more information on these case studies, contact Will Powell at Influence Associates: will@influenceassociates.com

Lead story: High Value Manufacturing Catapult

Choosing centre competencies

How did the government, which knows little about manufacturing, choose which competencies the HVM Catapult should assist? The TSB commissioned the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University to identify the necessary competencies to protect and improve a competitive industrial base in the UK in 2011. Of the 22 competencies indentified the Catapults cover seven thoroughly and the others superficially. Giving all the reasons for selecting the priority sectors and technologies given special treatment by the HVM Catapult is beyond the scope of this article. But there is some deliberate crossover between the Catapult’s strategy and other national frameworks for competitive UK manufacturing such as the Engineering Doctoral (EngDoc) centres run by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the government’s industrial strategy. This suggests competency selections follow a logic of alignment and a desire for a consistent approach to industrial development across the strategy documents of disparate bodies.

Investment off the back of Catapult work High performance disk machining: Knowledge perfected with the Catapult means Rolls-Royce chooses UK for factory At the InnovateUK show in March, Steven Halliday, AMRC relationship manager at Rolls-Royce, was evangelical about the benefits of working with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to develop a specific set of manufacturing technologies. Rolls-Royce drew on the AMRC’s expertise to develop an advanced manufacturing method for gas turbine disc components for RollsRoyce’s latest family of large civil gas turbines. A joint Rolls-Royce/AMRC team used modern machining, tooling and modelling technologies to deliver a step change improvement

How is the Catapult funded? The Catapult is funded on a so-called three-thirds model. Core, government funding comes via the Technology Strategy Board and the remaining two thirds come from research and development grants won by the Catapult working with business and from contract research funded fully by business. Is this system working? The core funding comprises £30m a year. The project’s year end accounts are due at the end of March, and Elsy and Barton say “the trajectory looks pretty good” to hit the three-thirds ratio. Critics say however, that the Catapults should work on a higher proportion of business funding

The government support for the risk reduction is the essence of the [Catapult funding] model Dick Elsy, CEO, HVM Catapult

to work content, productivity and quality, compared to industry standard methods. “The manufacture of full scale demonstrator components at the AMRC validated the new approach in readiness for the launch of our new high technology disk factory near Newcastle that will open in late 2013,” says Mr Haillday. “I am confident that the methodology developed through this project can now be used and applied to similar complex process challenges across the other Catapult centres.” Dick Elsy says: “The breakthroughs in machining time and accuracy have made UK manufacture for RollsRoyce,completely competitive. This captures the essence of the Catapult; the knowledge is the trigger point.”

and aim to become self sustaining – as a similar initiative in the US aims to do within seven years. Barton, who works with colleagues developing the US Catapult model disagrees. He is adamant that, even should the ratio for commercial funding increase, the Catapults should remain part state-funded. “If you want to get an industry to derisk a risky proposition, you have to continue investing to stay at the cutting edge. Industry is not going to do that on its own,” says Barton. Dick Elsy agrees. “Despite the capitalist in you, if you let industry drive everything you will progressively end up with vanilla flavoured projects. The government

support for the risk reduction is the essence of the model.” Funding within the HVM Catapult does not get evenly distributed. For instance, the Autumn Statement gave £38m for the National Biologics Industrial Innovation Centre (NBIIC), which is managed under the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and driven by the Life Sciences Strategy. But there was no money in November for the MTC, which is at full capacity and needs to expand. “There are some areas that are underrepresented,” says Elsy. “We have to look for other projects of scale, define them and bid for incremental pots of money to supplement the core funding.”

All joined up?

The HVM Catapult claims to have come a long way in synchronising its activities with other groups, to help companies see the proposition for support and the best route to take. TSB is working off the same 22 national competencies as the EPSRC is through its EngDoc centres and its 16 Centres of Innovative Manufacturing. “We get more and more lined up,” says Barton. “The next step is that Mark ClaydonSmith [Head of Manufacturing at the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council, see box] and my programmes start to line up in terms of the sectors we select with reference to the industrial strategy chosen by BIS.” The TSB and EPSRC have a chief technology officers’ forum, where the CTO from each HVM centre meet with EPSRC technology representatives four times a year to synchronise activity.

The CPI got £38m of government investment in the 2012 Autumn Statement for its National Biologics Industrial Innovation Centre

PolyPhotonix and the CPI’s Printable Electronics Centre

HVM Catapult competencies match those followed by EPSRC

PolyPhotonix manufactures products that use organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and has developed a photo-dynamic therapy light mask using facilities at the Centre for Process Innovation.

Reaching SMEs But is this increasingly rational Catapult proposition reaching the companies who need it most? “I am spending one third of my time networking with the ‘extended enterprise’ , as I call it, for industry support. For example the Knowledge Transfer Networks [KTNs] and MAS [Manufacturing Advisory Service],” says Elsy. “Here is a terrific resource, reaching out to SMEs, who can convey the message of the Catapult better than me on a podium. They are helping relevant businesses come forward.” Evidence of this ‘extended enterprise’ outreach can be seen in Dr Ruth Mellors, who runs the Aerospace KTN, now acting like a Catapult ambassador with her community which includes bodies like aerospace trade group ADS. Furthermore, Caroline Boyer-Spooner, chief executive of the Chemistry and Innovation KTN, has sent several companies to the CPI in Sedgfield for potential help.

[The knowledge Transfer Networks and MAS] can convey the message of the Catapult better than me on a podium Dick Elsy, CEO, HVM Catapult

The technology, which can be used for domestic and professional medical applications, uses organic LEDs to prevent and cure diabetic retinopathy and agerelated macular degeneration – conditions that affect 10% of the population. The treatment will significantly reduce blindness in old age. High throughput organic lighting is the key to affordability and light quality without generating more heat using traditional LEDs. This organics light works to stimulate the retinas. The technology was incubated at the CPI and successful clinical trials have been completed with the NHS. The therapy’s affordability is key to the product’s success.

Leadstory High Value Manufacturing Catapult

Same aims, stronger ties Mark ClaydonSmith, Head of Manufacturing, Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council, explains how his research council is synchronised with the HVM Catapult. Recently, EPSRC has made investments in areas of national strategic importance for future manufacturing, including: 16 Centres for Innovative Manufacturing Multidisciplinary programmes to research new industrial technologies Doctoral training for future manufacturing scientists and engineers and; Manufacturing research fellowships for industrialists moving into academic research leadership. “Our research community is well connected to UK industry. A DTZ impact analysis in 2010 demonstrated significant economic impact from EPSRC research investment. “In 2010, EPSRC commissioned IfM [the Institute for Manufacturing] to conduct a review of international approaches to manufacturing research. All the developed nations we looked at had strategies to improve national competitiveness through research and innovation, often via manufacturing. A critical factor was the relationships between universities, intermediate organisations and industry. “The Catapult is well embedded within the UK innovation scene. EPSRC supports five Industrial Doctorate Centres associated with the Catapult (at the NCC, AMRC, AFRC, WMG MTC), where Engineering Doctorate students work at the Catapult on an industrial project, supervised by academic experts at their host universities.” More from Mark and EPSRC is available on www.themanfuacturer.com.

Some SMEs question the benefits they would get by joining collaborative research projects at the HVM Catapult.

Sceptics need persuading

Some commentators – including one within the Catapult – have remarked that the Catapult is really just a funky name the government cooked up to repackage seven existing manufacturing research centres which were, in some cases, running out of money with the demise of the Regional Development Agencies. “The government pulled the plug on the RDAs then thought s**t, what shall we do with these places?” one senior Catapult executive told . No one in industry really cares about the spin providing the Catapult works. But the jury is out is on the accessibility and specific advantage of Catapult membership for SMEs. For example, what is the process for selecting which Catapult centre to join? Some SMEs are eligible, defined by what they manufacture, to join multiple centres. But with an entrylevel Tier 2 membership fee being £30,000 to £40,000, it is expensive to join more than one centre. Furthermore, the total cost of membership can be significantly more than the already hefty membership fee. For a company hundreds of miles from its target centre, total cost includes the relocation of an employee, possible readjusted pay and rented accommodation. This could mount up to perhaps twice the membership fee. Another snag is how reciprocal the collaboration that the Catapult is trying to imbue is. By joining a Catapult centre, a

company can tap into a range of technical and research capabilities. But how much of the true value – the knowledge that Dick Elsy highlights – is available completely collaboratively? Say a small engineering business has been optimising a machining technique, with specific speeds and feeds to machine parts from a strong alloy very quickly. By joining the Catapult, this painstakingly acquired knowledge is wholly available to prime companies like GKN and Rolls-Royce. Would these primes reciprocate fully with a piece of their IP that the SME can benefit from? Finally, the Catapult needs to consider whether SMEs, or big companies, could buy a technology that is Catapultderived direct from a member without being one themselves. This might incur a long wait, and the Catapult would argue that a company waiting to buy proven technology would miss several key proving stages en route to the perfected process, but the point needs consideration. These question marks need addressing. But, overall, the evidence points to the Catapult as a well conceived organisation that is becoming firmly established in the UK’s industrial landscape. It is marketing itself to SMEs via channels like the KTNs and MAS, helping companies to produce commercially viable, marketready products and providing big companies with strong, knowledge-based reasons to locate manufacturing facilities in the UK and not elsewhere. It is an asset, if not yet a perfect one. @WRStirling

Driving

force

Global, growing, high technology, efficient, a rising share price and British: it’s a rare combination. Nigel Stein has his hands firmly on the wheel of GKN’s group strategy, says Will Stirling.

Be leaders in your field: GKN’s four operating divisions GKN Driveline A world leading supplier of automotive driveline systems and solutions, including allwheel drive. Rear drive unit Twinster

Variable valve timing assembly

Turbine exhaust case

Dual clutch

GKN Powder Metallurgy The world’s largest manufacturer of sintered components, predominantly to the automotive sector.

GKN Aerospace Top 3 global first tier supplier to the global aviation industry focussing on aerostructures, engine systems and products and speciality products.

GKN Land Systems A leading supplier of technologydifferentiated power management solutions and services to the agricultural, construction, industrial and mining sectors.

Nigel Stein has a five point strategy for growth, which 2012 figures show is working across its four global divisions

KN Driveline grew by 7% in 2012, more than the rise in the car market it supplies. This means the global drive shafts manufacturer gained market share and the global company headquartered in Redditch can now claim that 40% of all the cars built today are fitted with GKN drive shafts. Outgrowing your markets is one of five strategic pillars for success devised by Nigel Stein, CEO of parent company GKN plc, and the GKN board. “Be a leader in chosen markets, have a global footprint with manufacturing in global locations. Have technology driving your margin. Have more than a commodity product to offer customers. Achieve operational excellence and outgrow your markets,” Mr Stein reels off the strategic points as if it were a simple shopping list. But GKN appears to be delivering confidently. Strong 2012 financial results revealed that all four divisions – Driveline, Powder Metallurgy, Aerospace and Land Systems – posted record profits. Group dividend increased by 20%. Its shares are up 45% over the last 12-months and it was one of the FTSE’s top risers in late March. “But I learned a long time ago not

to get seduced by the share price,” says Mr Stein. “Focus on the fundamentals – growth, technology, investment – and the stock will look after itself.” On the flipside, the company’s pension deficit has increased this year, with the acquisitions, from £868m in 2011 to £978m in 2012. And GKN Driveline’s European market is falling, as is the military market for Aerospace. But the overall trajectory is upwards and forward. GKN plc is an anomaly. A market leading manufacturer in both automotive and aerospace, globally dominant in both drive shafts and all wheel drives (AWDs) and more recently a top tier one supplier to aerospace engine manufacturers such as RollsRoyce and GE. It has factories in 31 countries. It is British. And it is 250-years old, starting life as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, an ironworks formed in 1759. The four GKN divisions at first seem disparate, but not when the five point plan is applied, Stein says. “These businesses are complimentary when you consider they each fulfil our five global leader criteria, with engineering at the core.” Tall, polite and on the ball with all questions, Nigel Stein became chief executive officer in January 2012, moving up from

Interview Nigel Stein, GKN

running the automotive group and he has been with GKN since 1994. He took the CEO’s mantle from Sir Kevin Smith, the aerospace industry heavyweight who is now a British trade ambassador. Big shoes to fill, but Nigel Stein wasted little time in getting his feet under the table. Under his captaincy GKN has grown steadily and he was the chief architect behind two of three substantial acquisitions made in the last two years. “We prefer organic growth but you keep your eyes open for opportunities and need to be ready to respond,” he comments. Volvo Aerospace was acquired in July 2012. GKN had no aerospace engine division (GKN Aerospace focused on composite aerostructures) and Volvo’s engineering disciplines – lightweight engineering, working at high temperatures – were very similar to its aerospace division. “We’ve grown from the bottom up in this segment – build to print, fan blade repair – from small beginnings we’ve worked our way up the food chain. But it was only about 10% of our business. When Volvo came up we were fortunate to be able to acquire it.” The Swedish company has proved a good “cultural fit” with GKN says Stein. Volvo was expensive, £633 million, and GKN’s shares suffered as the market feared the effect of this cost on company operations. “But once we did the deal and people could see what sense it made, our shares recovered to an extent.” More recently, further recovery in the car industry resulted in a resurgent share price. Getrag, GKN’s second recent acquisition, was a Land Systems’ target four years ago, but the recession delayed GKN’s move until October 2011. “Their parent was keen to drive off, excuse the pun, into new products such as DCT clutch technology. Their all-wheel drive

business was a great fit for us, as we were always strong in Asia and they were strong in Europe and North America.” Getrag helped GKN to become the world leader in AWD shafts.

Research, recruitment, industry strategy

We spend about three per cent of sales on R&D. One of my stated objectives is to drive that up

The boss is keen put more resources into research and development. “We spend about three per cent of group sales on R&D which arguably is a bit lower than we’d like. “One of my stated objectives is to drive that up. In similar companies, R&D spend is about three to four per cent, some companies spend more, though not many that are comparable to us [in size]. But we are focused about what we spend it on and making sure that we get the right returns,” asserts Stein. “A lot of senior people in here understand our technology,” he continues, explaining that Richard Parry-Jones, Ford’s ex-chief technology officer who heads the Automotive Council is on GKN’s board, and Marcus Bryson, Aerospace and Land Systems CEO and a leader for the Aerospace Growth Partnership formed by trade body ADS, is an engineer. GKN also has a group technology strategy board, which consults about how

to share technology across the group and the group has global university partnerships. For example, a GKN Driveline technology centre in Germany has close relationships with Aachen University and the Powder Metallurgy division in the US works with Penn State University. “In the UK we would work more with institutions like the University of Bristol for aerospace,” says Stein. One of the problems with fast growth is filling the job vacancies. Both GKN’s aerospace businesses, for composite structures and engine components, are growing fast and the aerostructures business is especially brisk. GKN Aerospace had to implement a special recruitment strategy to find the necessary skilled people to deliver these composite parts to Airbus and Boeing, which have massive order backlogs. And competitors want the same people, especially those with experience. “We will overcome that, but we have to work hard at this. We train our own people. But there is competition for them and you have to ensure you have the right offering to attract them,” says Stein. When UK car manufacture was down in the 2000s, apprenticeships were neglected.

All-wheel drive testing rig at GKN Driveline in Lohmar, Germany

Interview Nigel Stein, GKN

More recently GKN relaunched its scheme with gusto and now has about 160 apprentices in the UK at different stages. At the last apprentice open day in Bristol, about 1,000 people attended, including family, for 40 places. “The industry, both aerospace and automotive, has rightly worked hard on its image. Now with initiatives like the government’s See Inside Manufacturing school visits, which we were part of, it’s changing people’s perceptions.” Now GKN runs a series of school visits to its UK sites.

Op Ex and outgrowing markets The challenge of running a publically quoted, global engineering business, apart from actually running a global engineering business, is finessing

Biography Nigel Stein, GKN 1975-1978:

University of Edinburgh, BSc in Engineering Science

1978-1994:

Senior financial jobs in automotive and manufacturing, inc Hestair Duple plc and Laird plc

1994:

Joins GKN plc

1994-2001:

Several positions including in general management, commercial and finance

2001-2007:

Group finance director, GKN

2007-2011:

Chief executive, GKN Automotive

Jan 2012:

Chief executive officer, GKN

Nigel is a past president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (until November 2012), and is member of the Automotive Council. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and is a former non-exec director of Wolseley plc. He is married with three children, and enjoys sailing and skiing in what little spare time he has.

As a CEO you must reserve a little nervousness, to avoid that dangerous complacency

two often incompatible needs: investing in the business to be competitive and giving shareholder returns. “We have a very supportive shareholder base for our investment needs, they understand the GKN story,” Stein says. “We discuss investment intent. Generally the UK focuses far more on the short term than the German Mittelstand companies who take a 10 to 20 year view. In our business we keep saying it can take us three years from winning an order to actually going into production. You have to have that long vision to deliver the performance you set.” Part of the solution is to be lean. GKN in the UK has built up a strong reputation for lean manufacturing. Today lean, or operational excellence, is implemented uniformly across all GKN sites globally and is one of the five strategic pillars. “GKN was not a leader in this originally, but recognising it could do more it set off on a lean journey, adopting different ideas from different people,” says Stein. “About 10 years ago we saw there was benefit in adopting this across the whole group. Peter Watkins [a frequent speaker at ’s conferences] had been running a lean programme at Driveline with very clear messages. And with customers such as Toyota and Nissan, Driveline was really familiar with the concept of operational excellence.” GKN Lean Enterprise has spread across the company and today, visit any GKN factory in any of 31 countries, from aerostructures to metal sintering, you will find people who have done the same lean training courses practising the same GKN Lean methods. Stein says he visits a factory “as often as I can” and estimates this would be around once every three weeks. “We visit and comment, it’s very important to show interest and even make suggestions for improvements. People see that they are being recognised.” He recaps the five strategy pillars, and emphasises the “globalness” of GKN throughout the interview. The company is strong in China, for example, where Driveline recorded 23% sales growth and 6% market growth in 2012. Back to outgrowing your markets, Stein says neither GKN nor the UK must lose sight of this. “You are either winning or losing. You need to grow faster than your markets. If you stand still you are gone,” he states. “Here we push as fast as we can to keep racing ahead. There can be a tendency to be complacent when you’ve done something well but then you will rapidly lose the advantages that got you to where you are.” As a personal business philosophy, Nigel Stein says “Any leader in a business has to be a little paranoid. You have to be proud and confident about what you do and what you can do. But you must reserve a little nervousness, to avoid that dangerous complacency.” @WRStirling

A longer interview with Nigel Stein is available at www.themanufacturer.com

Interview 60 second

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya Chairman of WMG

: How did you come to set up WMG? I saw a polarisation between academia and industry. The latter didn’t think much of universities and vice versa. At the same time British manufacturing was going down the drain, but most people didn’t believe it. They thought the problems stemmed from the unions, not competitiveness. In the early 1970s I’d been to Japan and I remember telling British industry we’ve got to wake up. No one realised what the world was doing. No one knew what competitiveness was. They just thought if you want to get a good job, go to university and get a business degree. This continued into the 1980s and 1990s. The group that established WMG realised that industry needed first class people. Manufacturing was perceived to be so bad that any decent graduate with intellect didn’t want to go there. Meanwhile, in industry, there was a negative perception that graduates weren’t prepared to be on the shop floor. We set up the Integrated Graduate Development programme with companies like Jaguar, Austin Rover, Rolls-Royce, British Airways, Short Brothers and more, injecting a huge number of people into industry. We were the first to do programmes that people think are normal these days in combined industrial study. WMG as we know it today, with its many centres and courses, grew out of that pragramme.

Pioneer, visionary, dogmatic – Labour peer Professor Lord Bhattacharyya founded the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick in 1980, and was the first professor of manufacturing in the UK. We don’t do any consultancy at WMG. We are the only [university] in the UK where no staff are allowed to do it. Foreign companies are very open to us because of this. They know our fundamental is technology research.

: How does study at WMG differ to other universities? From day one, everything we have done has been with industry. We started teaching Engineering Business Management in the early 1990s. This is how to manage technology when technology is driving your company. We’ve singled out two big themes. Lightweighting is everywhere, because of energy conservation. We got straight into composites and nanoscale materials. We are now working on one of the greatest breakthroughs in structural composites for automotive. In parallel, we must be internationally competitive. We were already working with Germany and Japan. Now we are partnering with more governments. We don’t set up centres abroad, but partner with universities, with the agreement of national governments. We were the first [UK university] to go into China. Chinese companies came here in the 1980s. We now have total access to people who are captains of industry out there.

: Manufacturing is fashionable with politicians at the moment. What’s your view of this trend? Both Labour and the Conservative parties are guilty of letting manufacturing erode to 10% of GDP. Then ‘high value manufacturing’ became popular with politicians after the financial meltdown. In the midst of that crisis the industry

minister in China said to me “you mean to say we do low value manufacturing, and you do high value manufacturing? Explain to us.” The focus must be on the product and competitiveness more than the idea of cost. : What is your opinion of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (p24)? I support the Catapults but they are not a substitute for the Fraunhofer Institute. They are doing some excellent work but it remains to be seen whether they can pay for themselves within the ‘three times one third model’, where just one third is paid by government via the TSB.

WMG research centres International Manufacturing Centre: For the development of products with companies in parallel with research into global mega trends. Digital Design Laboratory: For experimentation in new product design technologies, digital components and research on digital transmission. Service Science Centre: WMG pioneered the servitisation model for hospitals. The Service Science Centre advances the use of simulation technologies for creating service systems across sectors. To find out more about WMG research and industry collaboration go to: www2.warwick.ac.uk/wmg

A full length interview with Prof Lord Bhattacharyya is available in the Interview section at www.themanufacturer.com

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Backtoschool Campaign Update

School seeking governor!

Little

Ernst Bevin School, based in Tooting, South London, is seeking a pro-active manufacturing leader to join its board of governors.

steps

The school sends several students to study engineering at university every year, but it is keen to augment teaching of STEM skills to improve student understanding of the careers available in manufacturing and engineering firms. Ernst Bevin is also keen to understand more about industry apprenticeship opportunities in order to offer more rounded careers advice to students of all abilities and

The first wins have been made in ’s campaign to appoint one manufacturing leader to the governing board of a secondary school in every country in England and Wales.

ince the last issue of Andrew Churchill, MD of JJ Churchill, was appointed to the governing board of The Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. Will Bridgman, MD of Warren Services in Norfolk has entered into talks with the local Thetford Academy to gain a position on its governing board and Laura Bawden, finance director at acoustic equipment manufacturer, TMAT, is in the process of becoming a co-opted governor at Chaucer School in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. But appointing Ms Bawden to its board is just a small part of the business outreach Chaucer School is embarking on. Recognising the need for far more explicit links between education and business in order to prepare students for the world of employment, Chaucer School is establishing a Business Board. Initially, this board will include senior employees from five local businesses representing sectors from manufacturing through financial services and

Laura Bawden, Finance Director, TMAT

hopes to gain more knowledge of these routes through its prospective industry governor. You do not have to live or run you business in a school’s catchment area in order to take up a position on the governing board, though it is essential that you are able to attend a termly governors’ board meeting as a minimum commitment to the post. If you are interested in applying to become a governor for Ernst Bevin School please contact Jane Gray (j.gray@sayonemedia.com) 0207 202 4890.

communications. A wider community of business engagement is expected to emerge around the core board membership. Board members will help teachers develop lesson plans based on real business challenges, give tips on business measurement approaches to help the school understand how well it is doing in achieving targets and provide inspiration by leading school assemblies or other engagement events. A key outcome from the first board meeting for drama teacher Naomi Evans-Mudie, was to learn how TMAT is changing the way it measures staff time and attendance to help employees understand the value of lost hours and the impact that absenteeism has on peers more clearly. Ms Evans-Mudie felt that the approach might also allow Chaucer to improve its performance and more effectively teach students the importance of punctuality and reliability in the workplace. Chaucer School’s head teacher, Scott Burnside emphasized at the first board meeting that “this is not about asking businesses for money. This is not about asking businesses to provide work experience. This is about meeting regularly with business and asking if they can help and coach us. This is about linking up so that our institutionalised perspective can be broadened and enhanced.” The establishment of the Business Board at Chaucer is in its very early stages, but the first participants are enthusiastic about its potential. Encouragingly for professionals with pressing work commitments, all representatives urged Chaucer School to schedule more frequent meetings than had first been suggested. Richard Dukes, premier business manager for HSBC and ex-pupil of the school suggested upping the meeting schedule from termly to monthly – at least during the board’s inception. “I am certain we can all drag an hour out of a day a month to make sure that the good ideas this board will have get moved forward,” said Mr Dukes. His peers all agreed. Moving forward, Chaucer School hopes its approach to engagement with business will provide a template for schools nationwide.

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Manufacturing Leadership: Directors’ Forum debate

Guests at this Manufacturer Directors Forum dinner debate represented: Albright International, BAE Systems, Bisley Office Furniture, JSP, Kas Technologies, McLaren Group, Magal Engineering, Moog Components Group, Plastics Capital The Manufacturer is grateful to BDO, Thomas Eggar LLP and Royal Bank of Scotland for their sponsorship of this event.

This Manufacturer Directors’ Forum dinner debate was hosted in the directors suite at the Madejski Stadioum, Reading

Best

behaviour Snapshot insight into broad ranging discussion at The Manufacturer’s most recent directors’ forum dinner debate.

ith a loose agenda to gauge how guests identified with the concept of advanced manufacturing as a defining feature of their UK operations, and to share how they supported competitiveness, conversation at this industry-led debate was always going to be varied. Darren Patterson, manufacturing director at BAE Systems Electronic Systems, Rochester, kickstarted conversation with his

observations on behavioural culture change. He found a need for leaders to honestly address how far their own behaviours reinforce or undermine company values or respect for process standardisation and optimisation methodologies like lean. “People pay a lot of lip service to values, culture and behaviour. But you rarely see leaders really addressing their own behaviours,” he said. At BAE Systems, Mr Patterson shared that

measuring behavioural performance has become a key element in balanced score cards and staff development or reward systems. “We reward people according to how well they do things as well as what they achieve,” he explained. Patterson’s leaping off point struck a chord with most attendees, many of whom were at varying stages in the development of lean operating systems and cultures. But the relevance of behaviour, particularly at management level, was linked to wider issues than efficiency and productivity frameworks. Leadership behaviors in forming company strategy, reacting to regulation and recruiting skills were all presented as key factors impacting on competitiveness. David Norman, managing director at Moog Components Group, for example, explained that the biggest limiting factor for his business, which is seeing strong demand, is coping with evolving EU legislation – specifically the chemicals control framework REACH. “It is not so much the legislation itself which presents a problem,” he observed. “It is how people within our business, in the supply chain and in regulating bodies, manage it.” In other words, their behaviour in response to the legislation. John Atkin, finance director at Bisley Office Furniture described how past strategic behaviours now presented a challenge for the company to alter its outlook. “We have grown substantially in the last twenty years by continuous reinvestment of resources in order to create what is probably the best high-tech, volume furniture manufacturing facility in Europe – this was undoubtedly a very good strategy in a growing market. But now that the UK market is static, and we face more competition from low-cost countries, we need to be quicker on our feet while retaining our reputation for product quality.” Atkin says the challenge now is to move on from a prime focus on efficient, high tech manufacturing to develop a more responsive commercial outlook. “We need to discover how to leverage the manufacturing capability we now have to open up new markets,” he said. Mark Johnstone, CEO of safety equipment manufacturer JSP was struck by the conversation

Manufacturing Leadership: Directors’ Forum debate

about behaviours with relation to the company’s recent implementation of a new ERP system. Gesturing to his fellow guests he said: “What you are saying is that behaviour drives performance more strongly than process does. With relevance to our ERP implementation that resonates with me. As we introduced the new technology there were many people in the business who thought more about the new system in terms of old process, rather than try to understand the potential of the new tool. Understanding what is behind behaviours takes a long time but ultimately it’s what makes a successful business strong.” The differing ways in which companies must recognise and realise their behavioural challenges was pinpointed by Karim Sekkat, chairman of KAS Technologies who cautioned fellow guests to “create an environment in which the right behaviours can emerge, but do not try and define too closely what those behaviours should be. The key is to create an ability to adapt to changing conditions, rather than set out a strategy that you will follow regardless of the environment.” He emphasized that the ‘right’ behaviours for leaders would vary according to personality, nationality, market and more. “People will react, and need to react, differently depending on whether they have long term contracts or spot buying arrangements, for example. This is why I am careful across my group of companies to display what I believe is the right behaviour for myself but not to define this as a template. Leaders in each business must come to understand what are the right behaviours for their environment.” These various behaviours may lead to the same outcome, summed up Mr Sekkat, but “the key to success is adaptability, not the road you take.”

Say it like it is Key quotes from the evening

Is it easier for big company names/brands to attract talent? It is when it comes to the sexy engineering jobs. For those we have a stream of applicants from the top universities. But I own IT and this is a problem area for recruitment. Everyone wants to contract. This is exacerbated because we are quite close to London so – even though we have a strong brand and offer what we feel are competitive pay packages – people want to come and go, taking advantage of premium contracting opportunities in London Andy Myer, CFO, McLaren Group

Times are changing. We maintained our apprenticeship programme throughout hard times. This year, for the first time in my eight years with the company we have lost two apprentices that we trained up to a higher level. They went to what they considered to be more attractive jobs with smaller, rapidly growing manufacturing companies Anonymous

We reward people according to how well they do things as well as what they achieve Darren Patterson, manufacturing director, BAE Systems Electronic Systems

Competition for a small talent pool is pushing engineering contractor prices up. This is a good thing. The first step is that wages rise and it is difficult and expensive to hire the people you need. But the second step is that manufacturing becomes a more attractive sector for engineers to work in. We are seeing a stabilisation now where before we lost too many engineers to financial services Karim Sekkat, chairman, KAS Technologies

How much time and resource should employers take when investing in workforce engagement and why? I am a great believer in gathering data and analysing it before concluding where it might lead. Across my companies there are some which have invested substantially more in time, money and resources for staff engagement than others. Statistically I have seen no difference in their ability to retain staff in the short term. What we have seen is that engagement programmes win us a lot of kudos with customers. They brought a commercial benefit we did not expect but made no difference to the employees themselves Karim Sekkat, chairman, KAS Technologies

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Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs encouraged delegates to be optimistic about the global economic outlook.

Naysaying is out of fashion

They say bad news makes good news – but it was the optimists that stole the show at EEF’s second National Manufacturing Conference on March 5.

“W

hat on earth makes us think that central government can do any better? What evidence have we of its omniscient wisdom!” This was Lord Heseltine’s robust response at EEF’s second National Manufacturing Conference to a delegate who questioned what protection he planned against local failure in his scheme to decentralise economic development, giving greater investment powers to British regions. Laughter swelled as battle scarred manufacturing executives, with too much shared disappointment in government, acknowledged his earlier

Analysing data on national retail sales and consumer spending shows that we are moving towards an equilibrium Jim O’Neill, Asset Management, Goldman Sachs

diagnosis that “there are no easy options left” in the pursuit of growth. Defying pessimism, they focussed their attention on the effectiveness of tabled solutions to challenges in skills provision, supply chain resilience, export success and finance. Optimism, in short, was a characteristic of the day. “It feels like progress is being made. There is not the same sense of angry frustration as was [at the EEF National Conference] last year,” said Craig Naylor managing director of precision tooling company NTR. The opening presentation from Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, showed that such optimism is not without reason. He carefully laid out

evidence to show that the global economic outlook is not as dire as most believe. Mr O’Neill, who coined the term BRIC in reference to the world’s fastest growing economies, clarified the business imperative of becoming involved in those markets. He also defined a global economic rebalancing of power between the US “which used to consume too much and produced to little,” and China “which used to consume too little and produce too much.” Analysing data on national retail sales and consumer spending shows that we are moving towards an equilibrium says O’Neill. Glossing over concern in some quarters that China’s growth is slowing, O’Neill stated some stunning facts about its continued expansion – between 2010 and 2012 China’s growth equalled the entire value of India’s economy, worth over $4 trillion. Countering naysayers who moan that the UK still exports more to Ireland than it does to the lucrative BRIC markets, Mr O’Neill stated that “this is no longer true”. Canny firms are changing the balance and O’Neill revealed that UK exports to the eurozone have in fact declined by 10% since 2000. In the meantime, UK exports to the BRICs have grown to account for 8% of what Britain sends overseas and Goldman Sachs’ guru says this should reach 17% by the end of the decade. The message to those with a thirst for growth was this – grab your competitive advantage while you can.

Thirst for growth But do UK firms really have this thirst, and who is helping them quench it? An interview with Siemens UK CEO Roland Aurich at the conference touched on the now traditional comparison of UK SMEs with the more mature German Mittelstadt, characterised by professional management despite often being

Manufacturing Leadership: Event review

Delegate comments: What is it we love about the Mittelstadt?

Ed Balls was criticised for negative campaigning by some delegates

family owned. By comparison, later comments from an expert panel of industry leaders and finance professionals linked family management in the UK with a ‘lifestyle’ approach to business which often dulled aspirations for expansion. This linked to debate on access to finance. A divide became apparent between those with anecdotal evidence of being turned down for the funding they needed in order to invest and expand, and bank representatives who insisted that they were willing to lend to good business propositions but were experiencing little demand. Chris Sullivan, chief executive of the UK Corporate Banking Division at Royal Bank of Scotland stated that the bank “is holding £55bn in SME current account deposits.” He held this up as proof that most companies are not looking for debt and are cautious about re-investing their reserves in an uncertain climate. Lord Heseltine agreed. “There is no army of people looking to increase their debt,” he stated, also asserting that this is reasonable in a time of low confidence. In such a context, Heseltine argued, it becomes ever more important to effectively stimulate competitive spirit. He is confident that his plan to deliver regional business funding, won in competition between 39 local enterprise partnerships, is an effective way of doing this, if coupled with better capability in the nationwide network of the British Chambers of Commerce and sector trade bodies. The UK compares unfavourably with European peers when it comes to the clout and strategic alignment of these networks. Heseltine’s plan for growth is driven by a belief that the UK must raise its average business performance. “It is easy to find examples of excellence in Britain,” he said. “But the global economy will judge us on our average.”

Negativity ill received The positivity of Jim O’Neill and Lord Heseltine was well received by most delegates in stark contrast to the negative campaigning of shadow Chancellor Ed

Mark Ridgway, president, the Manufacturing Technologies Association: “I strongly believe that the internationalisation of SMEs is essential in achieving UK growth. But the conference exposed a confused view of SME ambition and competency. We heard family run businesses described as the backbone of the German manufacturing sector with stable long term strategies, but similar ownership in the UK being associated with ‘lifestyle’ operations. It also became clear that understanding of supply chains and the potential position of SMEs within them is weak in some quarters. The possibility of an SME being a capital equipment ‘prime’ was ignored in the supply chain workshop.” Is non-party political decision making really possible? Craig Naylor, managing director, NTR: “It was great to hear [the shadow Chancellor] say that they are working on a system to reduce the influence of party-political interests in policy making. But at the same time he admitted that political point scoring is getting worse! We can only hope that the aggravation of effecting change is making things worse before they get better. I only know that businesses are tired of the rhetoric. I’m more interested now in seeing what we can do independently as an industry – with customers, suppliers and academia – to create confidence.” Let the macro message get you moving Chris Tompson, CEO, Xpresss Group: “I’ve been made aware that we must accelerate our investment plans. Jim O’Neill made it clear that, for wider industry and individual companies, the opportunities are in the BRIC economies - for Xpress the focus is Brazil. But his startling statistics on the rate of growth in the BRICs and how quickly those markets are developing show that we must move faster to gain a meaningful competitive position. We’re doing the right things strategically, but we must do them quicker.

Balls. While delegates welcomed news that Sir John Armitt has been tasked with finding ways to reduce the impact of party political interests in long term policy making, most were doubtful that any real difference could be made to such an embedded aspect of British politics. It was also observed that, while Mr Balls preached long termism and identified the need for an industrial strategy, he failed to acknowledge

or respond to the strategy issued by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills last September. He also sidestepped a request from one delegate that Labour should adopt EEF’s industrial strategy, Route to Growth published in November. For more reporting on EEF’s second National Manufacturing Conference go to www.themanufacturer.com.

Prepare your contribution

National Manufacturing Debate 2013

A National Strategy for UK Manufacturing The UK will drop from its current ranking as 15th most competitive manufacturing nation to 19th in five years time, and will be increasingly challenged to maintain a competitive edge by emerging nations such as Brazil and India, according to the 2013 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index report from Deloitte. The latest Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) Barometer however, shows a feeling of optimism among UK manufacturers, with 43% of companies questioned noting an increase in orders over the past six months, and 62% expecting sales turnover to grow between now and June 2013. A massive increase in the number of firms expecting to take on staff (39% up from 7%) is another indicator that companies are gearing up for growth. But can they achieve it? 45% of UK manufacturing firms say

they have inhibiting skills gaps and 27% say they do not have time or capacity to ‘work on; their business in order to seize opportunity. It is in the context of these facts and feedback gained over three preceding years of discussion that the National Manufacturing Debate 2013 will address what is needed from a national strategy for manufacturing in order to achieve a 20% contribution from the sector to UK GDP by 2020. We need a national strategy with a quantitative target and this fourth annual debate will challenge industry leaders to define the metrics and actions needed in order to hit it. Representatives from across sectors will meet, network and collaborate in an effort to define an industry-led strategy for long term growth and economic rebalancing.

The debate is important in bringing business, academia and government together. Too often we think in terms of silos Ian Gray, CEO, Technology Strategy Board at NMD 2012.

Two key questions will drive debate under the 2013 theme ‘A National Strategy for UK Manufacturing’. How would you respond to: The 20:20 debate - can we get 20% of GDP from manufacturing by 2020? Looking at peers in the western world it is clear the UK’s challenge to rebalance its economy is not unique. In Europe, industry accounts, on average, for around 16% GDP. To raise this contribution, obstacles must be overcome in market uncertainty, financing, skills shortages, lack of confidence, lack of investment and job losses in industry. Where should the focus be? Who can we learn from or collaborate with to answer these challenges to the sustainability of developed economies? Who should be responsible for drafting a national strategy for UK industry? If it is felt that a national strategy is required then who should be responsible for putting it together and initiating action? Government? Trade bodies? Or a collaborative network of UK manufacturing organisations? No doubt the direct involvement of the industry is vital - but how this input be managed? The scope for discussion here is huge, but the hope is that the outcomes from NMD 2013 will go some way to influencing the development of a strategic forum that includes key figures from all of the above groups.

Event preview National Manufacturing Debate 2013

Speakers and panel members In 2013 participants will include: Keynote speakers Michael Fallon, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise Martin McKervey, Nabarro LLP Peter Marsh, Financial Times Dick Elsy, High Value Manufacturing Catapult Adam Buckley, Managing Consultant, The Manufacturing Institute Brian Holliday, Divisional Director - Industry Automation, Siemens plc Dr Geoffrey Davies OBE, Managing Director, Alamo Group Europe Ltd, Vice President, Alamo Inc (USA) John Elliott, Founder and Chairman of Ebac Keynote speakers will be introduced by Lord Alec Broers. With a distinguished career in electrical engineering, including almost 20 years in research with IBM and a recent term as president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Lord Broers is an informed and influential voice in the formation of industrial policy and strategy. He acted as chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee for Science and Technology from 2004 – 2007 and strongly believes that science and engineering are two sides of a coin with immense value to social development. Additional Panel members Mark Claydon-Smith, EPSRC Mike Rigby, Barclays Professor John Nicholls, Cranfield University The debate will be chaired by Maggie Philbin, BBC reporter and CEO of education initiative, TeenTech. Ms Philbin has worked in radio and television for 30 years on a wide range of science, medical and technology programmes. She is perhaps most wellknown for much loved shows like Swap Shop and Tomorrow’s World and today provides analysis and comment on technology developments while keenly campaigning to raise the profile of engineering careers with young people and women in particular.

Register now Details of the conference are available on the website www.national-manufacturing-debate.org.uk. Make sure you join us for this key event in any manufacturer’s diary. Corporate sponsors:

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EEFInsight How can we encourage more women into manufacturing? Richard Holden, head of manufacturing at Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking, urges firms to reach out to primary schools and subvert assumptions that women need to ‘prove themselves’ in the workplace in order to achieve better gender balance in UK manufacturing.

he role of women in manufacturing has been a cause for debate over many decades. It is often questioned whether the lack of women in manufacturing is a problem that can actually be resolved, and even whether women just do not want to be engineers. However, we only need to look back to 1939-45 and see the significant contribution that was made to the war effort by women working in Britain’s factories to understand that women can be recruited into engineering roles and that they can both enjoy those jobs and excel in them. At present less than 10% of UK engineers are women – an unfavourable comparison with most of the rest of Europe. If the UK economy is to fulfill its potential, we need to challenge this male dominance. Women are a valuable untapped talent base and we cannot continue to exclude half of the population from exploring successful careers in manufacturing and engineering.

Affecting change A new report from manufacturing trade body EEF, produced in partnership with Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking and Cranfield School of Management, examines how the UK’s largest manufacturing companies are addressing the need for greater gender balance at board level. It highlights several examples of

Young people and teachers need access to careers education, information, advice and guidance before their opportunities are wasted through confused subject choices Richard Holden, Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking

women succeeding at the very highest levels of industry. But more needs to be done to encourage female role models who can make a significant impact in addressing this gender imbalance. Better media representation of women in science and engineering would facilitate this. By bringing these female role models to the fore we can inspire a new generation to consider careers in industries they may well have ignored or felt excluded from historically.

Education Do we simply fail to inspire our youngsters at the most critical time in their education? There is wide recognition that too many school pupils are not supported in making informed choices about the particular subjects they might need at GCSE or A-level in order to pursue careers in certain fields. Young people and teachers need access to careers education, information, advice and guidance before their opportunities are wasted through confused subject choices. Only 10% of applications to university engineering courses are from women and the percentage for apprenticeships and the wider further education system are in the low single digits. But while there are questions to be asked about how academia engages with young women, industry also has an important role to play in persuading women that

engineering is an exciting career option.

Employers It is time for more manufacturing businesses to start engaging with local schools and time for the sector to open its doors to create an experience that will engage the next generation of prospective employees, both male and female. There is a need to start early and very few engineering firms are doing outreach work in primary schools, which is when children begin to form their views about careers. The notion that women have to prove themselves in the workplace above and beyond what is expected of male colleagues also lives on. We need to see a perception change here and this can be facilitated by employers showing greater flexibility over childcare issues and family responsibilities. Job sharing and a flexible workplace can accommodate different lifestyles and attract more workers – men and women – into the profession. The fact that so few women are pursuing a career in manufacturing is evidence that a problem exists and there is an awful lot of work still to be done to encourage more women into the sector.

Download the EEF FTSE 100 - Women in Manufacturing report at: www.eef.org.uk/publications/reports

Speaking the language of safety Could you leverage language skills for a safer workplace? Donavan Whyte, VP EMEA at language training provider Rosetta Stone explains why manufacturers with multi-national workforces are increasingly investing in language training to safeguard standards and avoid falling foul of regulation.

he UK is one of the most multicultural and multilingual countries in the world. In Avonmouth, home to FMCG giant Accolade Wines, for example, 11% of the population does not count English as their first language. In automotivecentric Kenilworth, near Birmingham, this rises to 20% and in the high value manufacturing hub of Rotherham, Sheffield at least 25% of the population do not count English as their fist language, according to data collected in the 2011 census. In some specific areas in Rotherham this rises to over 30%. This regional multiplicity is reflected in the workforces of most industries, with multicultural and multilingual workplace environments very common – from restaurants and factories, to creative agencies and banks. While this unique mix of culture and language undoubtedly delivers many benefits to businesses, it can also throw up a number of significant challenges relating to effective communication. Such

challenges can impact on a number of important areas, such as productivity and efficiency – or crucially in high risk environments like manufacturing, on health and safety. Workplace accidents can be devastating to an individual and their family, not to mention enormously costly for the company. For example, if a company is working to a 10% profit margin and had to provide an injury compensation cost of £100,000, it would require a £1 million increase in turnover to offset the loss.

Breaking down language barriers In a 2013 report supported by Rosetta Stone, the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences underlined an enormous demand for language skills, concluding that “there is strong evidence that the UK is suffering from a growing deficit in foreign language skills at a time when globally, the demand for language skills is expanding.” Language is at the heart of communication; and communication –including signage and guidelines – is at the heart of safe, effective process. In some manufacturing environments, this can mean the difference between life and death. By providing staff with the necessary training, businesses can break down language

barriers, enabling workers from a range of linguistic backgrounds to communicate effectively with one another. It is important to have the goal of providing workforce training in a common language, but also to train supervisors in the languages that are most common among the staff. With a high turnover of staff common in manufacturing, equipping supervisors with the necessary language skills can be the most effective short-tomedium term solution. The dangers of failing to address language skills were highlighted in recent coverage by The Economist. In an article that responded to a Centres for Disease Control (CDC) report on a poultry plant accident in Arkansas, The Economist revealed that over 150 workers at the plant were hospitalised when chlorine gas, an irritant, was released when chemicals after improperly mixed. The investigation showed that that a monolingual Spanishspeaking employee had caused the accident because the safety instructions were written in English. Furthermore, the article reported that “68% of the workers at the plant spoke Spanish as a first language… Just 17% of the plant’s workers used English as their native language. The CDC chided the plant for failing to provide proper training in the workers’ languages.”

Health and safety Language training is the best way for companies to ensure that signs indicating how to operate equipment or warn workers of hazards are clearly understood; equipment is less likely to be misused because operations manuals can be easily read; and instructions given by supervisors are far more likely to be followed accurately.

Benefits beyond workplace safety Strong language skills and therefore more precise communication can impact business performance. Process can be sped up and made more efficient, ultimately leading to increased productivity and collaboration. Enhancing staff language skills is a powerful way of creating a consistent, happy and engaged culture. It cultivates better working relationships and a greater understanding of the direction and goals of the business.

Setting the example Paying heed to language skills is not just a necessity for UK plants with multicultural workforces. As companies expand overseas an appreciation of the challenges and opportunities in breaking down language barriers are essential in establishing consistent workplace standards and processes across international sites. Language training allows proven and successful examples set in the UK to be used as a template abroad. Unfortunately, despite the obvious benefits of language training, many organisations will view the process of training their staff as costly and lengthy. This is particularly a problem in environments that traditionally have high staff turnover and a flexible workforce that changes based on demand. However, the truth is that, with the technology and training available

Language training is the best way for companies to ensure that signs indicating how to operate equipment or warn workers of hazards are clearly understood

today, cost and time are not the concern they once were. Your most suitable supplier will offer opportunities for bitesized learning that is available anywhere and anytime and is very cost-effective regardless the size of your business.

Implementing a successful language initiative In order to implement an effective language skills programme, a business must first make a comprehensive assessment of its language needs. The need to remain realistic is critical in this process â€“ with considerable care required to accurately identify the language(s) that will truly make a difference to safety, process and productivity. It is also essential to identify the key people that need to be trained as a priority, establishing who would have the biggest impact on safety and performance. Once the languages, required proficiency levels and personnel have been identified, a business must look for the right partner to support its training

initiative. They must partner with an organisation that has the capacity to support the necessary languages and to deliver quality training. These days this must incorporate a strong technological element â€“ that is, appropriate training software that can be accessed by training participants anywhere and anytime, allowing them to work on their language skills at their convenience. It is strongly advised to ensure the potential training supplier delivers continuous and solid service to support the implementation and use of the training programme.

Play it safe Ultimately, workplace health and safety is a key priority for businesses in the manufacturing industry. There exists both a very serious responsibility and a huge opportunity to enhance health and safety standards through language training. The benefits are clear and, in the mid-to-long term, can deliver significant return on investment, as potential incidents are avoided, productivity is enhanced and staff are kept happier.

Driving forward by

degrees Skills body Semta is looking to the future by prioritising not just apprenticeships but also graduate recruitment and upskilling the existing workforce. UK Operations Director Lynn Tomkins explains.

here has been heightened attention for apprenticeships this year thanks to a welcome rise in the number being recruited – that’s great. However, graduate routes to higher level skills have just as important a role to play in the future of the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) sector. At the recent Driving Skills event, delivered in partnership with The Manufacturer, it was revealed that 100,000 STEM graduates will be required per year from now until 2020. Yet only 15% of SMEs in our sector recruited a graduate in 2011 compared to 19% for all sectors. Equally, 174,000 technical managers, professionals and technicians need to be upskilled to NVQ Level 4 as a minimum. So, as a sector, we face quite a challenge. But it is one we are rising to. Semta worked with employers in 2012 to produce a unique, flexible, programme of Master’s level training - the Advanced Skills Accreditation Scheme (ASAS). The programme focuses on delivering skills in specific, key technologies identified as critical for driving growth and productivity within UK AME supply chain companies. It provides the best courses from the best sources, the first scheme of its type offering flexible access to individual Masters level modules through a network of leading universities. The modules address priority skills gaps identified by employers and, as there are no academic prerequisites, it allows individuals to study without having to register for a full Masters programme.

It enables small and medium-sized enterprises to access individual modules as and when required. ASAS is driven by employers. Programme governance is via a steering group, chaired by Jaguar Land Rover, which oversees and approves the content of additional modules to ensure the scheme meets industry standards. Only 39% of the AME workforce aged 25-64 have qualifications at level 4 or above and only 6.9% of engineering staff in SMEs have level 5 qualifications compared to 17% in large companies Addressing this skills gap would improve productivity, creating high value, sustainable jobs and supporting growth in the UK economy. Realising these opportunities would result in an additional £9.4bn UK business in the automotive supply chain alone, where currently only 36% of automotive components are produced in the UK out of a potential 80%. Similar opportunities exist in aerospace, a market worth US$3.1 trillion to 2028.

Background and testimonials ASAS is largely based on the Technical Accreditation Scheme (TAS) which was developed by Jagual Land Rover to create capacity for internal talent progression. Jo Lopes, head of technical excellence at Jaguar Land Rover explains “For Jaguar Land Rover to sustain business growth, we needed to embrace a new and innovative approach to technical skills development for all our people. “TAS offers high impact, bite size modules on key Jo Lopes, head of technical technological and process skills and delivers a quality accredited excellence at Jaguar Land Rover

Workforce and skills: Semta

university-led education. Over the last three years more than a third of Jaguar Land Rover’s Engineers have attended at least one module, having a transformational impact on already high skills capability within the organisation.” Martin Hottass, manager, skills & learning governance, Siemens Plc: “Fewer and fewer young people are going to enter the world of work over the next decade. Coupled with the baby boomer generation retiring, it is essential for any employer to be able to equip employees with high level skills. ASAS provides that capability - modular training that is both high quality and accessible”

Planning for the future today This is the philosophy that underpins everything epm:technology group does. For managing director Graham Mulholland, his partnership with skills body Semta has helped maintain a momentum towards fast growth and future development. The Derbyshire firm started business in 1996 and now employs 73 with a turnover of £6m. But, with key capital equipment on order, a nine month project plan to get a new factory ready and 42 open vacancies, Semta’s support will be critical in sustaining the company’s success. “We are looking to have a pre-order plan, so the skills and workers are in place to deal with contracts when they are won rather than chasing contractors to fulfil post order,” said Graham. “For us, it is not about being the biggest but the best. I would rather turn orders away than get them wrong. We are a very labour intensive business and it is a painful process taking a lot of time to get the right people with a structured, organised way to get the right skills but Semta makes it so much easier.” Today epm:technology produces carbon fibre components for high performance engines and Formula One Motorsport’; it designed bespoke composite solutions for Team GB at the London Olympics and Channel 5’s the gadget show as well as a number of specialist parts for the aerospace industry. The company has taken advantage of the support offered to recruit new staff and upskill the existing workforce. Graduate engineer James Carter was recruited through Semta’s Graduate Grant Programme, an initiative supported by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, whereby companies are offered £1,000 if they take an unemployed graduate into the AME sector for a minimum of 12 weeks. This funding can go towards the graduate’s salary or cost of training. Graham said: “To be honest, I was a bit sceptical about the process but it has been absolutely brilliant. James travelled down from Newcastle and has fitted into the team superbly.” With plans to be a “clever” business with a £9m turnover by the end of 2014, Graham, who set up the business as a 23-yearold having worked in an office since leaving school, is determined to match the big companies. “In many ways we are a typical SME, but working with Semta has shown me we can stay ahead of the game with their help,” he said.

Martin Hottass, Manager, Skills & Learning Governance, Siemens Plc

In many ways we are a typical SME, but working with Semta has shown me we can stay ahead of the game with their help Graham Mulholland, Managing Director, epm:technology

Graduate matchmaking Semta has also launched a Graduate Development Toolkit to give employers and potential employees easy access to information on available training options and how they can be supported. The web-based toolkit provides employers with guidance, processes and documents for the selection, recruitment, development and retention of graduates. It also gives useful guidance and information for students, graduates, higher education and professional institution staff on effective employer engagement. We want to make it easier for graduates to find a job, which is why we want them to send in their CVs through Nicola Dolan, ndolan@ semta.org.uk. We will then help match them with employers, support them through interviews and hopefully into the workplace.

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Nancy Wilton Jewellery Workshop Technician, CW Sellors

Nancy W ilton

red Air pictu

Donna Luxury manufacturing and craft industries were worth ÂŁ3 billion to the UK CW wearing llery. ew J rs o economy in 2010. CW Sellors has been making fine jewellery in the UK for Sell by otograph h P almost 30 years and now employs over 80 people. In 2013 the company is athers M n a w E expanding its manufacturing facilities and investing in a new HQ. To lay the foundations for growth, it has also invested in skills. Star employee Nancy Wilton explains how the company has nurtured her latent passion for niche manufacturing.

What is your role and what key skills do you use? I specialise in the lapidary side of jewellery focusing on gemstone selection and shaping. The job requires a fine eye for detail as it is vital that I select only stones which are fit for purpose. There must be no faults such as cracks or chips. This is key to ensure that no time is wasted at subsequent production stages and that the jewellery is produced to the highest standard. Cutting skills are also important in shaping stones accurately. What personal characteristics help you in your role? I am very passionate about what I do and am eager to learn. Patience is key for my role as I sometimes have to check a huge number of gemstones to select the correct one. I am also very friendly which allows me to work closely with my peers to get the job done efficiently. What are the most rewarding parts of your job? It is amazing to see a product go from rough gemstones and sheets of precious metal through to beautiful pieces of finished

jewellery and to know how highly valued each piece will be to the end customer. The positive feedback I get from my peers and superiors at CW Sellors is also very rewarding. It recognises that I have learnt a lot in my time with the company and that I am developing on a professional level. What do you consider to be your biggest personal success at the company so far? We collaborated with fashion designer Scott Henshall to create a feature dress to be worn at the red carpet premiere of The Amazing Spider Man movie last year. I was responsible for selecting and trimming the Whitby jet stones for the integrated necklace. The dress was worn by celebrity, Donna Air. It was a real show stopper. Do you have a grand career ambition? I would like to develop my field of skill outside of lapidary and into silversmithing and goldsmithing. This will eventually allow me to be able to produce whole pieces of jewellery from start to finish.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

CV in brief:

Nancy Wilton

Age: 19 Education:

Queen Elizabethâ€™s Grammar School up to GCSE level

Career to date:

Joined CW Sellors in 2008 as a trainee. Progressed to current role via in-house training and development

Hobbies:

Country drives in her Vintage Morris Minor, ice skating, skate boarding. In 2012 completed the AAA Wild Warrior 10km assault course

What first attracted you to a career in manufacturing? My career advisor at school suggested it for work experience as I preferred practical lessons but am not keen on the idea of working outdoors. After a week-long placement at CW Sellors, I knew it was the industry I wanted to be in. I really enjoyed the work and the friendly environment. How do you think best to get more young people interested in manufacturing? A lot of young people arenâ€™t aware of the careers available in manufacturing. There are a vast number of different industries to work in and I feel this information could be made more readily available. CW Sellors has trained a number of young people through apprenticeship-style programmes and I have found this a really good way to learn. It is hands on and allows you to get very involved with the role.

Workforce and skills: Young Manufacturer of the Year

The

Yes Man

Young Manufacturer of the Year

Sean Gallagher added ’s Young Manufacturer of the Year Award to his many accolades last year

The good times have been rolling for BAE Systems’ Sean Gallagher since he scooped ’s Young Manufacturer of the Year Award in 2012. The secret to success, he states, is to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity and challenge.

ccolades have poured onto Mr Gallagher since the Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2012. The BedFlex product, invented by Gallagher and a cohort of other BAE Systems apprentices for treatment of recovering amputees and a major factor in gaining him the Young Manufacturer of the Year prize, has been awarded a gold BAE Systems Chairman’s award and named winner of the Make it in Great Britain competition to find the most innovative pre-market products coming into being in the UK. Gallagher himself was also made BAE Systems’ UK Apprentice of the Year and recognised with a company award for best Apprentice in the Community in January 2013. “The highlight is probably the Chairman’s Award,” comments Gallagher – keen to emphasize the contribution of his BedFlex teammates. “There were over 3000 applications for the prize worldwide and only eight winners. Plus we got flown business class to Washington DC to receive the award!” But it’s not all jet setting and celebrations. The day job needs attending to and Gallagher is now immersed in an important initiative to rationalise over 8000

BAE quality governance documents for aircraft manufacture. The impact of transitioning and reducing all of this documentation will reach into human resources, commercial, engineering and manufacturing functions. “It’s a lot of work but it’s extremely important for the business and, in the long term, it will mean less work and greater efficiency,” observes Gallagher.

It’s anyone’s game Gallagher’s confidence, aged 22, in taking part in such strategic projects is striking and reflects the philosophy on talent management and commercial success which he expressed on winning ’s award last year. “I think it is of the utmost importance to recognise young people in business. It is the people that breed the ideas in a business, not the hierarchy,” he said at the time. Now he explains, “That comment sprang off something I heard Steve Jobs said. He knew that good ideas can come from any level in a business. Hierarchy is there to harness and manage those ideas.” Gallagher says keeping this in mind has been central to his own early career success. “It made me realise I have skills sets and capabilities that can make a difference if they are empowered by the hierarchy I work in – by the managers I work for.” Luckily for Gallagher, BAE Systems offers just such flexibility when it comes to encouraging innovation. But this is not necessarily a hallmark of a large organisation, insists Gallagher, who is keen to promote quality apprenticeship training generally. “I have a close friend that I studied engineering with at college who chose to join a very small fabrication and welding company in Blackpool – I believe he is the only apprentice they have,” says Gallagher. “He has exactly the same qualifications as me and he is progressing really well, being given a lot of responsibility and travelling the

Are you a high achieving young manufacturer? Is there a young employee in your organisation who deserves recognition? Entries for the 2013 Manufacturer of the Year Awards are now open. Let us know about the difference being made today by tomorrow’s leaders. Contact Laura Williams at: l.williams@sayonemedia.com or +44 (0)1603 327006 for more details. country. Any company can support an apprentice and get value from them as long as the management is good and the individual is motivated.” So SME apprentices shouldn’t be put off entering awards like Young Manufacturer of the Year by publically trumpeted winners form big firms? “Who you work for is really irrelevant during the judging process for ’s award,” recalls Gallagher. “It’s all about showing you have made a difference to your environment and that you are passionate about your job.” Any tips for this year’s hopefuls? “Say ‘yes’ to every opportunity or challenge. That is what differentiated me from some other great talent in the awards I have won,” says Gallagher.

Part time post grad

The part-time post grad

Peter Ayeni of Lufthansa Technik Landing Gear Services talks about the demands of managing proliferating work responsibilities alongside a part time doctoral research programme.

Research and learning facilities at Cranfield University

fter a few years of working in different capacities within the aviation industry, I developed an interest in business management and was fascinated by the various business strategies that existed both within and outside the aviation industry. Although I did not have a clear picture of my long term career aspirations at the time, I was sure that there were more effective approaches to business success. I stumbled across lean as a management philosophy and, much struck, presented its case to my employer who agreed to fund me in a research programme to investigate its merits further. After much consultation with both industry experts and professionals, I settled on Cranfield University as the best location for this study and enrolled on a part-time doctoral research degree while still in full time employment. Shortly after, as part of an organisation wide initiative, an intensive lean programme was launched at Lufthansa. With my growing experience and familiarity with the subject, I was thrust into the deep end. My responsibilities immediately grew from being a technical/design engineer to include significant lean deployment assignments â€“ all besides the requirements of the doctoral research. Within the companyâ€™s lean transformation programme, I served in various functions ranging from the formulation of the companyâ€™s change story to other significant project management tasks and even the coaching and training of staff across the whole company structure. The impact that this work had on company performance was pronounced. Over the two years following the launch of the lean transformation programme, the company went on to realise its best financial results ever, a feat that was all the more significant considering the 2008 global financial crises was still on-going.

Over the two years following the launch of the lean transformation programme, the company went on to realise its best financial results ever Peter Ayeni, Lufthansa Technik Landing Gear Services

The transition between my various roles has been rather jolting and striking a good balance between them and my research has not been easy. Although the company has been very supportive in funding the research, the demands of the day-job have meant that my research has been predominantly carried out outside of working hours. This has translated into very long days at work to ensure that neither my research nor the company are compromised. Thankfully, my supervisory team at Cranfield has been extremely supportive and resourceful in helping me align my daily tasks with my research focus whenever possible. I have been able to leverage their knowledge and experience in realising a successful research programme which is now at its final phases. Where necessary, they have exposed me to the right amount of pressure and pointed me in the direction of relevant sources of information or practical experience. These include taught modules on relevant subjects like Operations Excellence or germane research meetings. I have been challenged to present my research findings at conferences, write and publish articles in journals and even organise a workshop with industry experts to refine and validate research findings. Now, I have a clearer picture of my career aspirations and I have been equipped with the right tools, methods and strategies to successfully achieve them. Although it has been very demanding working and studying at the same time, it has afforded me the invaluable chance to gain experience and qualifications which are now crucially important in realising my career aspirations. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would jump at the opportunity with no hesitation.

IT in

manufacturing: Supply Chain Management

Peering

inside

The recent horsemeat scandal shone a light into some murky supply chains and raised stark questions over the ethics and commercial risks of making cost king of sourcing strategies. But from an IT perspective, what lessons can manufacturers learn from the debacle? Malcolm Wheatley finds out.

n January 15, Ireland’s Food Safety Authority reported the presence of horsemeat in samples of frozen burgers sold by five retailers, including Tesco, Lidl and Iceland. In one instance, the horsemeat content of the supposedly ‘beef’ burgers reached 29%. What followed alarmed consumers, retailers, manufacturers, consumer groups and food safety authorities. Ireland’s Food Safety Authority, for instance, was so surprised by the results that it had samples tested and re-tested by laboratories in both Ireland and Germany. But as the scandal spread, retailers, manufacturers and

consumers alike were forced to acknowledge that the European food industry’s supply chains were far murkier than had been suspected. Meat crisscrossed the continent, passing through numerous hands, and presenting ample opportunities for adulteration. What’s more, it wasn’t just horsemeat that was found in products that ranged from spaghetti bolognese to burgers, and lasagne to meatballs: in dishes that were supposedly beef, pork meat was present in generous proportions, too. For the food industry, of course, this isn’t the first time that ingredient adulteration has been an issue. Scares

Even if beef were to be substituted for horse, there would be no legitimate route for the beef to be reintroduced into the supply chain John Bailey, European vice-president, JDA Software

Systems have evolved enormously over the last ten years, but not every manufacturer has invested in them – or been able to afford to invest in them Sally Waterston, Director, Waterstons

and scandals are a relatively regular occurrence. Back in 2005 Premier Foods – one of Britain’s largest food manufacturers – discovered that Sudan 1, a dye used in applications such as floor polish and shoe polish, had entered the food chain via supplies of chilli powder. The bad news: the chilli powder had then been used in the preparation of industrial batches of Worcester sauce and been included in some 359 other contaminated products. But this kind of issue is not confined to the food industry. Problems arise even in industries where high standards of product assurance are supposed to exist. Just last year, a United States senate committee found that America’s Department of Defense had bought 1,800 batches of counterfeit electronic spare parts, equating to over a million individual parts in total, despite stringent procurement procedures and quality standards. So while the food industry evidently has issues to address, the overall problem is clearly wider. And it’s a problem that is rapidly propelling questions regarding supply chain integration and visibility firmly to the top of the IT agenda. When

manufacturers such as Nestlé, Birds Eye and Findus – not to mention retailers such as Tesco – find themselves embroiled in a scandal that simply shouldn’t have happened, the efficacy of the IT infrastructure supporting their extensive supply chains is thrown into sharp relief. So what exactly is the state of end-to-end supply chain traceability today? What tools and technologies exist to help mitigate the damage of supply chain slip ups – or ideally, to prevent them? Do technologies such as track-and-trace and serialisation hold the answer?

Work in progress Let’s start with the good news. First, and in contrast to popular perception, supply chain traceability, particularly in foodstuffs, is in better shape than might be believed. Europe’s food traceability legislation, in the shape of regulation (EC) No. 178/2002, which came into force on January 1st 2005, forces food manufacturers to be able to produce on demand information about the sources and destinations of the ingredients and foodstuffs that they sell. The result: when the horsemeat scandal broke and horsemeat and pork DNA was found to be present in product samples, it was possible to quickly identify the present location of suspect batches, and remove them from retailers’ shelves and distribution centres. In most cases, the requisite product recalls took just hours to execute. Given the fact that regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 is enshrined in law, food manufacturers’ ERP systems can be broadly regarded as compliant. What’s more, as similar legally-enforced traceability requirements exist in other critical industries, such as pharmaceuticals, compliance in those industries will be in place, too. In short, there isn’t a problem with traceability from the point

of view of product recalls. That said, if you talk to insiders with strengths in such industries, several salient points soon emerge about the adequacy of ERP solutions from a b roader perspective. For one thing, not all manufacturers are starting from the same point: in some cases, purely minimum levels of compliance exist, notes Sally Waterston, a director at IT manufacturing consultants Waterstons. “Systems have evolved enormously over the last ten years, but not every manufacturer has invested in them – or been able to afford to invest in them,” she warns. What’s more, adds Neil Blackman, technical manager at industrial automation specialist SolutionsPT, ERP systems are inherently constrained by the information fed to them. “ERP systems can only act and provide business rule execution on the information provided to them,” he notes. “If this information is incorrect, then correct execution may be flawed.” And don’t forget, points out Alan Braithwaite, chairman of supply chain consultants LCP Consulting, and a visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management, that information may be incorrect by design. It’s unlikely, for instance, that horsemeat and pork in the quantities discovered entered the food chain by accident. “IT on its own can only mitigate so far against outright criminality,” he observes. “If the potential profit is high enough, there will always be an incentive for fraud.” Furthermore, the adoption of best practice within individual ERP solutions can vary widely, stresses Gordon Fleming, chief marketing officer at ERP supplier QAD. Minimum levels of compliance might be enough to trigger the required recall mechanism, but are not enough to make supply chains robust

IT in

manufacturing

enough to prevent the need for a recall in the first place. “In our solution, you physically can’t move a product or batch onto the next stage in the process without all the documentation being in place and correct,” he stresses. “Individual item serialisation, too, is a best practice – and one that you can’t just bolt on to a generic ERP system: the data relationships don’t exist. It has to be designed-in right from the start.”

Putting it right But are such best practices really necessary? At the smaller end of the manufacturing spectrum – bearing in mind that some of the companies caught up in the horsemeat scandal have been distinctly small businesses – such a question will naturally arise. In other words, will a basicallycomplaint ERP system suffice and are practices such as serialisation and track-and-trace really important? Bruce Stubbs, director of industry marketing at serialisation barcode and RFID vendor Intermec, is in no doubt. Going forward, he emphasises, supply chain traceability best practice won’t be viewed as a cost, but as brand protection. “The reputational damage to brands such as Tesco has been enormous,” he avers. “Large retailers, and large manufacturers supplying those retailers, simply won’t do business with manufacturers who can’t comply with high traceability and assurance standards. Minimum levels won’t do.” And undoubtedly, serialisation offers a solution. John Bailey, European vice-president at JDA Software, which merged with specialist traceability vendor RedPrairie in late 2012, argues forcibly for end-toend supply chain traceability, with each participant in the extended supply chain uploading serialisation data to an ‘available to all’ cloud-based repository at each touch point.

Individual item serialisation is a best practice – and one that you can’t just bolt on to a generic ERP system: the data relationships don’t exist Gordon Fleming, Chief Marketing Officer, QAD

In the food supply chain, for instance, serialisation would begin with the ear tags of individual animals. At a stroke, it would then be possible to link back to the animals contributing the meat contained in each manufacturing batch of a dish such lasagne or spaghetti bolognese. Better still, it would act as a barrier to the fraudulent use of inappropriate meats such as horsemeat. “Horses don’t have ear tags: so you’ll have not only positive information in respect of the animals which were included, but also negative information in the form of products where ingredients were missing,” he notes. “Even if beef were to be substituted for horse, there would be no legitimate route for the beef to be reintroduced into the supply chain.” And further protection comes from ensuring that transactions within that supply chain take place within a ‘closed universe’ of suppliers and potential suppliers, argues Nick Martin, senior vice-president for northern Europe at Trace One, a vendor recognised as a key supplier of compliance capability by analysts IDC, Gartner and Aberdeen Group. Simply put, explains Martin, Trace One enables retailers and the manufacturers with their own label offerings to work collaboratively together, all the way from product specification to bid solicitation, specification lockdown and manufacturing – using one set of data, and removing the ‘specification creep’ that can come from communicating through phone calls, faxes, and e-mails. Today, he notes, over 30 retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Wal-Mart Asda, Carrefour, and Auchan, use Trace One for just this purpose, working with over 18,500 manufacturers. “You can home in on a specific supplier, and see every single product to have come from that supplier,” he explains. “It gives retailers the power to look ahead, rather than responding reactively.” What’s more, adds Bob Godfrey, European vice-president and general manager of businessto-business trading platform E2open, such closed universe visibility also offers opportunities for costreduction not available in today’s ‘arm’s length’ trading scenarios. Dell, an E2open customer, leverages its scale to buy components not just for its own direct manufacturing operations, but also for their subcontract partners and other suppliers, he points out, adding that manufacturers such as Seagate and Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion do the same. “The world of consumer goods has yet to really tap into this, but the result is not only an assurance of quality and supply, but also cost savings,” he concludes. Yet again, affirmation that improved traceability and greater product assurance needn’t necessarily be a net cost to the manufacturers and their supply chains.

Action or

Paralysis? What does analysis drive within your organisation? Management consulting firm PMSI investigates.

he word ‘analysis’ can provoke all sorts of reactions. At a dinner party it can make you sound like you are either very dull or very clever; in a supply chain review meeting it can put fear into the eyes of logistics managers and stifle energy if presented in a negative light. But regardless of that, analysis can uncover the real story. It can sweep away exuberant but ill judged attempts at innovation and guard against over confident sales projections. It can open the eyes of production teams who think they have nothing to do with sales, and demonstrate what’s truly possible for visionaries.

Analysis is based on fact, and like any other science, becomes even more powerful when mixed with the art of experience and entrepreneurial drive. So, as analysis on the economy continues to tell us things are tough, and getting tougher, it might be time to take the reins of the analysis beast and steer it towards growth. Differentiation is the key to growth. But how can analysis of multiple situations or scenarios help you to differentiate?

Analytics with a difference Mostly, we judge the importance of analysis on the results it achieves – we recognise it when it

finds that hidden gem that makes you more attractive to a profitable customer group, when it uncovers that 1% cost saving that allows you to gain a small but important move on pricing within the market and when it shows a team where inefficiency really hides. But rarely do we think that analysis itself can be the differentiator we’re looking for. In 2010, the MIT Sloan Management Review, in conjunction with the IBM Institute for Business Value, undertook research across nearly 3,000 executive managers and analysts to understand the impact analytics is having on growth and produced a report: Analytics: The new path to value.

IT in

manufacturing: Analytics

The overall finding was that topperforming organisations use analytics five times more than lower-performers. But is it just a matter of top-performers being able to afford the change in business culture and the space and time to invest in analysing every aspect of their business? Or is their attention to detail in analysis behind their original rise to success – often from humble origins? Patrick Mosimann, CEO of PMSI and AlignAlytics, believes there’s a bit of both. “I’m obviously a big believer in analytics, as I spend my days striving to do it better and faster on each client challenge we face,” he says. “But never underestimate the energy of an entrepreneur to drive business growth. Analytics on its own isn’t the answer.” Without the vision or passion for growth, analytics can hinder or simply confuse warns Mosimann. “What can really change my day is when I meet a team that is open to using analysis insights to drive real action or change. That’s when you can almost feel the illusive ‘differentiation’ in the room.” So how do you identify and leverage an analytics culture, or begin to foster one for growth? There’s no easy answer but Mosimann explains how the journey can begin with a single question.

Listen to your data “There is no single product or software you can buy, or even a 6 step-programme you can undertake. It’s about listening. Listening to everything from the hum of your production line, through to the opinion of your customers. Collecting data is where it all starts.” Jabil Circuit is a leading manufacturer with 60 plants in over 33 countries. It embarked on this journey with the team at PMSI and AlignAlytics, feeling the listening exercise might be insurmountable. Steve Thomson, senior director of

I have seen the so called ‘analysis paralysis’ become almost a badge of honour. Teams can become consumed by the technology Patrick Mosimann, CEO of PMSI and AlignAlytics

finance transformation at Jabil, talks about the journey. “AlignAlytics initially helped us define a vision for analytics and develop a road map for getting there that was aligned with our major business priorities.” Mosimann explains further. “Going through the listening exercise, alongside the overall vision and strategic objectives, we were able to understand where analytics needed to deliver the most value first. The data integration debate for any client is a continuing issue and one which keeps about sixty per cent of my data scientists busy. Have we got the right data? Can we trust the data? How can we integrate data?” These are all difficult pieces of work says Mosimann, and they require real talent. “But they can be so much easier with the right attitude from management, which Jabil certainly has.” Jabil’s CFO, Forbes Alexander, talks about the success this has given them in differentiating themselves. “PMSI’s data scientist team and its rapid prototyping capabilities were able to help build Jabil an award winning analytics library and gain faster adoption throughout the organisation. More recently this work has helped extend ‘line-of-sight’ and bring the long and short term planning process closer together.” PMSI data scientists were able to work with the team at Jabil to rapidly develop KPIs, reports and business processes to support the analytics that could help drive the growth strategy. This is an ongoing process with the PMSI team continuing to help develop the long term deployment of Jabil’s IBM suite of analytic tools. This framework now forms the foundation of the analytics culture and strategy throughout Jabil. It is this approach that continues to give them a differentiation in their performance as it continues to evolve, and has won them IBM’s Enterprise Wide Analytics Customer Award for 2012.

To a view a video about PMSI’s work with Jabil scan the QR code above. http://bit.ly/PMSIJabil Jabil’s Thompson goes on to explain how these new analytics capabilities make a difference. “Our CFO was relaying a story of a debate around inventory and revenue patterns. The debate ceased as soon as he put the analytics up and the group then turned towards looking at solutions. Now I think we’ll be able to spend a lot more time actually adding insight and supporting business decisions. We see that we will be able to apply this to all areas of our organisation.”

Avoiding paralysis There is however the other side of the coin. What happens when too much analysis creates paralysis in an organisation? Mosimann describes some of his experiences. “It’s certainly something to be wary of. I have seen the so called ‘analysis-paralysis’ become almost a badge of honour. Teams can become consumed by the technology; data visualisation can overtake the need for good insight.” How can companies avoid this? Mosimann says “It seems simple but making sure that strategic vision or leadership is driving the analytics culture can keep people focused on what’s important.” Is your leadership ready to provide this focus and enable effective exploitation of analytics? Taking the PMSI/AlignAlytics benchmarking survey could be the first step in finding out if this cultural readiness is in place: http://bit.ly/TMAnalyticsCulture

Lotus F1 Team chose Microsoft Dynamics and the system went live in November 2012

Getting in pole position On a rare sunny day in March, senior business leaders and IT implementers from around the country converged on the Lotus F1 Team headquarters. The topic on the agenda: ERP and more particularly the Lotus F1 Team’s implementation and use of Microsoft Dynamics.

ocated about 20 minutes outside the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, the Lotus F1 Team headquarters is set against an extremely unassuming backdrop of rural paddocks and farmland. Sunk low into the landscape, some areas of the F1 facility are actually located below ground level so as not to disrupt the view. Guests at this technology briefing, hosted in partnership by The Manufacturer and Microsoft, represented diverse

manufacturing sectors, from pharmaceuticals to electronics. All keen to understand how to better exploit ERP investments for competitive edge. Following a brief introduction by Henry Anson, managing director of The Manufacturer, the first person to take the stage was BSM Consulting managing director, Sean Jackson. Drawing on his years of experience as an ERP selection and implementation expert, Mr Jackson presented an honest appraisal of the challenges

associated with ERP. However, he highlighted that, while many companies experience difficulty when implementing ERP, this is generally down to faults within the company rather than the software packages themselves. Presenting a fictional story of an ERP implementation, Mr Jackson narrated in all too familiar detail some of the mistakes companies make when introducing an enterprise system. Meeting the criteria of being on time and on budget while also delivering key benefits isn’t easy, Mr Jackson said, but it is possible. Highlighting eight key criteria for success, he said that implementing business process improvements in conjunction with ERP implementation was critical to prevent bodged workarounds and the exclusion of key data from the new system.

A Microsoft answer Next to take the stage was Melissa Cook, global industry lead, manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics. Almost in reply Ms Cook looked to highlight the key differentiators offered by Microsoft Dynamics as an ERP platform. By keeping in line with its name, Ms Cook said Microsoft Dynamics offered an approach to ERP which allowed manufacturers to remain agile and innovative. “The reason we think innovation is important is that you cannot, as manufacturers, always cost cut your way out of a downturn,” she said. According to Ms Cook, companies such as Microsoft are leading by example, allocating $9bn to software research and development per year across the entire Microsoft portfolio of products. The importance of this for manufacturers, said Cook, is that the constant improvements make it incredibly easy to integrate other Microsoft products within the Dynamics platform. “When you look at Microsoft Dynamics as an opportunity to replace your current ERP system, you’re not just getting

IT in

manufacturing: ERP

the Dynamics workload, you’re getting an additional $9bn worth of investment that Microsoft is bringing to bear through Dynamics.” Responding directly to some of the earlier criticisms of the general ERP market, Ms Cook said Microsoft was tackling three key issues including speed of implementation, cost, and flexibility.

Customer case studies Before hearing from Lotus F1, two other Microsoft Dynamics customers spoke of their experiences of using the software package. Paul Thomas, group IS director at construction firm Marshalls shared his journey of implementing the platform and discussed the process from initial inception through to present day operation. He explained that Dynamics had been chosen as it best satisfied five key criteria identified by the company: functionality, scalability, flexibility, technical integration and cost. In addition, the strong brand behind the system meant that it was also considered to be future proof. Mr Thomas said that one of the greatest endorsements for Marshalls’ use of Dynamics came from an analysis carried out by business and independent auditors, Deloitte. It read: “Overall, when compared to other similar projects reviewed by Deloitte, this project has been delivered very well by the project team. Costs and timelines have been managed well and significant business benefit has been derived from the project with minimal business disruption.” One of the key benefits highlighted by Mr Thomas was the improvement Dynamics has made to processing orders. “We’ve found that raising a sales order is much quicker now, so internal sales spend more time following up leads and talking to the customer to generate new business rather than processing data,” he said.

Melissa Cook, global industry lead manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics, during her presentation at the Lotus F1 Team Communications and Heritage Centre

The reason we think innovation is important is that you cannot, as manufacturers, always cost cut your way out of a downturn Melissa Cook, Global Industry Lead Manufacturing for Microsoft Dynamics

Project manager, Andy Baskett, then presented the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems experience of implementing Dynamics. Highlighting the benefits that had been achieved so far from the implementation, Mr Basket said that Dynamics had helped the company achieve cost reductions by providing a single solution which was able to meet diverse business needs and empower staff to perform multiple functions. Basekett said that Northrop Grumman was also able to be provide quotes faster while the system had helped to improve innovation which had in term motivated the sales teams.

The logic for Lotus The final person to take to the podium was Michael Taylor, deputy IT/IS director at Lotus F1 Team. Mr Taylor explained that the impetus for Lotus to implement Dynamics followed the 2011 Malaysian F1 Grand Prix where an issue with the front suspension uprights on the Lotus F1 cars caused them to be unable to race. The team needed to analyse every single component that made up the suspension from

a stress perspective, ascertain the life-expectancy of each part, and track the usage of the individual parts. At the time, due to the systems that were in place, the team had to interrogate data from 11 different sources. “It became evident from that experience that we needed one single source of truth,” said Taylor. After evaluating 13 enterprise resource planning solutions, Lotus F1 chose Microsoft Dynamics and the system went live in November 2012. Although only in the first phase of the implementation process, the Lotus F1 Team can use Microsoft Dynamics to collect live, accurate information, compete for funding, and ultimately, build a faster car. Using Microsoft Dynamics, the Lotus F1 Team expects to improve manufacturing productivity, avoid wasted resources, and deliver information safely and quickly to remote employees. The Lotus F1 Team is expecting big things over the next few years and, with the assistance of Microsoft Dynamics, this should include more awards for the team’s trophy room.

Connecting

better with CRM In manufacturing industry, Customer Relationship Management is still playing catch-up. But will a fast-changing competitive environment bring about an uptick in adoption? IT editor Malcolm Wheatley talks to Microsoft.

ustomer Relationship Management (CRM) isn’t new. Its use is widespread, and – as individual consumers interacting with banks, utilities and retailers – each of us is routinely touched and tracked by CRM processes in our everyday lives. In short, in little over a decade and a half, CRM has come a long way, fundamentally changing our customer experiences across many sectors. But its use among manufacturing businesses is less widespread. While it’s relatively rare to encounter a manufacturer without an ERP system, a manufacturer without a CRM system is far less exceptional. “CRM is still relatively new in manufacturing,” observes Cassandra Whobrey, CRM product manager at Microsoft UK. “But that’s changing, as early adopters highlight the benefits of taking a more customer-centric view of their businesses.”

To see those benefits in action, she says, look no further than truck and bus manufacturer Scania UK. Scania’s existing systems, including a third-party dealer management system, had always tended to view customer relationships from the point of view of the vehicle. While appropriate in a consumer context, where there is a one-to-one correspondence between a vehicle and its owner, the approach is less obviously suited to a fleet context, where the customers own and operate multiple vehicles.

Now, Scania’s new vehicle sales team uses Microsoft CRM to manage the entire sales process from initial enquiry through to vehicle delivery, enabling sales and marketing efforts to be more focused, and providing a consistent view of the customer in terms of aftersales service and warranty claims. What’s more, in-built Microsoft reporting tools have delivered powerful business analytics. “We’re benefiting from much improved business intelligence, and the solution has helped Scania to move from a vehicle-

Customer expectations have been transformed, and businesses’ customers want to be treated as they are in their everyday lives as consumers – with a recognition that their custom is important, and that it is valued Jamie White, CRM Business Manager, Microsoft UK Jamie.White@microsoft.com

IT in

manufacturing: CRM

centric perspective to a customer-centric perspective,” sums up Scania project manager Harjinder Atwal. And writ large, says Whobrey, this shift in perspective is taking place right across manufacturing industry.

Consumerisation “For manufacturers, the world is changing,” sums up Jamie White, CRM business manager at Microsoft UK. “And what’s different is the customer: customer expectations have been transformed in consumer contexts, and now business customers want to be treated as they are in their everyday lives – with recognition that their custom is important, and that it is valued.” Of course, after the worst recession in over sixty years, there can be few manufacturers who don’t already recognise the importance of doing just that. But, says White, there’s a world of difference between recognising that something is important, and being able to transform that recognition into a reality that the customer can perceive. “It’s not enough to manage the relationship well: you need to manage it well, manage it at a high quality level, and manage it cost-effectively,” he notes. “Selling isn’t an event, it’s a process – as is customer service. CRM lets you manage that process to a consistently high standard and manage it in a way that lets you build detailed insights into customer behaviour, as well as ways to improve your own offering.” And the growing use of technology in customer-supplier interaction provides a case in point, adds Whobrey. At a basic level, she says, the customer relationship isn’t a static one, but a dynamic one. And consequently, manufacturers need to be much more proactive in terms of managing it. “You need to know your customers better,” she insists. “CRM isn’t just a glorified

CRM provides a window into how your customers view you and your business. Who are they? What do they buy? What don’t they buy? When did they last buy? Geographically, where are they? How do they contact you? The answers to such questions can provide powerful insights Cassandra Whobrey, CRM Product Manager, Microsoft UK Cassandra.Whobrey@microsoft.com

address book: it provides a window into how your customers view you and your business. Who are they? What do they buy? What don’t they buy? When did they last buy? Geographically, where are they? How do they contact you? The answers to such questions can be powerful insights into building stronger and more profitable relationships.” Second, there’s the web – a tool that is increasingly used in business-to-business transactions and sourcing processes. As consumers, she notes, we have high standards in terms of what we expect from a website’s interaction with us – from remembering us from prior visits, to ‘pop up’ help and contact screens, staffed by live agents. “Few of those expectations are met in the business-tobusiness environment,” she explains. “Yet the insights can be powerful. Just look at Amazon’s ‘Customers who bought this also bought that’ facility, for instance.” Thirdly, adds White, CRM helps manufacturers deliver a consistently high customer experience, whatever their chosen means of contact. “Someone who is engaged with technology will expect the same outcome, irrespective of whether they’ve telephoned a company, written to it, or sent an e-mail,” he observes. “Yet in reality, what often happens is that the responses will come from different people, each lacking a unified view of other prior contacts.”

Competitive edge In short, he argues, there’s a compelling case to be made for manufacturers taking a long hard look at what CRM can offer them. And, what’s more, doing so as an early adopter, rather than as a business playing catch-up after losing market share and customers to better equipped competitors. Naturally enough, White’s also keen that manufacturers put Microsoft Dynamics CRM on their list of prospective solutions to evaluate. “Over two and a quarter million people are licensed to use Dynamics CRM in over 80 countries and they do it in over forty languages,” he notes. “So you’re joining a community of over 33 thousand customers – large and small – spread across a huge number of industries, using a product that’s matured and developed to a high standard.” Microsoft’s CRM business is booming, having seen seven successive years of double-digit sales growth. Much of that growth in recent times has come from customers choosing Microsoft’s CRM Online capability. “What we’re aiming to do is help our customers to become more effective at serving – and selling to – their customers, using everyday familiar interfaces such as Outlook,” sums up White. “You can deploy in the cloud, as a ‘software as a service’ solution, or on-premise. And you don’t have to have previously deployed a Microsoft ERP solution: Microsoft Dynamics CRM is ERP-agnostic. So if you’re thinking about CRM, then get in touch.”

Boxing

clever

An announcement from Oracle heralds a faster, cheaper, better-performing ERP system. IT Editor Malcolm Wheatley finds out what it’s all about.

or small and mediumsized manufacturers, implementing a new ERP system can be a costly and unnerving experience. There is no guarantee that the new system will work as advertised: stories of ERP failure, requiring expensive re-implementations, are commonplace. What’s more, the process is time-consuming. Project teams are set up, and implementation consultants crawl through the business, defining the workings of the business processes to be built into the new system. Meetings abound. Lengthy tests and ‘conference room pilots’ are needed in order to test the new processes and make sure that they work as planned. And, almost inevitably, businesses must dig deep into their pockets for new hardware and other add-ons: a database, perhaps, or supply chain connectivity applications, or reporting and analytics software. Each must be expensively commissioned, tested, and finetuned in order to work with the new ERP system, adding further cost and complexity. But, the good news is, it doesn’t have to be like that, according to an intriguing announcement from software vendor Oracle.

At a stroke, savings of up to 60% in both implementation time and costs are possible, holding out the prospect of a turnkey implementation in just 120 days. And all with less risk, less testing, and a better hardware performance.

Thinking inside the box

Businesses with reasonably standard business processes, wanting proven best practice alongside a reduced timescale, reduced risk, and reduced cost, should carefully weigh-up Oracle’s initiative Sean Jackson, managing director, BSM Consulting

What’s happened is that Oracle has packaged together parts of its extensive offerings in a bundle that has been pre-selected and fine-tuned so as to be appropriate for the needs of small and medium-sized manufacturers. Notably, the bundle also includes hardware, in the shape of the server running the new ERP system. Termed ‘Oracle Apps in a Box’, the initiative is a global one, designed to transform the experience of installing and commissioning a new ERP system. Hardware and software together, each optimised for the other. And for once, the marketeer’s favourite word – ‘unique’ – is entirely apposite. Oracle is the only major ERP provider to own a computer server and workstation business, Sun Microsystems. Plus, Oracle’s industry-leading database application, Oracle Database 11g, and its powerful Oracle JD Edwards ERP system,

is the same system used by manufacturers such as British Sugar, Linpac, Silent Night, and Morgan Ceramics. In other words, Oracle is providing everything that a manufacturer needs in order to implement a new ERP system: the ERP system itself, the database and supply chain connectivity software, and the hardware on which the software runs. “It eliminates all the technical complexities of an ERP implementation,” says Christian Fronteras, managing director of Oracle platinum partner and JD Edwards implementation specialist Redfaire. “You’re getting a single vendor relationship – Oracle – from top to bottom, together with hardware and software chosen and pre-configured to run perfectly together.” Better still, adds Redfaire technical lead Andy Smith, the combination of hardware and software doesn’t just work well with each other, it also works well with your business. When the server is delivered to your door, tested and pre-loaded with software, it also includes Oracle’s powerful set of best practice Business Accelerate Solutions. “Business Accelerators are pre-configured business processes,” he explains. “Turn the system on, and it takes you

IT in

manufacturing: ERP

through a series of questions which determine which particular processes will represent best practice for your business – which it then reflects in the operation of the ERP system.” And, what’s more, that system, has been pre-designed to run in an optimised manner on the hardware in question, adds Wayne Gratton, SolutionsPath business development director of Oracle partner Avnet Technology Solutions, which handles the software installation at its configuration centre in Tongeren, Belgium. “Thanks to virtualisation, what would have required several boxes in the past now just runs on the one server,” he explains. “And as delivered, it’s ready to run – so you’re using your Oracle implementation partner to add value, rather than fine-tune hardware.” And what of JD Edwards, the ERP part of the offering and arguably its most important component? JD Edwards was taken under Oracle’s wing when it bought PeopleSoft, and it’s probably fair to say that the JD Edwards’ offering lost some mindshare among UK manufacturers at that point, notes Sean Jackson, managing director of management and technology consulting company BSM Consulting. But those days, it seems, are past and JD Edwards continues to gain traction in North America and Europe.

It comes in your size “JD Edwards is used by some of the largest manufacturers in the world, and also by some of the smallest,” says Redfaire’s Fronteras. “Globally, it’s become the preferred Oracle offering for the mid-market, as opposed to Oracle’s other ERP system, the E-Business Suite.” In terms of a business’s IT budget, pound-for pound, JD Edwards offers more functionality than many competitors, adds Redfaire technical lead Smith. “Irrespective of your company’s size, you’re using the same code set,” he stresses. “A manufacturer with 5-10 users has the same ERP as a manufacturer with 25,000 users. The functionality is there all the time, and you grow into it as you need it: you don’t need to upgrade, switch versions, or buy anything extra.” In short, says BSM Consulting’s Jackson, a small or medium-sized manufacturer looking for a new ERP system can achieve considerable savings, and a reduction in implementation risk and timescale, by taking a long hard look at Oracle Applications in a Box. “It isn’t for everybody,” he sums up. “Manufacturers with highly specialised requirements may not find it suitable. But businesses with reasonably standard business processes, wanting proven best or good practice alongside a reduced timescale, reduced risk, and reduced cost, should carefully weigh-up Oracle’s initiative.”

It eliminates all the technical complexities of an ERP implementation. You’re getting a single vendor relationship – Oracle – from top to bottom, together with hardware and software chosen and pre-configured to run perfectly together Christian Fronteras, Managing Director, Redfaire

Boxing Clever with ERP for the Mid Market At an event in Solihull on April 26, Oracle formally launches Oracle Apps in a Box in the UK. Experts from Oracle, implementation partner Redfaire, and independent consultants BSM Consulting will deliver insightful presentations, and be on hand to answer manufacturers’ questions. Topics under discussion: What effect does the changing ERP landscape have on infrastructure options for mid sized companies? How do you build an ERP business case in this new environment? Is there a better way to deliver sophisticated ERP business systems simply and elegantly? What are the merits of cloud v hosting v SaaS, or do you keep IT infrastructure on premise? Places are limited, so register straight away. For more information contact: Stephen Fox (sfox@redfaire.com) on 07812 590289 or go to http://innovationtour.co.uk/redfaire.

PLAYING MUSIC? MAKE SURE YOUâ€™RE LICENSED. 74% of factories agree that playing music increases staff morale.* If you play music in your business, it is a legal requirement to obtain the correct music licences. In most instances, a licence is required from both PPL and PRS for Music. PPL and PRS for Music are two separate companies. PPL collects and distributes money for the use of recorded music on behalf of record companies and performers. PRS for Music collects

and distributes money for the use of the musical composition and lyrics on behalf of authors, songwriters, composers and publishers. A PPL licence can cost your business as little as 19p per day. For more information on how to obtain your PPL licence visit ppluk.com or call 020 7534 1070. To ďŹ nd out more about how music can work for your business visit musicworksforyou.com *MusicWorks survey of 1000 people, conducted May 2012.

ppluk.com 01610 PPL Manufacturer half page (factories).indd 1

04/03/2013 10:56

choice for field and supply yBox is the UK chain solutions. market leader for With an award winning in-night parts and service that not only consists equipment distribution, of the complete outsourcing specialising in delivering items of supply chains, we can pre 8am to a network of 1,500 provide individual distribution, locker locations across the UK. returns and repairs, inventory Our network also extends to management and warehousing. France, Republic of Ireland and Our reliable returns the Benelux. You will find ByBox process allows field engineers lockers at convenient sites such to send parts back to the as supermarkets, petrol stations original manufacturer via our and sports grounds and with locker network; a simple and them being accessible 24/7, secure system that creates engineers can collect items at a faster return loop and their convenience saving them guarantees all parts arrive at valuable time and money. the correct destination. We make around 20 million deliveries a year and more than 20,000 Contact us today: mobile engineers use ByBox, Unit 1 & 2, Central City Industrial our platform daily. We Estate, Red Lane, Coventry, CV6 5RY maintain an enviable first time pre-8am Tel: 0844 800 5219 delivery success rate Email: distribution.revolution@bybox.com of 99.77%, positioning Web: www.bybox.com us as the preferred

IT in

manufacturing: Oracle’s JD Edwards

The new

JD Edwards world Lyle Ekdahl, vice president and general manager of Oracle’s JD Edwards business unit, rebuffs suggestions from competitors that JD Edwards’ usefulness effectively came to an end with its acquisition by Peoplesoft and then Oracle. Here he outlines the active marketplace for Oracle’s JD Edwards products and describes the unit’s vision for the future.

am delighted to see uptake and enthusiasm among JD Edwards’ customers, field staff and partners throughout the JD Edwards ecosystem. This year the UK Oracle User Group customer conference attracted over 300 registered delegates, demonstrating a solid JD Edwards fan base. Today our ERP go to market product is called Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, although Oracle continues to enhance and support Oracle’s JD Edwards World products for its existing customers. We have delivered more product to market across the JD Edwards World and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne product lines in the past eighteen months than in any similar period in the history of JD Edwards and these deliverables include new major releases for each product line. New JD Edwards modules include Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Environmental Health and Safety, and Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne One View Reporting, a whole new reporting system that allows business users to create interactive reports without

If you run some process, some repetitive, and some discrete lines, then JD Edwards will make a good fit Lyle Ekdahl, JD Edwards

IT support. All have been enthusiastically received in our community. We provided a whole new user interaction paradigm for our customers by leveraging Oracle technologies with rich user experiences, and applying them to our JD Edwards products. This gave users a very robust engaging environment. We also added features to improve productivity, such as carousel-based navigation and type-ahead search. Then we offered users the ability to personalise the look and feel for their own applications. We asked our customers how they wanted to bring their business from ERP to the point of process. This led to leading applications and functionality on smart phones and iPads. In the case of iPads, we saw the use cases being very, very broad. We took a new approach, and released full support on iPad for the entire suite.

Bang for you buck JD Edwards’ real strength is that it offers big ERP functionality for a mid-market ERP price. Customers who have remained loyal to JD Edwards say they

have a well-designed base product for manufacturing and other industries, with modules which easily scale up both functionally and technically as a business grows. We are a full suite tier one ERP at a price point that is more in line with a tier two ERP. In recent years, JD Edwards has scored several big successes among global and mid-market companies. A large European spirits group is a customer, and at the UKOUG event an executive from one of its subsidiaries presented on JD Edwards’ Enterprise Mobility platform. JD Edwards’ European business can concur. In the Benelux region, JD Edwards has had some of its best years ever – wine making in Italy and food and beverage, especially dairy, in the Benelux stand out. JD Edwards remains strong in manufacturing. If you run some process, some repetitive, and some discrete lines, then Oracle’s JD Edwards will make a good fit. We look forward to maintaining and growing our customer base in Europe going forward. Reach out to us at www.go9withjde.com!

ITnews... ERP

Ferrari opts for Infor LN Recognising that it needed to upgrade its legacy Baan ERP system, luxury sports car manufacturer Ferrari faced an unusual challenge.

The problem, according to Vittorio Boero, chief information officer at Ferrari is that each Ferrari vehicle is unique. Every customer can customise and tailor their new purchase, from unique paint colours to the materials that cover the seats and interior. No two Ferrari cars are the same. To cope with this complexity, Ferrari chose the latest version of Infor’s LN ERP system. Phil Lewis, Infor’s business consulting director for Western Europe says the decision recognised Infor LN’s capabilities in terms of delivering automotive-specific functionality while not impacting Ferrari’s customer-

responsiveness and flexibility. “LN has the unique capability of being able to build individual custom configured vehicles in sequence, yet maintain high operating line efficiencies and full sequencing with the supply chain,” Lewis asserts. “Other ERP solutions rely on multiple external sequencing and MES systems which increase complexity, risk, errors and cost.” Delivered in just nine months, the Infor solution allows customers to retain control of their car’s customisation for a whole three weeks into the build process – changing the colour, trim

CLOUD COMPUTING

Manufacturers baffled by Cloud Computing jargon, reveals survey. Key findings: According to a recent 92% of respondents felt that service providers survey, there is a growing could do more to demystify the cloud sense of discontent 96% felt that ‘cloud washing’ by marketing among manufacturing departments at technology providers is an companies with respect increasing problem to how technology service 92% felt that cloud service providers didn’t companies are promoting understand their needs, and focused only on and selling cloud services. Commissioned by managed data services provider Six Degrees Group, the purpose of the survey was to try to benchmark key business stakeholders’ understanding of cloud computing. The survey found that while the majority of IT decision makers do have a broad understanding of the concept of cloud computing, they struggle to cut through the marketing hype around the application of the technology, its real benefits, and threats that it poses to their businesses.

generic needs 68% believed that technology companies were guilty of using too much jargon. This compared with compared to 14% for politicians and only 12% for financial services and lawyers

“Cloud computing has the potential to be one of biggest technology revolutions in manufacturing since the Internet. But the lack of service flexibility, coupled to confusing jargon, is clearly having an impact on the reputation of the industry,” says Campbell Williams, group strategy and director at Six Degrees Group. “The problem now is that businesses no longer believe what they are hearing, and the industry is losing credibility.”

level and specification to suit their changed requirements. “As well as improving flexibility, we have reduced the number of anomalies in the system, which is streamlining the production process,” sums up Ferrari CIO Boero.

ITNIBS Half of companies have lost a device containing important data according to research conducted by data governance specialist Varonis. This level of loss equates to serious security implications for over a fifth of organisations. According to the research findings, almost three quarters of employees are now allowed to access company data from their personal devices. Furthermore, 86% of the workforce are ‘obsessed’ with their devices, with 15% taking them on holiday, and 44% using them during meals. This growing trend to work remotely and in traditional ‘down times’ impacts on breaches and data leakages as mobile devices continue to have major security implications, says Varonis. “Being connected to work around the clock appears to be accepted as the new normal,” said David Gibson, vice-president of strategy at Varonis. “While organisations are capturing the many benefits of ‘Bring Your Own Device’ – and the willingness of the workforce to embrace this style of working – companies must protect from data loss.”

IT in

manufacturing: News

IT EYE

PLM spreads its Tentacles Tony Christian, director of analyst firm Cambashi observes blurring lines between areas of IT responsibility. Most manufacturers’ IT environments include elements of ERP, Supply Chain Management, CRM and PLM. But the boundaries between these are merging, sometimes becoming impossible to identify. PLM seems to be the area that is most aggressive in spreading its tentacles into complementary areas of the manufacturing value chain. This software market is being driven by a variety of influences, each of which assists the broader application of PLM. One such influence is infrastructure technology. Cloud-based deployment, social networking and mobility all help to make PLM technology available

Oracle launched PeopleSoft 9.2. PeopleSoft was taken over by Oracle in 2005, but Oracle remains committed to developing the ERP system, a claim which is proven via this new release. PeopleSoft 9.2 delivers a new user experience, says Oracle. It offers expanded product functionality while helping to reduce total cost of ownership.

to companies and users for which it was previously out of reach. A second influence is the use of modern development languages. These result in PLM system architectures that can be customised more easily and applied to a wider range of scenarios, including, again, some that fall outside of the scope of traditional PLM technology. In reality of course, there is a distinction between top end, very functionally rich PLM applications and those that major on breadth and flexibility (epitomised by Autodesk’s “insanely configurable” PLM 360), which even allows PLM technology to be applied to other types of problems. This view asserts that PLM technology can address any problem involving assets, each with a set of attributes that interrelate to those of other assets,

and that change over time. Accordingly, PLM technology has been applied successfully to project management scenarios, for example. The third development driver is a broadening vendor view of PLM’s role. Oracle hosted its ‘Value Chain Summit’ in Germany recently, at which the PLM track was dominant. Oracle is promoting PLM as having moved from its genesis as an engineering data management system to full product value chain management - and therefore a full place on the enterprise IT agenda. It’s a compelling proposition. @Cambashi

HardwarePT the industrial IT division of industrial automation specialist SolutionsPT launched a new website intended to be a one-stop shop for customers’ industrial IT requirements. The site launch recognises that manufacturing and utility companies are becoming ever more reliant on the availability of their IT systems. www.industrialIT. co.uk offers advice and

resources, product information and a calendar of availability themed events to derisk this reliance. The website also addresses what defines IT availability, such as security, fault tolerance and legacy systems. “We have witnessed the issue of availability moving up the agenda over the last couple of years, and our experience is that availability considerations are now central in the design of the industrial IT installations,” says Mike Lees, business manager at HardwarePT.

There are, it claims, over a thousand new features, functions, and enhancements in the new release. “With dramatic improvements in operational cost management, we believe Oracle’s PeopleSoft 9.2 is a game-changing release,” said Paco Aubrejuan, senior vice president and general manager for PeopleSoft applications at Oracle.

A brand new 3,000 core ‘Sandy Bridge’-based supercomputer launched, bringing shared benefits to Midlands manufacturers. The supercomputer was implemented and is managed by Bull Information Systems. It powers the new HPC Midlands facility at Loughborough University which opened in March. The powerful new supercomputer

is available as a managed service to both industry and academia in the region and beyond, via the JANET network. A joint venture between Loughborough University and the University of Leicester, and backed by £1 million funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, HPC Midlands is based at the University’s Science and Enterprise

Park. “HPC Midlands is a ground breaking new initiative which is all about universities and research organisations working more closely with industry to improve the economic environment,” says Andrew Carr, chief executive of Bull UK. “It is about prioritising research that has direct economic benefits for both academic and industrial organisations.”

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

The measure of

success Rolls-Royce’s reputation and business success rely on its brand value “trusted to deliver excellence”. How important are measurement technologies and skills in maintaining this?

“W

hat would it meant to Rolls-Royce if the UK’s National Measurement System did not exist, or was not internationally respected?” asked one delegate at a recent industry meeting in Westminster, designed to improve government understanding of

Consistent and reliable measurement underpins every stage of the life-cycle of our products Dr Norbert Arndt, Director of Engineering Systems & Services, Rolls-Royce

the fundamental importance of metrology to UK prosperity. Dr Norbert Arndt, director of engineering systems & services at Rolls-Royce who delivered a presentation at the event, declined to speculate, simply stating “consistent and reliable measurement underpins every stage of the life-cycle of our products.” Dr Arndt’s earlier description of the conditions inside the combustion chamber of Rolls-Royce’s iconic jet engines clarified why this is so. “Depending on the engine, the front fan sucks in up to 1200kg of air per second. When that air reaches the combustion chamber it will have about 50

bar pressure and rise to a temperature of around 700°C - which is the temperature at which normal steel begins to glow red. We then inject slightly less than a gallon of fuel per second and combust it.” When the air leaves the combustion chamber it hits 1700°C – several hundred degrees hotter than the melting point of the nickel alloys used in the turbine of the engine. For the blades to withstand these temperatures, Rolls-Royce uses a combination or cooling air streams and thermal barrier coatings, but confidence in the integrity of these systems can only be assured by the intricate measurement and monitoring systems used both in flight, and during materials development, says Arndt. Focusing on the use of measurement in R&D Arndt says, “consistent and reliable testing is integral to our materials design process. This is why it is so important that measurement systems and technologies are accredited. We must be able to consistently understand material properties – what they can and can’t endure.” Progressing to the manufacturing stage, Arndt points out that measurement defines whether or not parts conform absolutely to their design and are safe to use. In the manufacture of Rolls-Royce single crystal turbine blades, consistent product with accurate wall thickness is achieved using specialist x-ray technology. “The automated process takes five minutes per blade,” says Ardnt, demonstrating why the technology not only protects Rolls-Royce’s enshrined quality brand, but also gives a competitive edge in manufacturing efficiency.

Engine cross-section Mass flow 1200kg/sec

Fan exit temperature 80°C

HP compressor inlet pressure 11 bar temperature 350°C

HP compressor outlet pressure 50 bar temperature 700°C

Turbine entry temperature 1700°C

Mass flow 1200kg/sec Thrust 40 tons Steel starts to glow red at 700°C

Combustion chamber 7lb/sec of fuel

IP turbine outlet temperature 900°C

Manufacturing Technologies

Accreditation Certification of measurement technologies and accreditation of measurement skills in Britain are the responsibilities of the National Measurement System (NMS) and the UK Accreditation Service, representatives of which were also present at this industry meeting. Emphasizing why confidence in the strength of these bodies is important, not just from a technology calibration and certification point of view, but also for training, Arndt says, “we must be absolutely sure, particularly with regards to the non destructive testing of parts in use, that the people carrying out tests are competent, qualified, and have an understanding of the science behind the technology they are using.” Furthermore, points out Arndt, “because we are a global company, we must be sure that the system that accredits technology and people here bears relevance to those used in the other places where we have business around the world. We must be sure of getting the same results from the same process.” Again, this international co-ordination of measurement standards is a responsibility for the UK NMS.

Competitive repercussions Rolls-Royce is embedded in the UK and is a big investor. As such, its competitive wellbeing is of interest to more than just its employees and direct stakeholders. The company has an order book in excess of £60bn, and the benefits of this trickle down to a wide infrastructure of suppliers and partners. Of the £491m Rolls-Royce invested in 19 new and improved facilities in 2012 a significant chunk went to UK locations including a new advanced blade casting facility in Rotherham which will employ 150 directly and more in the supply chain. Rolls-Royce’s research and technology work is undertaken at 28 University Technology Research Centers around the globe and 19 of these are based in the UK. Globally Rolls-Royce invested around £919m in these centres and other R&D projects in 2012. Returning to the hypothetical question of how attractive the UK would be as a business location for Rolls-Royce should its National Measurement System fail, Arndt explains that, while there is no threat of Rolls-Royce shifting its core R&D locations away from the UK en masse, the competitive implications of such a failing would be immense in the long term. “We recorded group revenues in excess of £12bn in 2012 and our best selling technologies today have not yet hit their predicted sales peak. But these same technologies had a lead time of 10-15 years in development.” In other words, a failing in the NMS – a core element in material properties development, manufacture and service – today, would jeopardise

The UK National Measurement System today

he National Measurement System is a network of laboratories that provide measurement standards, and calibration and testing facilities. It underpins the measurement infrastructure that so many businesses and individuals take for granted every day, but which is fundamental to our ability to function as a society. For manufacturing, the NMS and the advance of metrology technologies are critical to quality, safety, the development of international trade and the creation of the advanced service, maintenance and monitoring systems which can differentiate UK industry from international offerings. But government funding for the UK’s National Measurement System (NMS) is declining in real terms leaving the capabilities of organisations within the NMS, like the National Physical Laboratory, at risk. Private sector funding of selected research projects is going some way to fill the gap, but around £15m a year from government would return NMS support to the levels seen a decade ago. Those close the NMS argue that this investment is a duty of care for government, given the public good that springs from the NMS. The National Health Service, for example, relies on the system heavily for advances in medical science. The decline in funding for the UK’s NMS goes against the actions of other industrially competitive nations. Japan, China and the USA, for example, have all significantly increased investment in their equivalent systems in the last ten years. Trade bodies Gambica, BMTA and GMTA are supporting a campaign to raise awareness in government of the need to maintain and increase funding of the UK NMS. They are calling industry members who recognise measurement technology and accreditation as important to their competitive health to write to their local MP, referring their concerns to the Minister for Science and Universities, David Willietts. Rolls-Royce’s future ability to play with global rivals such as Pratt-Whitney, GE and aggressive new comers from China. And, in turn, darken the economic prospects of the wider infrastructure in which Rolls-Royce invests so much of its multibillion pound revenues.

Manufacturing Technologies: MTA events

Supporting Manufacturing Innovation The Manufacturing Technologies Association runs an ambitious seminar and networking event programme for members. It’s all in the cause of best practice, opening up supply chain opportunities and exploring new innovations.

s the business organisation representing core engineering based manufacturers the MTA strives to organise a programme of seminars directly relevant to the needs of its members and their need for manufacturing innovation. An on-going dialogue with OEMs is the keystone to the programme. The MTA’s supply chain seminar held at the Messier-Bugatti-Dowty manufacturing plant at Gloucester last autumn demonstrates this. This sought to foster understanding by bringing members together with a major aerospace manufacturer and, following the event, Chris Wilson, managing director of Messier-BugattiDowty, said, “It allowed an ideal opportunity for members of the wider supply chain to meet, network and understand the requirements we have as a relatively large manufacturer of complex high value structures and the importance of the support of a flexible, pro-active supply chain.” The supply chain seminar was a resounding success which built on lessons from an earlier MTA event at earth excavation equipment manufacturer JCB.

Aligning industry development Going forward, the MTA plans to align its seminars with the capabilities and development of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Matching the diverse disciplines nurtured in the Catapult centres, the programme will cover topics from the latest aerospace advances, through developments in composites and exotic materials, to disruptive technologies. The first event in this new programme was held in February at the AMRC, Rotherham, and coincided with the launch of the new MTA/AMRC apprenticeship pathways for Technical Sales and Commercial Apprentices for the advanced engineering sector. Attended by over 150 MTA members and their customers, the event was supported by a visit from deputy prime minister Nick Clegg who applauded the invention of the new apprentice pathways. These are designed to deliver world

Delegates at MTA’s recent event held in partnership with the AMRC, Rotherham

class qualifications for young, bright people in engineering. The audience also heard presentations about the advances in the aerospace industry from high profile speakers in the sector. For example, Dr Gareth Williams, vice president R&T Business Development and Partnerships at Airbus, provided an insight into the projected requirements for aircraft in the future. This year the MTA has also changed the format of its traditional quarterly meeting into an interactive, half day event open to all members. The new format comprises a best practice presentation on a relevant topic by an external speaker, supported by two member experience presentations outlining how the speakers have personally addressed issues arising from the topic. An interactive voting system for meeting attendees augments feedback and opinion sharing. The event rounds off with a session of group syndicate work. The first Members’ Quarterly Meeting to adopt this new format took place at the premises of Trumpf UK in Luton on March 20. The topic was Staying Ahead of the Technology Curve and the guest speaker was Professor Mark Jolly, chair of Sustainable Manufacturing at Cranfield University, with supporting presentations from Dr Tony Bannan of Precision Technologies Group (Holroyd Precision) and Colin Price of Renishaw. The new meeting format was greeted with universal approval from the participants and everyone is looking forward to the next meeting in June.

Coming soon In the meantime, the MTA’s next event will be a joint seminar with the Warwick Manufacturing Group on April 23 at the University of Warwick. This half day seminar will review how SME’s with expertise in 3D printing can contribute to the automotive manufacturing supply chain. The event is entitled Physical to Digital and will feature a presentation by Mark Barrington, head of rapid prototyping, at Jaguar Land Rover.

New technologies shape UK manufacturing The countries’ smartest scientific brains are working relentlessly to develop new technologies and prepare them for commercial application. Peter Russell, head of RBS manufacturing and industrials, takes a look at two technologies with the potential to turn business models upside down and explains why UK manufacturers need to get involved now. What the future holds Governments, academia, industry bodies and business leaders are united in their belief that new technology will help propel manufacturing to new output and growth levels not experienced since the Industrial Revolution. The market for game-changing technologies such as additive manufacturing (3D printing), nanotechnology, biotechnology and photonics to name a few, is expected to grow to more than £800 billion by 20151. In recent years the focus of global research into manufacturing technologies has settled on two subjects: 3D Printing and nanotechnology. These will not only have a major impact on how manufacturing evolves but will also improve a vast range of products in our daily lives.

3D printing revolutionises manufacturing Contrary to old-style subtractive manufacturing, where an object is finished by cutting material away, 3D printing creates objects layer by layer through additive manufacturing, directly from digital computer files. 3D printing permits the design of products with far superior qualities without the need for tooling. By eliminating many

of the stages of conventional manufacturing it is less labour intensive, uses less material, is less wasteful and can use new materials that are light and strong with novel and/or improved properties.

Mass customisation 3D printing moves manufacturing from mass production to mass customisation as each product can be printed individually from 3D design information. This gives companies the chance to change, not just the way they manufacturer their goods, but also their product lines, marketing and business models. Furthermore, 3D printing can be performed at point of consumption, implying that many steps in the supply chain could be drastically reduced, including distribution and warehousing2.

3D printing affects all However, smaller manufacturers are hesitating to get involved. Lack of detailed knowledge about these new technologies is the major hurdle discouraging such firms and this is where university research centres come in. The Mercury Centre, part financed by the European Union, is a research facility within the University of Sheffield developing advanced manufacturing solutions through 3D printing. “When we talk to SMEs they usually are aware of the basic concept, but they are often surprised to hear that 3D printing can be used already. We get a lot of specific questions about how businesses can benefit and what they need to do to introduce 3D printing into their production,” observes Iain Todd, Professor of metallurgy at the University of Sheffield and director of the Mercury Centre. Researchers are keen to pass on their knowledge: “We offer a number of events, and of course, companies can just call us. We reach out to the whole supply chain as everyone is affected,” says Dr Martin Highett, manager of the Mercury Centre.

Industry roll call Manufacturers interested to get involved are welcomed by the country’s academics. Todd

Manufacturing technologies - RBS 3D printing and nanotech notes that “Firms present us with real life problems for which we then have to provide the right application. This helps us to move our research in the right direction.” Highett adds: “There is no point developing something if it is never going to be used. Our goal is to get a technology out to the market as quickly as possible. For that, we need users that test it and help improve it.”

Nanotechnology promises superior products Nanotechnology, which creates materials, devices and systems by manipulating matter at a microscopic level, has already reached out to a wider community of manufacturers. The global nanotechnology market is forecast to be worth $48.9 billion by 2017 with the US holding a market share of 35%3. Looking at the number of nanotechnology firms operating in each country, the UK is ranked third in the world according to government research published in 2010. Because of their large variety of properties, nanostructured materials can be used to improve a wide range of products. Graphene is considered a star among nanostructured materials. It was first isolated at the University of Manchester, earning a Nobel prize for physics in 2010. It is the thinnest material known and also one of the strongest. It conducts electricity more efficiently than copper and outperforms all other materials as a conductor of heat. “The process of separating graphene from graphite requires further technological development before it is economically feasible to use in industrial processes,” comments Professor Ian Kinloch, an EPSRC research fellow at the School of Materials, University of Manchester. “We need to understand better how it can be processed and how exactly it can be used in products,” he adds, but leaves no doubt that graphene is rightly dubbed a ‘wonder-material’. “Its multi-functionality stands out. Thanks to its thermal and electrical properties, its strength, transparency and flexibility, its high energy storage and light weight it has the potential to improve the qualities of hundreds of different products.” Like his research fellows at Sheffield University, Professor Kinloch says collaborative projects between the university and industry are crucial: “Without those we couldn’t achieve commercial application as fast.”

found that, for a particular specialty part, 3D printing reduced the cost of manufacturing from $10,000 to $600. It also reduced the build time from four weeks to 24 hours and the weight of the object by upwards of 70%. The biggest opportunity, however, lies in new revenue streams. 3D printing enables manufacturers to increase product variation and launch new products much more quickly. Prototyping is the largest commercial application of 3D printing today, estimated to be 70% of the market and its future looks very compelling. If you want to gain further insight please visit www.rbs.co.uk/futureofukhve.

To find out how RBS can support your manufacturing business to adopt these new technologies, please contact:

Peter Russell Head of Manufacturing & Industrials, RBS Corporate & Institutional Banking T: (0)20 7672 1007 E: peter.russell@rbs.co.uk

To find out more about Additive Manufacturing please contact: Dr. Martin Highett Mercury Centre, University of Sheffield T: (0)114 222 5981 E: martin.highett@mercurycentre.org

Prof Iain Todd Mercury Centre, University of Sheffield E: i.todd@sheffield.ac.uk

To find out more about nanotechnology and in particular graphene, please contact: Prof Ian Kinloch University of Manchester, The National Graphene Institute E: graphene@manchester.ac.uk or ian.kinloch@manchester.ac.uk

New technologies economically superior Despite concerns about the cost of materials required for 3D printing, the potential for cost savings through shorter supply chains provides a powerful answer to anyone who is still tentative in experimenting with this new technology in their business. Early adopters confirm the economic benefits: Thogus Products, a custom plastic injection molder,

Sources: 1. The Future of UK High Value Engineering, November 2012 2. 3D printing market data: SCS, October 2012 3. Research and markets, December 2012

WHAT WILL YOU GET FROM The Global Manufacturing Festival 2013?

he Sheffield City Region has a deep and broad range of manufacturing expertise, centred on advanced engineering, materials and metals technology. Think of the following organisations: Tata Steel, Rolls-Royce, Sheffield Forgemasters, AESSeal, Firth Rixson, Outokumpu, The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing, Surgical Innovations, Newburgh Engineering and many more. These companies and others are key parts of supply chains for critical components in global markets like aerospace, nuclear and renewable energy and medical applications. From April 17-19, the Global Manufacturing Festival will provide a unique opportunity for many types of manufacturing companies to: “understand the supply chains of these high value end products and how to access them”. Exposure to companies such as Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Tata will make the criteria for entering these supply chains much more transparent.

NatWest NatWest offer the personal service, trusted expertise and strong financial backing you expect from a major commercial bank. What’s more, their Relationship Managers have attained rigorous standards which have been accredited by the Chartered Banker Institute. This means they have an endorsed level of professional excellence, making them even better placed to assist your business. Depend on NatWest to deliver a responsive, tailored and efficient service – day to day and month after month.

AEROSPACE

Regional business support: Sheffield City Region LEP

RENEWABLES

MEDICAL

NUCLEAR

The Sheffield City Region Inward Investment team supports SMEs through: Business Rate Relief and Enhanced Capital Allowances for plant and machinery on the UK’s number 1 Enterprise Zone for Modern Manufacturing Local expertise and introductions to relevant networks through the Local Enterprise Partnership covering nine Local Authority areas Property search and location tours for businesses looking to expand or locate in the region Soft landing packages, routes to funding and business aftercare support

The University of Sheffield: Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing Through the AMRC with Boeing, Tier 1, 2 and 3 sponsors can access some nearly unique technical facilities for research and development in the engineering of metals and composite materials, for applications in aerospace, nuclear & renewable energy and machining for other power generation applications. Non-sponsors can also access some AMRC research facilities via the Technology Strategy Board.

Organised by:

Event Preview GMF 2013

Creative Sheffield Legal advice: Nabarro LLP Renewables

A team of dedicated Sector Specialists who can assist with every stage of business in Sheffield. All services are bespoke, confidential and completely free, including:

With broad experience across conventional and alternative energy sectors, Nabarro is well-equipped to advise SMEs on all aspects, from financing, construction and operation, to regulatory, licensing and policy issues.

Knowledge Base and Business Network Access – putting you in touch with industry experts, supply chain partners and networks in the Aerospace, Medical, Renewables and Nuclear sectors, plus many more

Nuclear

Access to Finance – advice to identify and secure appropriate financial support for growth

Nabarro is one of the few UK law firms with a proven track record in the intensively regulated nuclear sector. Expertise cover complex planning, procurement, engineering and supply chain strategies. Healthcare From IP licensing and brand protection to venture capital arrangements and equipment supply contracts, the Nabarro specialist healthcare team has breadth and depth. Aerospace

Assistance with Property – assistance in finding the best premises for business needs Support with HR & Recruitment – supporting you to find the right people with unique HR business consultancy Support with Planning and other Regulatory Services – helping you to access council planning and other regulatory requirements Support for Relocation – partner contacts who can support your key employees and their families with tailored relocation services

In-depth experience of working with precision engineering and manufacturing companies makes Nabarro well-placed for supporting SMEs in the aerospace supply chain.

Regional business support: Rotherham Investment and Development Office (RiDO) RiDO offers a comprehensive range of support services to investors: High quality property options HR consultancy service Access to finance A funded Soft Landings programme for international companies Range of Enterprise Zone Incentives.

Tata Steel For over 60 years Tata Steel has been supplying high-integrity steels to manufacturers in Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Industrial Bearings and power generation sectors. These advanced steels, delivered as ingot, bar and cut pieces, are used in production of following components: Aerospace Gas turbine engines, landing gears, controls and aero structure components Oil and gas For deep down drilling, drill bits, mooring chains and other drilling equipment

Industrial automation and power gen advice: Siemens Siemens works throughout the manufacturing supply chain, as a manufacturer across the UK and working with manufacturing partners too. Many of the businesses Siemens supports are SMEs and they form the backbone of the UK economy - an integral part of the British supply chain that is destined for strong growth over the next 10 years as ‘industry’ seeks to boost British exports. “We take pride in our collaboration with SMEs, whether by increasing efficiency through automation or helping small businesses access finance to make their plans a reality,” says Siemens’ Jon Stewart. Through collaboration and investment we believe that this market will be a central selling point for UK plc.”

Power Generation (Coal, Oil, Nuclear and Renewable): For gears, bearings, bolts, fasteners and other critical components.

Headline Sponsors:

Limited FREE delegate passes! globalmanufacturingfestival.com

Headline Sponsors

Event Sponsors

globalmanufacturingfestival.com @GMFSheffield

Organised by

Finance

Insurance and Professional Services: SME funding

Foot to

the floor The valley of death still lurks threateningly behind too many decisions to sell sparkling concepts to overseas bidders – and too late do we realise that another prize piece in the UK’s industrial crown jewels has been lost. This is the driver for a new vehicle to bring fresh funding and growth impetus to SME manufacturing.

he UK Manufacturing Accelerator, a Manchester-and London-based operation, aims to connect City money to ambitious projects and companies in the industrial heartlands. The CEO is experienced corporate financier Malcolm Evans and chairman is Jim Murray-Smith, a polymers and materials veteran who has recently guided the establishment and growth of porous metals innovator Versarien. Supporting them on the board are other manufacturing specialists and City figures, including Jeremy Veasey, who has a career spanning more than 40 years in the City and over 250 significant transactions behind him. The UK Manufacturing Accelerator is the result of decades of combined manufacturing involvement and over a year’s specific research on the finance needs of manufacturing SMEs today. Observed trends include: Recent and important R&D backing from the likes of the Technology Strategy Board is still not closing the gap between academia/invention and commercialisation. Venture Capital is still often finding the heavy lifting between the stages too much and the complexity of evaluation frequently closes down the alternative angel funding route. We hear a great deal about the “gazelles” - the often IP-rich operations which have often achieved turnover in the c.£3m to £6m range quite quickly. However, what is much under-recognised is the frequency with which such promising manufacturers run out of steam at this size, which often represents the upper limit of founder capacity. It is at this level that manufacturing requires a multi-dimensional step change (recruitment, access to skills, export expansion, plant etc.). Lack of clear access to funding is often the lynchpin that fails to unlock next stage growth.

Immature sell-out of scaling manufacturing assets. Owner founded SME manufacturers which scale through into the circa £30m to £100m are sold out to new management. This introduces huge borrowings into the business, private equity – which is often focused on shorter-term profit maximisation, or overseas ownership, which removes some of the benefits to the UK. There is a strong professional advisory drive towards ownership transactions, with an inadequate focus on the longer-term maturation and sustainability of such SME manufacturer assets that do scale into the significant mid-size.

The UK Manufacturing Accelerator has deep experience in materials and polymers and is currently at an advanced stage of evaluation of investable projects in these areas

The UK Manufacturing Accelerator has deep experience in materials and polymers and is currently at an advanced stage of evaluation of investable projects in these areas. The aim is to fast track growth. Across the UK Manufacturing Accelerator’s broader network of expert evaluators – and invitations are always open to fresh collaborators – are electronics, renewables, and nanotech specialists. A stable of potential projects is being assembled in these areas. The operation is not structured as a traditional fund. It is a limited company and is making investments off its own balance sheet, looking to create liquidity via an AIM listing within 24 months. In this way the founders are seeking to create a greater degree of flexibility around the amounts they invest and the envisaged timescales of the investments. They are seeking to trigger additional third party investments, both private and public sector, where necessary. Funding is available for early stage now and the company is currently exploring major debt fund creation to address the ‘patient capital’ of already substantially-sized manufacturers.

Finance & Professional Services: Patent Box

Patent Box

Want to take advantage of the Patent Box? Here’s what you should be doing now To benefit from the Patent Box an election must be made so preparations should start now. You need to: Identify qualifying IP that is used in your products, including that spread across group companies Review your IP strategy and licensing arrangements to make best use of the regime Consider the potential benefits under the Patent Box when negotiating IP licences Review intra-company commercial arrangements and reorganisations which may impact on the benefits of Patent Box

Cerys Wyn Davis, partner at Pinsent Masons LLP goes through the workings of the Patent Box – a new way for businesses to gain tax breaks on innovation.

he Patent Box (PB) regime, introduced at the start of this month, gives a lower tax rate for profits earned by UK companies from commercialising patented and certain other inventions. It applies to new and existing patents, with the benefits phased in over the next five years, leading to a tax rate of 10% by April 1 2017. This could provide significant tax savings to manufacturing companies involved in research and development and who own or license patented inventions or products. The PB is key to the UK government’s ongoing strategy to attract innovative companies and high value jobs associated with the development, manufacture and exploitation of patents into the UK. The PB applies to companies based in the UK which hold “qualifying IP rights” or are exclusive licensees of qualifying

IP rights – providing they satisfy certain conditions relating to the development and management of such rights.

Qualifying IP rights In addition to patents granted by the UK Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office, the regime includes patents granted by certain EEA states. These include: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.

Development condition A company, or a group company, looking to benefit from the PB must have created, or significantly contributed to: The creation of the patented invention Performed a significant amount of activity to develop the patented invention, or any product or process incorporating the patented invention

This work could be carried out before the company acquires the IP right or the exclusive licence for the IP right. Only companies and groups which have been actively involved in the development of the invention can benefit from the regime.

Active ownership condition Where a subsidiary company of a larger group has carried out the development activity, the parent company must play an active role in managing the IP rights in order to benefit from the PB. The active ownership condition is designed to ensure that passive IP holding companies cannot qualify for the regime.

Relevant IP Income and Profits Relevant income includes income subject to UK tax from worldwide sales of the patented product; even if patent protection is limited to the UK or one of the other qualifying European countries. Relevant income includes income from: The sale of items incorporating a patented invention The sale of spare parts for such items Licensing Sale of the IP rights Compensation received for IP infringement A detailed calculation will be needed to assess qualifying income and calculate qualifying profits.

Exclusive Licences of Qualifying IP For licencees to benefit from the PB the licence must be exclusive for a particular field of use. The exclusivity must pertain to at least one or more countries or territories. The licensee must also either have the unconditional right to bring infringement proceedings or be entitled to the majority of any damages awarded.

Cranfield University presents

National Manufacturing Debate 2013 4th Annual Debate

Monday 20 May & Tuesday 21 May National Strategy for UK Manufacturing • How could manufacturing contribute 20% of UK GDP by 2020? • Can rebalancing the economy and growing UK Manufacturing happen without a National Strategy? • What should a National Strategy for UK Manufacturing include? • Join us to hear from industry leaders and network with key manufacturing professionals from a range of sectors. • 20 May: 14:00 – 17:00 Tours of Cranfield’s facilities • 21 May: 09:00-16:00 Keynote presentations chaired by Lord Alec Broers Manufacturing Debate presented by Maggie Philbin (BBC Reporter and CEO of TeenTech) Keynote speakers and panel members are: • Adam Buckley, Managing Consultant, The Manufacturing Institute • Mark Claydon-Smith, Lead - Manufacturing, EPSRC • Dr Geoffrey Davies OBE - Managing Director Alamo Group Europe Ltd, Vice President, Alamo Inc (USA) • John Elliott, Founder and Chairman of Ebac • Dick Elsy, CEO, High Value Manufacturing Catapult • Michael Fallon, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise • Brian Holliday, Divisional Director - Industry Automation, Siemens plc • Martin McKervey, Partner, Nabarro LLP • Peter Marsh, Financial Times • Mike Rigby, Head of Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, Barclays

Book here:

Media Partner

www.national-manufacturing-debate.org.uk registrations are free Sponsors

REVIEw a brief review of highlights from the ukâ€™s essential intralogistics event. FINd ouT: why the show matters to manufacturers who launched products and made successful debuts How important the manufacturing sector was in bringing exhibitors RoI on their stand investmentsOrganised by The Manufacturing Technologies Association â€“ www.mta.org.uk

A Member of the Constructor Group

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What exactly is the optimal layout solution for your warehouse? Contact us, and we will help you Think Inside your Box. showme@dexion.co.uk | 0800 581 531 | www.dexion.co.uk

IMHX 2013 REVIEW 03 IMHX 2013 REVIEW 03

IMHX 2013 IMHX 2013 a storming success a storming success

T T

he International Materials Handling Exhibition (IMHX) took place March 19-22 at the NEC, he International Materials Handling Birmingham. Rob Fisher, director of Exhibition the Materials (IMHX) took March 19-22 atInforma, the NEC,wraps up Handling Group ofplace IMHX’s organiser, Birmingham. Rob Fisher, director of show the Materials manufacturing sector highlights from the for TM. Handling Group of IMHX’s organiser, Informa, wraps up manufacturing sector highlights from the show for TM.

It is inevitable that manufactured goods and components will, at some stage of their life, come It is inevitable thata manufactured goods and into contact with piece of materials handling components at some of their come equipment – will, whether it is astage simple palletlife, truck or a into contact with a piece of materials handling high-tech automated warehouse system. equipment whetherreally it is amatters simple for pallet truck or a As such,–logistics high-tech automated warehouse manufacturers who want to movesystem. items along the As such, really for supply chainlogistics as quickly andmatters cost-effectively as manufacturers who economic want to move itemsthis along the possible. In today’s climate, is more supply chain asever quickly and cost-effectively as important than in order to be competitive possible. In today’ssoeconomic climate, thisreliable is more in world markets, having efficient and important than everand in order to equipment be competitive materials handling storage is vital. in world markets, so having efficient andideas reliable Manufacturers visiting IMHX to find to materials and storage is vital. streamlinehandling their operations wereequipment not disappointed. Manufacturers visiting IMHX to find ideas to a With over 400 exhibitors, the event showcased streamline their were not disappointed. diverse range of operations solutions for intralogistics, with With 400 exhibitors, event showcased manyover suppliers presenting the solutions of specific a diverse solutions for community. intralogistics, with interest range to the of manufacturing many suppliers presenting solutions of specific interestblood to the manufacturing community. New and old hands Opened by world land speed record breaker, New andproject old hands Richardblood Noble OBE, director for the latest Opened by world land speed record breaker, record-attempting vehicle, Bloodhound SSC, IMHX Richard Noble director focus for thefrom latest 2013 kicked offOBE, with project an engineering the record-attempting Bloodhoundpresentation SSC, IMHX word go. Mr Noblevehicle, gave a fascinating 2013 kicked off with an engineering focus the fromjetthe to update visitors on the latest news about word go. Mr Noble gave a fascinating and rocket-powered car, which aims topresentation pass the to update visitors 1000mph mark. on the latest news about the jetandLinde rocket-powered car, which to pass the Material Handling (UK),aims a major forklift 1000mph mark. supplier and IMHX exhibitor is a sponsor of Linde Material Handling (UK), major forklift Bloodhound – which will make itsafirst high-speed supplier and IMHX exhibitor is a Africa, sponsortowards of runs in the Hakskeen Pan, South the Bloodhound – which will make for its first end of this year. Linde’s support this high-speed inspiring runs in the Hakskeen Pan, South engineering project extends well Africa, beyondtowards mere the end of thissupport year. Linde’s for this financial and thesupport company has inspiring dedicated engineering project extends well beyond mere equipment and many man hours in the last year financial support and theteam company hasand dedicated helping the Bloodhound to load unload the equipment many man hours inaround the lastthe yearUK. show car asand it visits various venues helping the Bloodhound team to engineer load andof unload the Attracting a world-renowned show car calibre as it visits various theand UK. Richard’s was a real venues honouraround for IMHX Attracting a world-renowned engineer ofindustry on complemented a focus in the intralogistics Richard’s was ainto realengineering. honour for IMHX and attracting calibre fresh blood complemented focus in the intralogistics on In addition toa the Bloodhound, the Skillsindustry & attracting fresh blood engineering. Apprenticeships Zoneinto – launched at IMHX 2013 Skills & for In theaddition first timeto–the alsoBloodhound, featured onethe of the vehicles Apprenticeships ZoneChallenge’ – launched at IMHX 2013 entering the ‘Enduro engineering for the first time – also featured one of the is vehicles competition for schools. This competition entering organisedthe by‘Enduro the BITAChallenge’ Academy,engineering the dedicated competition fortraining schools.facility This competition is Industrial apprenticeship of the British organised by the BITA Academy, the dedicated Truck Association (BITA), joint organiser of IMHX. apprenticeship training of thelater British The competition, whichfacility takes place thisIndustrial year, Truck Association (BITA), jointstudents organiser IMHX. challenges secondary school to of design, build The which powered takes place later this year, and competition, race an electrically vehicle. challenges secondary school students to design, build and race an electrically powered vehicle.

But what about educating and inspiring those already in industry about the But what about educating and inspiring newest innovations and practices which those already industrytheir about the can help theminimprove logistics? newest innovations andExcellence practices which The IMHX Logistics can help them improve their logistics? Conference featured presentations at The IMHX Logistics Excellence strategic level delivered by renowned Conference featured presentations industry experts, while the IMHX at strategic by renowned Logistics level Case delivered Study Conference offered industry whilebest the practice IMHX from sessions experts, that outlined Logistics Study Conference a range ofCase blue-chip companies. offered sessions that practice from Health & outlined Safety isbest a primary aconcern range offor blue-chip companies. the materials handling Healthand & Safety is its a primary industry users of technology. concern for the handling Recognising thematerials importance of industry and users its technology. product design for of safety, the Design Recognising the importance for Safety Competition madeof a product the Design welcomedesign returnfor to safety, IMHX 2013. for SafetyinCompetition made Winners six categories – asa welcome to IMHX 2013. judged byreturn an independent panel of Winners six categories as the experts – in were announced– on judged panel of first dayby of an theindependent show, and the overall experts – were Choice’ announced the ‘Professionals’ wason decided first of the show,and andrevealed the overall usingday visitor voting ‘Professionals’ was decided on the last day Choice’ of the exhibition. using visitor and revealed This year thisvoting prize went to Sentry on the last Products day of thefor exhibition. Protection its innovative This year this prize went tocollision Sentry Collision Sentry, a forklift Protection avoidance Products system. for its innovative Collision Sentry, a forklift collision Helping raise awareness about avoidance system. Handling Solutions potential Materials Helping raisesector awareness about to meet specific and business potential Materials Solutions needs, IMHX once Handling again featured to specific sectorhosted and business themeet AMHSA Pavilion, by needs, IMHX once againHandling featured the Automated Material the AMHSA Pavilion, in hosted Systems Association, whichbyAMHSA the Automated members gave aMaterial series ofHandling short ‘Meet Systems Association, in which AMHSA the Expert’ presentations on key members gave a seriestopics. of short ‘Meet handling automation the Exhibitors Expert’ presentations on key were delighted with not handling automation topics.but also only the volume of visitors delighted withFor not the Exhibitors quality of were the leads achieved. only the volume of visitors but also example, Paul Watson, general sales the quality the leads achieved. For manager forofDoosan Industrial Vehicles, example, Paul“Doosan Watson,had general sales commented, an excellent manager Doosan Vehicles, show. Wefor had one ofIndustrial the biggest and commented, “Doosan most impressive standshad withana excellent huge show. Weproducts had oneand of the range of webiggest believeand that it most impressive stands with a huge was well worth our investment.” range of products and we believe that it was well worth investment.” See overleaf forour a visual whistlestop of the show and its key See overleaf for a visual product launches. whistlestop of the show and its key product launches.

RECoRd BREakER RECoRd IMHX 2013 attracted BREakER record numbers of both IMHX attracted visitors2013 and exhibitors: record numbers of both Visitors: 19,526 visitors and exhibitors:

Exhibitors: 412 Visitors: 19,526 Exhibitors: 412

IMHX 2016 wIll TakE IMHX plaCE2016 FRoM wIll TakE 13-16 SEpTEMBER plaCE FRoM IN HallS 9 To 12 SEpTEMBER oF THE NEC.13-16 IN HallS 9 To 12 Advance stand oF THE NEC. booking advised. Advance stand booking advised.

IMHX 2013 REVIEW 04

IMHX 20 a visual tour of IMHX 2013’s highlights, from presentations to products launches and contract wins.

IMHX 2013:

product liftoff

large number of products made their début at IMHX 2013 including dozens of new forklift models from the big brands in materials handling.

Toyota Material Handling UK previewed its latest products – due for release later in the year – including the new Traigo80 electric-powered forklift and the Lithium Ion warehouse range and Linde Material Handling UK officially unveiled its new reach truck range on the opening morning of the show. The range features models with load capacities from 1.4 to 2.0 tonnes and lift heights up to 13m. Crown Lift Trucks, meanwhile, displayed not only the nine new products it has introduced in the UK during the past year but also QuickPick Remote, its new semi-automated low-level order picker. Other product launches which lured in strong visitor attendance came from Yale Europe Materials Handling, which showcased its ‘V’ series of electric counterbalance

forklifts for the first time in the UK and Doosan which unveiled its new 7-series of reach trucks. An entirely new brand to hit the ‘shelves’ of the UK materials handling market, came from French forklift supplier Manitou which made its UK début at the show. But of course the world of materials handling solutions extends far beyond forklifts and pallet trucks and there was plenty new to see from UK manufacturers of storage and racking solutions, picking equipment and safety accessories. See overleaf for comment from four exhibitors who received significant interest from manufacturers at IMHX 2013. Hear their views on the market and its needs. For more product launch news from IMHX 2013 go to: www.imhx.biz

RICHaRd NoBlE

The show was opened by Richard Noble oBE, project director of Bloodhound SSC, which aims to smash the world land speed record

ENduRo CHallENGE

The team from Magdalen College School in Brackley, Northamptonshire, with their entry for BITa academy’s Enduro Challenge and Bill Goodwin, Sales director for Briggs Equipment

IMHX 2013 REVIEW 05

13 IN pICTuRES IMHX13: pRoduCT lIFToFF

CoMpETITIVE EdGE

The heats of the RTITB operator of the Year Competition took place at IMHX 2013

a wealth of brand-new products were launched at the show including a wide range of forklift trucks. The show of innovation reflects a vibrant sector whose solutions are in high demand

IMHX2013: MoRE THaN juST a TRadE SHow Exhibitors at IMHX 2013 invested in impressive stands and entertainment. Feedback says the returns will make it all worthwhile as industry customers seek to find competitive advantage through their supply chain and logistics operations

IMHX13: a RECoRd BREakER

IMHX 2013 attracted record numbers of visitors (19,526) and exhibitors (412)

wINNING BuSINESS

jBT Corporation supplied a fleet of seven aGVs to juice manufacturer, Tropicana, at its distribution centre in jersey City, New jersey, uSa

IMHX 2013 REVIEW 06

From the exhibition floor

he Manufacturer spoke to a number of exhibitors at IMHX 2013 about their products and what they have to offer for industrial businesses.

FlEXI NaRRow ISlE

The Flexi range of articulated forklift trucks has been developed specifically to improve storage, handling and customer order assembly efficiency in manufacturing and logistics.

Peter Wooldridge, MD, Flexi Narrow Isle says: “Close to twenty per cent of our business comes from manufacturing and our product really comes into play where there are certain space restrictions a manufacturer may wish to condense a storage area. “For our product it is all about the accommodation of space. If you can take wasted space and turn it into an area where you can actually make products, you gain efficiency in the use of your facility. “We’ve seen our European market grow in the last two years by about 50%. We have a family of products including high-bay warehousing applications up to 14 metres right down to low-bay which would The Flexi range of articulated fork lift trucks are made for perfect for be down to narrow isle storage areas five metres.”

REdIGRoup

Originally primarily a pallet racking supplier, over the last decade, Redigroup has increased its product portfolio to include complimentary offerings such as automation systems, fit-outs, flooring and furniture.

“Recently we’ve been fortunate enough to gain a grant from the Regional Development Fund. With the assistance of that funding we are building an innovation centre because we are moving more into automated warehousing and storage and retrieval. “We have just completed a unique project in Liverpool for an ice cream manufacturer. We were able to put 13,500 pallets into our automated solution when a natural normal racking layout would only achieve something like 7,500 pallets. To achieve the pallet storage capacity we achieved, they would have needed to build another cold storage unit to accommodate it. As a result the manufacturer commented that the investment in our RediGroup is primarily a pallet product paid for itself on racking supplier day one.”

plaSTIC EXTRudERS

Plastic Extruders provides plastic strapping, matting and thermoplastic profile extrusions. The company’s Plastex vinyl matting and flooring is designed for a wide range of uses including entrance flooring and will meet the demands of heavy industrial environments.

“In the industrial sector we’ve had quite a lot of interest in our anti-fatigue matting. These enquiries have come mainly from manufacturing companies where there is standing working, often on concrete floors which can be slippery and dusty. We put matting down to stop people tripping or slipping and reduce fatigue. “Our product is manufactured in Wickford in Essex and we export to fifty eight countries in regions such as Europe, the Middle East and Asia. “Front Runner SB (and SB Plus) is one of our newer products. It is a loose-lay entrance matting system which can be used between factory areas and offices to keep the dirt going through from the factory into the offices as well as on the entry doors going Plastic Extrusions Plastex stand at IMHX into offices.”

jBT CoRpoRaTIoN

JBT Corporation is a provider of Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) Systems for customers in a wide variety of industries including: automotive, chemicals/plastics, hospital, newsprint/newspaper, commercial print, paper, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, and warehousing and distribution.

“We are a global supplier of automatic guided vehicle systems. AGVs are used in the manufacturing sector to deliver raw materials or parts to an assembly line and also to connect different manufacturing cells to move work in process. Then at the end of the manufacturing process we can store and retrieve finished goods. “Companies are trying to reduce their costs as much as possible during the manufacturing process and that is something that an automated guided vehicle can do. Companies are also looking to reduce damage to the product, and that can often be a huge selling point for an AGV system. Where we have seen particular growth in activity is in the food and beverage Mark.Longacre, Marketing sector as well as in Manager, JBTC consumer products.”

UNIVERSITIES supplement 2013 Midlands focus Find out about collaborative work between industry and universities in the Midlands. • What benefits can companies gain? • How easy is it to engage with universities? • What disciplines and/or topics are universities interested in exploring?

p03

Introduction

p04

Exclusive interview with Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts

p06

Tailored for business

p08

Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

p10

Industry Partners Sought for Pioneering Engineering Doctorate Programme

p13

HVM Catapult in the Midlands

p14

SMEs meet academia

Developing the next generation of business leaders Cranfield University has been training manufacturing and materials professionals for over 30 years. The world-class research facilities are near industry scale and are available for exploring novel technologies and processes. Our postgraduate programmes are practical, research-informed, professionally accredited and tailored for industry, while offering global career opportunities. Cranfield University courses are designed and developed in collaboration with industry. Our excellence in education and training is recognised by:

• • • •

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Engineering & Technology Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Royal Aeronautical Society

Our MSc programmes include: • Manufacturing • Materials • Design • Executive Masters Full-time, part-time and short course study options available. Please visit our website for a full list of courses. There are a number of Scholarships available of up to £9k towards UK fees and living costs* for specified courses.

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T: +44 (0)1234 754086 E: appliedsciences@cranfield.ac.uk www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas/tm *details on application

‘Cranfield has been the turning point of my professional career. As soon as an industrial expert views my CV and spots Cranfield's name, he knows that I went through a challenging academic experience. Cranfield's educational excellence and great industrial relations is incomparable’. Baddah Al Hajri Engineering and Management of Manufacturing Systems

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

INTRODUCTION

UNIVERSITIES supplement 2013 Midlands focus

Universities are often described as ‘world class’ and they certainly attract a large proportion of foreign students to Britain’s shores. In the academic year 2011/2012 17.4% of students to enrol at UK universities were not domiciled in the UK before beginning their studies and 12.1% were from outside the EU – mostly from Asia. This is good news for the coffers of Britain’s academic elite who can charge even higher fees to foreign students, but of what wider economic value is this ‘world class’ university system? This supplement explains the impetus behind academicindustrial engagement with a focus on collaborative projects in the Midlands, Britain’s industrial heartland. Our interview with David Willett’s (pXX) describes the changing ratio of government versus private sector investment in such programmes, and explains the need to accelerate knowledge from the ivory tower to the shop floor and transfer its value to the order books of UK companies. Meanwhile, contributions from regional academic leaders explain a range of options or styles how collaboration can take place depending on company size and sector. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, engineering doctorate programmes, Catapult centres and more are explored. Read on to understand how recognised mega trends and strategic market opportunities are guiding the focus of university research. Learn how your company might benefit.

What’s in this supplement?

exclusive interview with universities and science minister, David Willetts Tom Moore talks to the Minister about his vision for university funding and research and asks how higher level apprenticeships fit with traditional routes to graduate level skills.

The exquisite art of idleness Birmingham University’s Pro-vice Chancellor Professor Richard Williams OBE, runs through a range of collaborative programmes which prove his institution is serious about engaging with industry for the advance of knowledge and for economic prosperity.

Wolfson school of mechanical and manufacturing engineering Listing the courses on offer at Loughborough University’s Engineering School and highlighting its collocation with a range of leading manufacturing research and innovation centres.

Directing doctor’s orders WMG, University of Warwick, is seeking industry partners for a pioneering new engineering doctorate programme which can provide a win-win for companies and students searching for solutions to real world problems.

hVm Catapult in the midlands Summarising the competency and research focus of two Midlands-based High Value Manufacturing Catapult Centres.

smes meet academia How easy is it for smaller companies to engage with universities and what will they get out of it? Two Midlands SMEs give their experiences.

David Willetts Interview

WILLETS’ WAy tom moore relates the uk’s industrial research landscape according universities and science minister David Willetts. The message is clear – government support will stand fast, but more private sector investment in skills and facilities will be needed to maintain competitiveness

hen recession struck, Conservative ministers were taking office with a pledge to reduce Government spending. Against this backdrop, Universities and Science Minister David Willetts says his biggest achievement has been “protecting the science and research budget so that universities and the research base comes out of the recession in reasonable health.” Science escaped the big cuts that some researchers had feared from the government’s spending review in 2010. Instead, the UK science budget, which covers everything from medical research to engineering and arts, was fixed at its 2010

level of £4.6 billion for the next four years. But this is still a reduction in real terms, and while research funding has been safeguarded to some extent, funding for facilities investment has declined since being moved outside the remit of the science budget.

luRing pRiVate inVestment

With 45% of UK GDP coming from knowledge intensive services, cutting research budgets might be considered the economic equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. But Government is relying on private investment to fill the gap, dangling a carrot in front of business through the UK Research Partnership Investment fund. In June 2012 it made £100m available for R&D facilities at universities on the

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

many as the lure of financial support. Large businesses have, in effect, outsourced some of their R&D departments to universities in order to reduce the risk they are exposed to. This model will work while the UK is home to the best universities in the world. But competition from abroad is starting to challenge this long held assumption. This year Britain has nine of the top ten universities ranked by Times Higher Education, but this is one fewer than in 2012, with the University of Leeds falling off of the list. Meanwhile, China increased its science budget by 12.4% in 2012, seeking to transform its reliance on low value production.

The amount of UK GDP that comes from knowledge intensive services

condition they find £200m from business partners to augment the investment. Businesses obliged, with Jaguar Land Rover investing £77m in a new automotive campus at the University of Warwick and Rolls-Royce investing £40m to establish a metals research centre at the University of Birmingham. These investments account for 84% and 67% of the respective project costs. following this success, Chancellor George Osborne increased the UK Research Partnership Investment fund by £200m in October last year in order to extract another £600m of private funding. Commenting on the success of the initiative, Willets says it relies on government showing it has its “skin in the game”. In other words, a feeling of risk sharing is as important to

shoRt on skills

Skills are an essential part of ensuring that research translates into British jobs, rather than the country becoming a design hub for goods made elsewhere before finally fading completely form the lifecycle of tomorrow’s products. A study by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012 found that British industry will need 100,000 new graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects every year until 2020 just to maintain current employment numbers in industry. The UK currently produces just 90,000 STEM graduates a year, with many choosing not to go into manufacturing and a large proportion being international students who cannot obtain work visas. In the academic year 2011/2012 62% of non-EU domiciled students came from Asia – a competitiveness conundrum in itself.

The old route map [into university] has been torn up and no new route map has been drawn up But despite engineering skills shortages in the UK, Willetts says he is against cutting university fees, now capped at £9,000, in areas where there are skills gaps. “It’s not how the system works,” he asserts. “It’s a partnership between the taxpayer,

the student, and, increasingly, business as well. “It’s not the volume of engineers and scientists you produce it’s what kind of education they have,” adds Willetts. “Businesses say ‘German graduates can take charge of a plant overnight but you can’t risk that with a British graduate.’ Even in physical disciplines, university has become very classbased without sufficient practical experience.”

even in physical disciplines, university has become very classbased without suﬃcient practical experience The universities and science minister is a firm believer in industrial placements and, tasked with trying to do more with less, Willetts hopes that business will support him in building the practical skills needed by industry. Don’t “count the cost down to the last £1,000 but offer young people the chance to develop,” he urges. The need for practicality is met with practicality from the minister. While supporting campaigns to bring more diversity into academia and industry – in terms of gender and ethnicity – Willetts is keen that universities and their partners should do as much targeted communication with white, working-class boys. This is “a group of underrepresented people in universities” he says, and a segment which makes up a large proportion of Britain’s million-odd unemployed 16-24 year olds. But entry routes to university for this, and other demographics, are changing says Willetts. “The old route map has been torn up and no new route map has been drawn up,” he states while promoting the contribution of high quality apprenticeships in raising skills sets to graduate and post graduate levels. The minister’s recognition of new, alternative avenues to higher level skills, coupled with his emphasis on investment partnerships between government, academia and industry, suggests a new vision for UK universities. Perhaps one which is more in tune with the needs of globalised industry and calls for parity between vocationally applied skills and academic know how. 5

University of Birmingham

The university recently reaffirmed its relationship with Rolls-Royce by securing a £60m contract to build a new High Temperature Research Centre which should be operational by 2015. The team at the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences also works on metamaterials - ‘miracle’ materials which are constructed from metals and minerals, but whose precise shape, geometry, size, orientation and arrangement affects waves of light or sound in an unconventional manner. Recently, metamaterials were used to create a Harry Potter-style ‘invisibility cloak’ but they also hold massive potential for revolutionising communications and personal technology.

TAILORED fOR BUSINESS pro-Vice chancellor professor Richard Williams oBe talks tm through the university’s commitment to industrial research with commercial clout.

he University of Birmingham has strong experience in taking experimental technologies to market in partnership with some of the UK’s biggest companies. The university has a long standing strategic relationship with RollsRoyce due to the strength of its School of Metallurgy and Materials. Working with the engine manufacturer, the university developed a new technique to produce titanium alloy components for jet engines. Rather than mill the component out of titanium, producing large amounts of waste, the new technique takes powdered alloy and presses it into shape. The technology was adopted by Rolls-Royce ten years ago and has enabled the company to make more complex components using only one process, resulting in a 90% time saving and significantly reduced costs.

Proving strong links with international science and engineering networks, Birmingham also played a key role in the development of the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. All of the primary detection systems on the ATLAS were developed at Birmingham, fabricated on the university campus and installed in Switzerland by university engineers and scientists.

home anD aWay

Companies are increasingly working with universities to take advantage of one of the UK economy’s greatest strengths – our world beating higher education system. Universities also see the opportunity, indeed the imperative, of developing technologies with industrial partners as government funding dwindles. “It is our role to develop increasingly sophisticated partnerships so we can work with companies to secure internships for our second year students, develop research contracts and work to mutually develop our activities overseas with big companies,” said Professor Richard Williams OBE, provice chancellor and head of the college of engineering and physical sciences. The overseas element of Birmingham’s research is particularly focused on the rail sector through their Centre for Railway Research and Education. With 70% of people projected to live in cities by 2050 demand for new transport systems is being driven by rapid urbanisation in the developing world. “There are forty five metro systems being built in China and we are involved in several

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

of those. Demand for metro and overland rail is very substantial and offers incredible manufacturing opportunities for research into signalling, sensors, materials and for construction projects which have been a major growth area for us,” says Prof Williams.

opening up

More and more companies are separating their work into areas where they want to maintain commercial secrets and other, more fundamental areas, where they want to collaborate with universities and other businesses.

View from the end of a straight section of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator

The evidence is in Williams’ favour. Some of the most useful discoveries, ranging from penicillin to Teflon have been invented through scientists pushing at the boundaries of their knowledge rather than searching to solve any particular problem.

Birmingham has particularly found this to be the case at the Manufacturing Technology Centre – part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This centre, where Birmingham is one of the academic partners, now works with 48 companies to develop new manufacturing techniques and processes. Williams feels that industry has not generally been good at recognising that universities are not public bodies. “We are a charitable business, albeit an educational one, with a turnover of £540m and 6000 employees; we have similar concerns to many businesses in terms of strategy, funding, IP and cyber attack,” he says. “Our strategy is to grow our relationships with industry. That means growing our relationships in automotive, aerospace and cyber security sectors among other industry sectors.”

unBloCking the pipeline

Brian Cox, celebrity physicist and contributor to the ATLAS experiment for CERN, recently stated at the announcement of the first Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prizes that by 2020 the UK economy will need one million more scientists and engineers to remain competitive. Undoubtedly this shortfall is helping universities like Birmingham attract companies to partner with, particularly in the sectors of UK manufacturing that are performing well in the recession. “What’s going on with manufacturing in the West Midlands is truly astonishing and there is a demand for talent that we couldn’t possibly satisfy. The job market is buoyant

But Williams knows that, by the same token, these same scientific discoveries are only recognised and used in our daily lives thanks to communication and collaboration with industry. “My role is to connect the intellectual assets produced by scientists and engineers

We are a charitable business, albeit an educational one, with a turnover of £540m and 6000 employees; we have the same concerns to many businesses in terms of strategy, funding, IP and cyber attack Professor Richard Williams OBE , Pro-vice chancellor , University of Birmingham

due to a shortage of skills. In our engineering schools ninety six per cent of graduates have a very well paid job within six months of completing their course – so companies are coming to work with us to seize talent as it emerges from the university.” Although there has been criticism in the media that universities should be doing more commercially focused projects and less research for its own sake, Williams vehemently defends Birmingham’s academic freedom. “It is true that someone doing theoretical physics finds themselves far away from direct application,” he comments. “But if you look at the history of innovation you will understand that it is not entirely appropriate for all academics to be commercially minded. That is not their role. Innovation doesn’t work like that.”

at the university to the needs of society,” he explains. “We will continue to be increasingly smart in how we do that.”

intelleCtual pRopeRty

When Birmingham partners with businesses there is a negotiation concerning who owns the intellectual property rights to any discoveries. Partnerships generally abide by national IP standards. However, if a company fully funds all the research costs, it can normally keep the IP generated by the project. “We are not like a US university; our role is to get knowledge transferred. We haven’t got resources to develop IP ourselves so we want to work with partners who will invest in it and get it developed,” Williams sums up. 7

Wolfson School

of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

he Wolfson School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering provides a rich environment for industrially relevant, academically challenging, learning, research and knowledge transfer, in engineering and technology. Study full-time at Undergraduate Level: Engineering Management (BSc) Innovative Manufacturing Engineering (MEng) (8 company industry sponsored programme) Manufacturing Engineering (BEng) Mechanical Engineering (MEng/BEng) Product Design Engineering (MEng/BEng) Sports Technology (BSc) Diploma of Industrial Studies (DIS) Diploma of Professional Studies (DPS) Study full-time and part-time at Postgraduate Level (MSc): Advanced Engineering Advanced Manufacturing Engineering and Management Engineering Design Engineering Design and Manufacture Mechanical Engineering Sustainable Engineering Research and Knowledge Transfer with our multidisciplinary Research Groups (PhD/EngDoc/MPhil): Additive Manufacture Competitive Sustainable Manufacture Dynamics Healthcare Engineering Intelligent Automation Interconnection & Electronics Manufacture Mechanics of Advanced Materials Optical Engineering Sports Technology Thermofluids & Combustion For more information go to: www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mechman

Loughborough Engineering: Academically Challenging – Industrially Relevant The Wolfson School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering provides one of the country’s best environments for academically challenging, industrially relevant, engineering teaching and research, with over 120 members of staff and approximately 1,200 undergraduate, postgraduate and research students. Teaching Excellence The School brings together expertise in engineering management, engineering science, manufacturing processes and technologies, product design, and sports technology, with the six full time accredited undergraduate degree programmes being regularly placed in the top of their relevant subject league tables, and six full time/part time postgraduate MSc degrees providing enhanced specialist knowledge. Research Excellence The School’s research role is to define new engineering related theories, techniques and technologies across a large array of industrial sectors. At the heart of these activities are key UK government and industry funded research centres, with the School hosting three Innovative Manufacturing Centres, and having research funding with a total concurrent value of £50m+. EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Intelligent Automation EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre These collaborative centres are cornerstones for fostering and developing new ideas, in conjunction with a large array of supporting and sponsoring companies. New collaboration between the School, the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham, and a number of key manufacturing companies has led to the development of the £40m Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), based at Ansty Park, Coventry (p13). The MTC is a core partner within the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. For more information go to: www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mechman

WMG, University of Warwick

Research students are able to access cutting edge facilities such as the newly opened Energy Innovation Centre, the only one of its kind in the UK, to find sustainable solutions to real industry issues

INDUSTRy PARTNERS SOUGHT fOR PIONEERING ENGINEERING DOCTORATE PROGRAMME manufacturing and technology-led companies are being offered an exciting opportunity to help direct the research of doctoral students in order to provide technology or process solutions to real problems facing industry today.

upported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the International Doctorate Centre (IDC) at the University of Warwick is bringing together rising young stars in the research and technical arena with sponsor companies who see the advantage in working with these â€˜Research Entrepreneursâ€™ to harness pioneering research to increase competitiveness and achieve sustainable long term benefits. The portfolio of work that a student undertakes is in response to a problem put forward by a company, which acts as a sponsor for the duration of the

four-year programme and benefits from the innovative research that the student produces and the time they spend working inside the company as well as the expertise, facilities and network that they have access to at WMG, an academic department of the University of Warwick. Research conducted by one former student, Sarah Hughes, has saved around half a million pounds a year for her sponsor company. Her work with Jaguar Land Rover had two aims: to reduce the cost of product development by moving away from the use of prototypes to more computer-based testing, and to improve the quality of vehicle systems based on what the customer wanted, particularly in terms of durability.

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

Doctoral student Courtney Thornberry presents her business case at the Engineering Young Entrepreneurs Scheme competition in Birmingham

It requires a research collaboration between a company, the Centre, and the doctoral student. In this way, the Centre aims to train the industry leaders and entrepreneurs of the future. The programme combines taught modules to bring students up to best industrial practice, with original research based on real industry problems, applying rigorous analysis, innovative thinking and good management practice. Current student Courtney Thornberry is passionate about renewable energy and sustainability and is looking at Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and its applications for Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) in collaboration with sponsoring company PTC, while recent graduate

By reducing the number of prototype vehicles needed, there was a major outcome on the cost-reduction side and my estimate is that something like £500,000 a year was saved to the company as a result of my work Sarah Hughes, former WMG student

Glenn Turley turned his automotive engineering background to use in the healthcare field by designing a threedimensional range of motion benchmark for the hip joint. This benchmark has been used to assess the effectiveness of a new type of hip prosthesis in preventing impingement and dislocation and involved collaboration with Warwick Medical School, Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Healthcare Trust and industrial partners. Interested companies are invited to put forward research projects based on issues that need investigating either in their business directly, or in their sector as a whole.

Sarah took the results of surveys carried out by market researchers and used statistical techniques, simulation and dynamic modelling to turn customer requirements into an engineering specification. The company was then able to advise suppliers on what was needed depending on factors such as mileage and environment. Sarah says: “By reducing the number of prototype vehicles needed, there was a major outcome on the cost-reduction side and my estimate is that something like £500,000 a year was saved to the company as a result of my work.” The International Doctorate Centre at WMG, on the University of Warwick campus, offers the EngD International, the next generation of the popular Engineering Doctorate qualification. Unlike a traditional academic PhD, the EngD International provides a more vocationally oriented doctorate and is better suited to the needs of industry.

Sponsoring companies will reap the rewards of a partnership with WMG’s research groups and access to some of the best teaching and industrial expertise in the world.

To find out more about the International Doctorate Centre and to discuss a research proposal please visit our website at go.warwick.ac.uk/wmgdoctorate or call 024 765 24357.

Tailored for business

Putting world-class expertise to work in your business  Low

carbon energy and environmental technologies  Health and medical technologies  Advanced materials and nanotechnology  Business and professional services businessteam@bham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

HVM Catapult centres

HVM CATAPULT IN THE MIDLANDS innovation always involves the unknown and there is no guarantee of success. But the high Value manufacturing Catapult (p24) is a nationwide network which ought to increase manufacturer’s chances of gaining competitive edge through experimentation with new materials, processes and technologies.

wo important HVM Catapult centres are Midlands-based – one at WMG in Warwick and another at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) near Coventry.

Offering access to highly specialised R&D facilities, expert staff and doctoral students, WMG’s expertise is being directed at two specific research themes:

The creation of the HVM Catapult reflects a realisation that collaboration in R&D between education and business is no longer a niceto-have bonus to a prosperous economy. It is clear that universities have a vital role in applying their skills, knowledge and insights to business and technology challenges, and must be prepared to understand and react to the needs of business clients.

These two core interests are underpinned by Digital Validation and Verification technologies.

Officially launched in 2012, the HVM Catapult has grown quickly in confidence and capability across its centres thanks to real, long term commitment from government, defined in the industrial strategy published in September 2012. The HVM Catapult is the catalyst Britain needs to secure a future for UK manufacturing. One of its targets is to see the sector achieve a 20% contribution to GDP by 2040.

the Wmg Catapult CentRe

for more than 30 years WMG, an academic department at the University of Warwick, has conducted collaborative R&D with industrial partners across many sectors, delivering numerous innovations in products and processes. The decision to make WMG one of the HVM Catapult’s national centres is recognition of its ability to fuse fundamental and applied research and to couple that with knowledge transfer to its industrial partners.

Lightweight Product/System Optimisation Energy Storage & Management

Visitors tour the Manufacturing Technology Centre

Immediate R&D priorities for the WMG centre are defined by partner companies from the automotive, commercial vehicles, yellow goods, rail and marine sectors. A recent example is the development of a car seat frame in composite material with a project group consisting of WMG and three industry partners. This achieved a 50% reduction in weight compared to the current product and a software model that gives accurate predictions of component performance in crash conditions. It was recently announced that the WMG Catapult centre will also host a new open access Energy Storage R&D centre for the

scale-up of new battery chemistries, a longstanding “valley of death” for UK innovators in this field. The £13 million centre will capitalise on the growing electric and hybrid vehicle battery market, which has been estimated to be worth £250 million for the UK by 2020.

manufaCtuRing teChnology CentRe

Not a stone’s throw from WMG is the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC). This site opened in 2011 and later the same year it was confirmed that MTC would form part of the HVM Catapult. MTC is among the most successful centres in quickly gathering significant numbers of industrial partners – there are now almost 50 member organisations as well as companies using the facilities on an ad hoc, pay per use, basis. The most recent major addition to MTC’s membership base was GKN Aerospace which joined as a tier one member in January this year. British SME members include equipment manufacturer Group Rhodes, metal working fluids provider Jemtech and Brown & Holmes a precision workholding and machining company. This mix of diverse, large medium and small companies makes MTC a true hub for interdisciplinary learning and innovation. MTC partners participate in and benefit from R&D in a range of centre competencies including: automation & tooling, fabrication, joining & assembly, additive & net shape manufacturing, process modelling and metrology. A recent additive manufacturing project, performed in collaboration between MTC member engineers and Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, helped to save the life of a young girl who had been seriously injured in a road accident. The team used advanced three dimensional additive manufacturing equipment to rapidly generate a replica segment of the girl’s skull. The extreme accuracy of the manufactured segment meant no modification of the implant was needed in theatre. This resulted in a shorter, safer operation.

Find out more about your local HVM Catapult Centre at https://catapult.innovateuk.org/high-value-manufacturing. 13

SME Regional focus

SMES MEET ACADEMIA IN THE WEST MIDLANDS ftse 100 manufacturers may find it easy to fund extensive university partnerships, but what about expanding the R&D horizons of the average sme?

he UK’s first class university system is consistently trumpeted as a one of our economy’s strongest assets. Almost all large companies partner with universities around the world – BAE Systems, for example has 30 academic partners in the UK alone and Rolls-Royce has a worldwide network of 28 University Technology Centres (UTCs) which house dedicated materials and technology research for the manufacturer at institutions it feels represent centres of excellence (p68). But are Britain’s small and medium sized manufacturers able to access the world class facilities and knowledge on their doorsteps? Do they feel they are able to leverage UK academic excellence in

I think universities have come to realise that we can be more agile when it comes to developing new processes Matt Powell, business development manager, Barkley Plastics

A knowledge transfer partnership brought new skills to Advanced Chemical Etching and innovation to its production process

the interests of advanced manufacturing growth? “It’s not that companies are scared to approach universities, it’s simply that there is a lack of awareness of the expertise, assistance and facilities available to us,” says Matt Powell, business development manager at Highgate, Birmingham-based SME Barkley Plastics. “The mindset is that a university is the domain of students. But in reality there’s also a lot of research and knowledge that can be effectively used by industry.”

The [KTP] system has allowed the company to train a graduate to our exact needs

Alan Rollason (above left), chairman, Advanced Chemical Etching

Barkley Plastics has worked with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), based at the University of Warwick, to manufacture several prototype parts. Powell says that one of these alone “could be worth £1m if we are successful,” which would be a huge boost to the company’s £5.6m revenues. The collaboration with WMG enabled Barkley to carry out load testing on a new stool that

has been used in many retail outlets, including Tesco. WMG helped the company carry out microscopy on parts produced using Barkley Plastics’ Innovative In-Mould Internal Welding (IMIW) to validate the quality of welds.

getting aCRoss the DooRstep

WMG was founded by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya (p33) in 1980 to help manufacturing benefit from the research and innovation taking place at universities. The centre offers degrees in both bachelor and post-graduate level engineering and other technical subjects and benefits still displays the benefits of its founder’s wealth of industry knowledge coupled with industrial; policy and strategic insight. SMEs, with smaller staffs than large corporations, have time constraints. And these can limit their willingness to approach universities for collaborative projects. “It was not until WMG approached us that the door was opened to tap into their vast facilities,” comments Mr Powell. It is telling that it required WMG to walk Barkley through the door. It highlights how lack of awareness and nervousness around the time and financial commitments

Midlands UNIVERSITIES

Production Line (Barkley)

of supporting R&D work are covered ‘in exchange’ for the employment of a skilled graduate for the duration of the KTP. ACE has gained competitive advantage through its work with Wolverhampton University in more ways than one.

The mindset is that a university is the domain of students. But in reality there’s also a lot of research and knowledge that can be effectively used by industry Matt Powell (left), Business Development Manager, Barkley Plastics

Both ACmE and TiME are believed to be faster than traditional alternatives, while offering outstanding precision with sharp, well detailed features and crisp edges. Both machines will greatly increase the company’s capacity so that it can cater for increased future demand. involved in university collaboration are putting SMEs off, stopping them finding the business benefits which Barkely has now found spring off such relationships. WMG has helped Barkley to “gain a lot of business,” according to Powell. He calculates more that £500,000 worth of revenue has been added. Supply chain opportunities have been forthcoming too thanks to WMG being a hub for collaborative projects with companies large and small. As a member of the Midlands Assembly Network, a cooperative of non-competitive manufacturing SMEs working together to win business, Berkley is now trying to encourage more regional peers to work with WMG. “There is definitely now a focus on working with more SMEs. I think universities have come to realise that we can be more agile when it comes to developing new processes and more likely to involve additional companies in the technology.”

finanCing CollaBoRation

Speaking about financing problems facing SMEs Mr Powell said: “funds for SME’s are never easy to come by. The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) is extremely good at alerting us to when new money is available

but the Government should provide easier access to finance if it aids the creation of jobs or helps the introduction of new technologies. The UK is brilliant at developing new products and techniques, but the pathways to market are difficult to tap into.”

Boosting ResouRCes

Advanced Chemical Etching (ACE) is another SME benefitting from collaborative work with a university. The Telford-based company specialises in producing precision components, prototyping and low volume production. ACE joined forces with the University of Wolverhampton to create a new chemical process for the etching of both aluminum and titanium. During their two-year collaboration with the university the company developed what they claim to be two world firsts. ACmE (Aluminium Compliant Molecular Etching) and TiME (Titanium Molecular Etching) are new technologies that have been created by the firm and the post graduate who joined ACE in 2011 as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate. KTPs can be established with universities throughout Europe. They are popular means for businesses to gain long term benefit from university collaboration since the costs

Alan Rollason, chairman of ACE says: “The KTP not only involves project work, but also encompasses management training for the graduate associate. “There are two very clear benefits as far as the company is concerned,” continues Rollason. “firstly, the strong links with the university and access to a number of professors. And secondly, the ability to call upon skills, equipment and services we just don’t have in the business.” ACE hired the associate who was placed with them when the KTP came to an end, augmenting the company skills base. This is not a requirement of KTPs but many companies find they want to retain the valuable talent they have helped to shape. “The system has allowed the company to train a graduate to our exact needs,” says Rollason. furthermore, through university alumni networks, retaining the associate allows companies to maintain very strong links with the university. And critically for a resource stretched SME, all this benefit can be accomplished with no costs beyond the associate’s wages and the time taken to train them.

Find out more about KTP opportunities in your region via www.ktponline.org.uk . 15

Manufacturinginaction Putting UK manufacturers under the spotlight

Factory of the month

Speedibake 104 Read about tailored skills development for a multi-cultural workforce Understand the strategy behind Speedibakeâ€™s massive drop in absenteeism Learn about the companyâ€™s high tech investments in automation for food manufacturing Read about the importance of encouraging operator engagement in continuous improvement in this high volume manufacturing environment

M ulti d isciplina r y E nginee r ing

adi Group 110 Learn about the strategy which allowed this company to build 10 new independent business units in five years Understand a commitment to customer value that stretches to refunding the difference on contracts that are delivered early or under anticipated budget Read about the inspiration adi Group takes from Formula 1 in defining its company culture Learn why unfettered communication, without hierarchy, is essential to the companyâ€™s success

All companies featured will be entered into the MIA Award 2013

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Speedibake produces 200 million muffins a year

Do you I know the muffin man? Tom Moore visits muffin maker Speedibake to find out how it’s its products are more popular than ever and how engaging the workforce has slashed absence levels while driving performance improvements.

f you live in the UK there is a high probability you will have eaten a Speedibake product. Never heard of them? That’s because its millions of muffins, mince pies, doughnuts and frozen baguettes of garlic bread don’t have the Speedibake name on it, they are sold as own-brand products by supermarkets. In a small industrial estate just outside Bradford, Speedibake produces 30,000 tonnes of bakery products per year. It is a major supplier to the UK retail service and the company has experienced a surge in demand over the last five years as muffins, a perfectly sized single serving treat, grow in popularity in our fast-paced world.

Cake’s answer to the chocolate bar “Muffins have become an everyday item with people eating them at breakfast, tea breaks and as a dessert. But they

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Factory of the month Speedibake

Speedibake at a glance Revenues

£90 million

Established 1984 Core products

Muffins, mince pies, doughnuts, French and Speciality Breads and frozen garlic bread

Volume

200 million muffins and 33 million mince pies produced at its Bradford factory every year

Customer base

80% retail 20% food service sector

Ownership

A subsidiary of Associated British Foods

Employees

500 people in the UK, 350 of which are based in Bradford

Did you know?

If you laid the Garlic Slices produced at Bradford side by side they would reach all the way around the world and back again

were a novelty ten years ago,” says factory manager Tushar Damle. The UK has warmed to the muffin and volumes have risen sharply with Speedibake producing 200 million muffins in the last 12 months. The factory runs for seven days a week, with staff working day and night shifts. Maximum productivity is essential, but a year ago, a multi-cultural workforce in which English wasn’t the first language for a lot of operators and high absence levels highlighted that there was scope for improvement and Speedibake embarked on an engagement programme aimed at allowing people to fulfil their potential. At a time when many companies wouldn’t have had the money or the will to improve facilities for staff Speedibake spent £1 million doing just that. £500,000 went on new flooring throughout the factory, upgraded canteen facilities and a new IT workspace for staff. ‘Our people told us what improvements were most important to them. We listened and acted on the feedback. It showed that we will invest in our people,’ says Damle. The factory uses high tech automation to produce mouth-watering products that all the supermarkets want - such as the automated rolling pins that shape the garlic bread. But despite having just one complaint per million units sold, the managerial team looked hard at the business to find room for improvement and found that traditional approaches has been missing a key element. “We used to spend money, managerial time and engineers time looking at plant reliability, waste levels and labour control. But we didn’t engage the guys running the kit,” says Mick Swann, site engineering manager.

Last year Speedibake invested £1 million in its facilities

I think therefore I am “There was an attitude that it is Speedibake’s equipment, you’re the managers we just do as we’re told. Now we’ve drilled down below management and released the people at the frontline of the operation to let ideas bubble up,” adds Swann. “We used to expect people to come in and pack muffins for 12 hours a day now we encourage people to come up with ideas.” The improvements and the cost savings that have come from employee ideas are evidence that the culture has changed for the better. In the bread baking section of the factory, the company spent £1,200 on sensors to accurately measure the amount of dough mixed and the levels of oil that enters the mix to stop it sticking to the sides of the hopper. The automated line now prevents an overload of dough entering the mix at one time as it slows down delivery and

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Argent Catering It’s Simple ...... We Do Food ...... Great Food!

hil Waller, one of the Directors commented ‘We are fastidious about quality and service, our offer and getting it right - as a Company we share a passion for fantastic food, served by motivated, well trained staff and we have great suppliers who actively support us’ These vital ingredients, when mixed with a robust financial model and a transparent purchasing policy, produce an unrivalled value for money catering service. When Argent were appointed to manage the catering, vending and hospitality services for Speedibake at both their Bradford and Wakefield sites, sales and footfall increased, exciting menus were evident, sound local

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purchasing was introduced, staff were trained to nationally accredited standards and 5 stars were awarded for a healthy and safe working environment! Argent pride themselves on creating real working partnerships with their clients, based on trust, open book accounting and mutually agreed objectives, which are measured and managed on a day to day basis. Operating from offices in Sheffield and London, with a nationally represented client base, their support structure is unique, from Training, Design, Purchasing, Finance, Health and Safety and a People department

The ratio of Senior Managers to clients is not allowed to exceed 8 to 1, continued Phil “This allows us to ‘manage’ not ‘run’ our services, it allows us to train and develop our people and it means our clients and customers get a great, value for money deal!”

Published in association with: Argent Catering Tel: 0114 2202276 Email: Info@argentcatering.co.uk Web: www.argentcatering.co.uk

Factory of the month Speedibake

An employee suggestion prompted investment in £1,200 worth of sensor equipment which has improved product quality and consistency for Speedibake’s garlic bread

measures the exact amount of oil needed. Too much oil creates holes in the bread, creating wasted product. The idea came from a team of operatives running the line and Amir Shah, production chargehand, says that the reduction in oil will save £10,000 a year while increasing throughput. Mr Swann believes that a key success criteria of the company ideas scheme is that suggestions are acted upon quickly so that the workforce doesn’t become disengaged. Speedibake has provided a series of training initiatives with 47 of its 350-strong workforce completing NVQs or entering apprenticeship training in the last two years. On top of the food manufacturing and business apprenticeships, the company has paid for 32 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses for team members where English is not their first language.

Goodwill hunting “Absence is a good gauge of morale,” says Damle and absence rates have dropped from a high of 10% three years ago to 5% today. It is a decrease that Damle puts down to the improved facilities, engagement and the developmental training on offer. Speedibake used to have a problem with long-term absence, but it is now inundated with people offering to work outside their normal hours. “Goodwill is a result of all of this,” comments Neil White, labour manager. “Our garlic slices line shut down for three weeks as part of a major overhaul so we have had to build our stock up by running

extra shifts. We’ve have no problem getting people to volunteer to work Saturdays and Sunday nights.” The muffin maker also introduced human resource changes, reducing the trigger point that results in a formal discussion from three to two periods of absence. Staff also have to call the duty manager on shift to inform them of an absence as well as leave a message on an answerphone

We used to spend money, managerial time and engineers time looking at plant reliability, waste levels and labour control. But we didn’t engage the guys running the kit Mick Swann, Site Engineering Manager “It’s not to punish people but get to the root cause of the absence,” says Damle. “If people are off work we want to make sure they are looked after socially and financially. Equally, where people are able to work then we want to make sure we are planning for that too.”

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A major drop in the number of accidents on site, from 37 in 2009 to five in 2012, has also contributed to improved attendance. “Long term absence was quite high,” says Mr White. “There hasn’t only been a drop in the number of accidents but the severity of accidents too, as we even register small cuts which may just need a plaster.” The number of people involved in spotting health and safety risks has doubled in the last year and the company opened up its safety meetings so much so that it has had to order more chairs for its meeting room. Now the operators have the ear of management their voices are becoming more and more valuable and the skills they are picking up provide long-term sustainability for the business.

Major retailers want household ingredients in their product, which has been a challenge as shelf-life had been king Tushar Damle, Factory Manager

In five years Speedibake has gone from employing 10 women on site to 50

Cultural mixing pot Speedibake’s workforce has traditionally included a number of agency staff, but Damle admits that there has been a “conscious effort to recruit more permanent members of staff,” in order to support flexibility with the way products are structured. “This way we can keep trained staff in the business,” he says. “It costs more up front but we will get the returns by making better products. If we want a long-term fix in manufacturing we need a long-term fix in terms of people.” Immigration has brought with it a number of skills sets that you wouldn’t usually expect to see on the shop floor of a food manufacturer. Attractive UK salaries, paid in sterling, have meant that there are doctors and people with aeronautical qualifications that have taken on jobs in the product packing areas of the factory. Speedibake has used this to its advantage by promoting skilled staff quickly and preparing for the next generation of managers. But given the number of migrant workers, could the skills disappear back to other countries and stunt the success of Speedibake? “We’ve only had that scenario on a few occasions,” says Damle. “It depends on how you treat people. If you develop their skills they see an opportunity and want to stay.” There is a great camaraderie throughout the site and the inclusive nature has brought more success in attracting female workers than many manufacturers. From having just 10 women on site five years ago, the

Speedibake has invested in management training to take advantage of the high skill backgrounds of many of its staff

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Factory of the month Speedibake

company is investing £50,000 in female worker facilities for the in excess of 50 they have now. The Bradford area has picked up a bad reputation over the years, enhanced by programmes such as Make Bradford British on Channel 4, which stereotyped the town as a tinderbox of racial tension. In reality, there is now a definite buzz about town with fourth division Bradford City football club completing the fairy tale by playing in their first cup final since 1911, beating Premier League teams Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa to get there. The town is an architecture student’s dream, with the area built upon the

If people are off work we want to make sure they are looked after socially and financially

reach the supermarket. They are then either baked on site or defrosted. Business has been growing, particularly in products which are sold frozen like its garlic bread. “People have been switching more to frozen products during the recession,” explains Damle.

Stick by your Standards! There have also been challenges around reducing salt and saturated fats while maintaining taste and costs. The next wave of initiatives focuses on allergens and replacing the vast quantities of palm oil used in 10% of all supermarket products, with sustainable alternatives as awareness of resource security and the environmental implications of overuse of palm oil grows. With supermarkets adopting their own codes of practice and unannounced audits on suppliers, there is competition to achieve goals quickly and maintain standards. Despite recent media question marks over the quality of supermarket audits, John Simtaji, quality manager, says that they are very stringent and that “individual codes of practice have driven standards higher as manufacturers have to be audit ready at all times. Previously there was only one test a year by the BRC, which represented all supermarkets.“ “Manufacturers should be doing the right things every hour of every day not just when an audit is coming,” says Damle. The managerial team chose to attend a seminar on certified sustainable palm oils due to the destruction caused to tropical rainforest by palm oil plantations. Since oil palms need a rainforest climate – constantly high humidity and temperatures – and a lot of land, plantations are often established at the expense of rainforests.

Tushar Damle, Factory Manager

riches of its world-renowned textile industry. The Wool Exchange in Bradford is symbolic of the change in the local and national economy. Built as a wool-trading centre in the 19th century today it contains a small shopping centre. Muffin maker Speedibake, located next to a textiles factory just outside the city centre, shows that there is still manufacturing life left in the area. It supplies a new lifestyle that lives fast but wants healthier, fresher and more environmentally friendly food that has a long shelf-life. “The last few years have been about cleaner ingredient declarations,” says Damle. “Major retailers want household ingredients in their product, which has been a challenge as shelf-life had been king. The demand for products with long shelf life led food manufacturers around the world to use additives. So recipes had to change as most major retailers want natural flavours not artificial ingredients now.” Damle argues that Speedibake’s muffins and mince pies are fresher because they are frozen until they

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One

direction It’s not every company that will refund a customer the difference on a contract that comes in on time and under budget. But then adi Group isn’t every company. James Sopwith, MD of adi Mechanical explains the ethos and strategy behind recent growth.

t 22 years old, adi group is growing fast, despite the stubbornly stagnant economic climate and the shock contraction for manufacturing in early 2013 Purchasing Managers Index figures. “It would be stupid to say that achieving growth is easy. It is a very difficult marketplace out there,” says James Sopwith. “But we have brought tools into our company kit box that allow us to be successful where perhaps others are not.” Running through those growth tools, Mr Sopwith talks about the inspiring leadership of the company founder and CEO Alan Lusty, of open networking between colleagues in the open plan office facilities, of a one team ethos in delivering value to customers and of Targeting Success, adi Group’s answer to employee development, internal communications and client satisfaction.

The work adi Group offers total engineering solutions, almost exclusively to UK manufacturing bluechips. As an overview, the Group’s services to the manufacturing sector include: process and office climate control systems and building intelligence, interior and

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office fit-out work, mechanical and electrical installation and maintenance, engineering design, fabrication and pipework, software development and panel design and build, compressor installation and maintenance as well as full facilities engineering or management contracts. Environmentally, the Group also delivers energy saving advice and systems, legionella control and management as well as water pollution containment services. Customer sectors span food, beverage, automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical and defence and the company undertakes an average of 2000 engineering projects a year, varying in size and value. Service prices range from as little as £100 up to around £5m. It was on one such large scale project that adi recently distinguished itself by refunding its customer the difference on a contract which had been completed on time and under budget. “It was an eighteen month defence contract combining the services of adi Automation, adi Electrical, adi Mechanical and adi Projects to manufacture and install an entire process line including mechanical handling equipment, electrical infrastructure and control systems for a huge new facility,” says Sopwith. “We won the project competitively, but have then ended up giving money back to the customer.” This defence project is a good demonstrator in defining adi’s unusually customer-centric delivery of multi-disciplined engineering services says Sopwith. “It required a multidisciplined engineering approach. Utilising the capabilities from several of our business units delivered via one point of contact for project management and through one contract – that is quite unusual in our sector.”

Pulling together Creating simplicity for customers executing complex engineering projects is critical to adi and has been the driver behind the group’s latest phase of rapid expansion since

Groupng Multidisciplinary engiadi neeri 2008. It has grown from five limited companies to fifteen in that time, adding capability to increase the scope of the projects it can tender for as a single unified entity. Given the rate of growth the breadth of capability brought on board, it would be reasonable to assume that adi has been following an aggressive acquisition road. But not so, says Sopwith. “Our roots are in electrical engineering and we have expanded by following opportunity and referral. We grow by importing talent. The majority of the group’s fifteen businesses began as start ups, invested in using our own funds, and developed from a standing start.” Such commitment to growing its own talent and capability is backed by a formalised employee development and communications approach dubbed Targeting Success. This scheme follows the ethos of Formula 1™ teams, “not just because a few of us in the business are keen on motorsport,” explains Sopwith. “It is the ultimate engineering sector and we are constantly striving to mirror its high tech, fast paced and professional culture.” Sarah Dullea, group communications manager, gives more detail. “Targeting success is our template for business improvement. It ensures that we have regular team and company briefings, both at headquarters and for teams and individuals out on customer sites,” it is normal for engineers to be placed on site for long periods Ms Dullea explains. “We capture news from all areas of the business during these briefings and disperse it in weekly company emails and in the more formal ‘adi Mail’ communication which goes out three or four times a year.” Everybody’s input into briefings is important says Dullea. “The company has an inclusive approach to management from the open plan, hotdesking, paperless office to our corporate workwear which everybody wears from shop floor to CEO. It is very important in such a diverse business which relies so heavily on offering integrated solutions, that we have no communication boundaries.” Commitment to this principle of free communication is evident in more than just words. adi has invested significant sums in IT hardware to make sure employees in disparate project locations have access to laptops and mobile technology as and when they need it. “This kind of investment is essential in improving right first time performance. Every project is different– so planning software and MRP or ERP technology doesn’t really suit. What is critical is that we support the ability of our project managers to have visibility,” comments Sopwith.

Of course this includes having visibility of cost. “There is no point in managing a project really well if the costs are not under tight control,” Sopwith continues. To support cost management the company’s extended communications network feed into an open source financial system. “Over the year’s we have paid great attention to detail in managing costs – it is fundamental to our competitiveness and our ability to invest without reliance on banks,” Sopwith concludes.

Community

he Targeting Success ethos which drives business improvement at adi extends beyond the company boundaries but is focused by a belief in local jobs for local people and in giving back to the community around it – it does this through nationwide initiative BITC (Business in the Community). A particular passion for the company is its work on local homelessness. “We take someone from a deprived or homeless background and give them a business placement,” explains Ms Dullea. This improves their confidence and employability generally and, says Dullea, some individuals have gone on to gain permanent positions with the company. Following success with apprenticeships and interns placed at adi, the next step is to start working with local schools, providing mentoring and opening the company’s doors to young people. The aim is to inspire and educate young people about the varied opportunities available in engineering.

adi Group growth: Fast facts The group has expanded from 5 to 15 limited companies in five years Expansion has been achieved through recruiting talent – not through acquisition Executive leadership is key to the group’s strategic growth Growth plans develop on a rolling 5 year basis Investments for growth have been made using company cash reserves

Key investments in 2012 Last year adi group invested £1m in its King’s Norton headquarters. The investment was split across: Manufacturing facilities (40%) IT, offices and business infrastructure (60%)

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lastword The

We don’t need no education Debate over the national curriculum and drives to increase apprenticeship provision obfuscate a serious problem, finds Will Stirling; many young people are simply unemployable.

t was poignant to listen to the debate on the BBC’s Question Time on March 21 about the new school curriculum proposed by education secretary Michael Gove. The emotive debate centred on which subjects children should learn at school and oscillated entertainingly until a waspish contretemps between Gove and Labour minister Emily Thornberry. Great television, but nobody on the panel or in the audience took the employer’s point of view about education. Any education should be founded on fixed pillars of hard, commonly-used factual subjects, such as basic mathematical principals and grammatically correct English. As a child gets older, a subject can then evolve. But the catfight over detail between

Of the 40 identified as candidate apprentices and booked for interview, not a single person turned up

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Gove and Shadow Attorney General Thornberry was made all the more petty because neither attempted to approach the question; how must young people be equipped to be useful to companies, thereby supporting a competitive economy? At a dinner for West Midlands’ manufacturers on March 20, I was impressed with the candour manufacturing leaders shared on the challenges that manufacturing faces – there is little bullshit in Birmingham. And perhaps the most blunt discussion of all was on the calibre of job applicants. In the week following National Apprenticeship Week, it might have been easy to bask, content in the conviction that the UK’s apprenticeship recruitment drive is a runaway success. That UK plc is on track to fill the yawning skills gaps in engineering and manufacturing. Here are some home truths from the coal face of the Black Country. One company that is involved in the automotive sector has abandoned its apprenticeship scheme altogether. Why? The training provider was providing candidates and so fulfilling the criteria to receive its funding.

Have your say at: www.themanufacturer.com

But the quality of people was so dreadful that the manufacturer ditched the scheme and returned to hiring graduates only. New recruits rarely turned up on time, some skipped entire days without leave. They were caught stealing factory property. The MD felt the training provider was doing the bare minimum to pocket the grant. “It was a bad experience and we will not return to that for a while,” he said. Another company, which develops software for manufacturing applications, said poor calibre applicants were not restricted to apprentices. It advertised 10 grad vacancies and nine placements at 30 universities. Of the 1180 applications, just 45, or 3.8%, were of an adequate standard to interview. Most had good, relevant degrees in mathematics, engineering and computer science, but came up short in key employability skills; aptitude, personal presentation, an understanding of business basics. To find one ideal recruit for a technical vacancy, only 45 interviews were granted from an on-site assessment of 140. The quality of candidates was just very low. The most extraordinary tale, however, came from the MD of a subcontract electronics company. It worked with a local training provider to find candidates for three apprentice places. The provider found 40 candidates that met the criteria, a good number though admittedly the vacancy was for a basic apprenticeship to reach NVQ Level One and required no A Levels. A day and venue was booked to interview the applicants. Of the 40 who were identified, not one turned up. Not a single person. The MD was staggered, both at the appalling result and at the wilful disregard for a job opportunity in a region with above average unemployment. This is not a malaise that is unique to the West Midlands. I have heard low calibre apprenticeship and graduate stories told in Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow and elsewhere. The UK apprenticeship drive, championed by Semta, the National Apprenticeship Service and others is commendable. But policy makers and senior people in education must also confront the bald truth that schools, and often parents, are not adequately preparing kids for the work place. We can debate whether children should learn history, Mandarin or CTD, but I would suggest schools be measured as much on practical employability metrics as Ofsted-defined academic grades if the UK is to actually sustain its manufacturing base. @WRStirling

4th Annual LMJ Conference May 21st to 22nd, 2013 | The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC

From Lean Tools to a Culture of Continuous Improvement May 21st to 22nd, 2013 The Hilton Metropole, Birmingham NEC

NEW

23rd-24th May, Visual Thinking Seminar from Dr Gwendolyn Galsworth hosted at Hozelock

This yearâ€™s conference will focus on how to create and sustain a culture of continuous improvement. Join a distinguished list of international speakers and practitioners who will provide their knowledge and insights into how they have supported a cultural transformation at departmental, plant or organisational level.

Over 10 international speakers including: Ebly Sanchez

Stephen Smith

Jacob Austad

Mauro Pino

Gwendolyn Galsworth

Tony Carr

Director, Volvo Production System, Volvo Group

Head of World Class Manufacturing, Chrysler Group LLC

NEW for the 2013 Annual Conference:

Operations and Supply Chain Director, British Gypsum

LeanTeam, Denmark

President and founder of Visual-LeanÂŽ Institute (QMI)

Plant Manager, Caterpillar

Half day deep dive Day one networking Ideas Exchange Sessions dinner included in focused on culture change workshops for conference ticket and transformation greater learning

To register, call +44 (0) 207 401 6033 Or visit www.leanmj.com/annualconference Email: j.tudor@sayonemedia.com

Supported by: Sponsored by:

ENtER NOW Entry Deadline: 31st July

the Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2013 is a chance for you, your team and your company to receive industry-wide recognition for your achievements.

Distinguish yourself and the work of your team. showcase your achievements and enter your company today!

Tm april 2013 web