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12 Feb 2016

Excellence in the supply chain

Your supply chain is your way of getting your goods or services to end consumers from obtaining raw materials to delivering the final product. The size of a supply chain will depend on the type of business you are. Small businesses may not have too many suppliers to deal with, where as a large or multi national company may have hundreds of suppliers to manage on a daily basis.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is all about optimising your business operations to ensure speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness. Today, ethical sourcing and sustainability also play a major part in decisions about supply chain partners. The wider economic and environmental issues are a factor for many companies when considering applicants to their supply chain, as well as how the applicant manages their own business. Your values and how you perform as a business is just as important as your ability to deliver an end product.

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30 Jan 2016

Low maintenance resources could be costing you money

Whatever industry you’re if you are running machinery it’s essential that it’s maintained and serviced regularly. If this doesn’t happen you leave yourself open to mechanical failures, delayed deadlines and ultimately loss of income or lost customers.

Despite manufacturers knowing this a report at the end of last year from Bosch Rexroth in conjunction with the Institute of Engineering and Technology revealed that the maintenance budgets of more than 50% of the responding manufacturers had stagnated or even reduced over the last 5 years.

This is a worrying statistic when you consider that many manufacturers have not only increased the amount of machinery and equipment they use, but that machinery has also increased in complexity.

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22 Jan 2016

UK Car Manufacturing at a 10 Year High

Cast your mind back a few months to all the bad news surfacing in the automotive industry and you would be forgiven for expecting to see reports saying that 2015 was a bad year for the industry.

There were product recalls due to faulty airbag units which impacted the likes of Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Honda. Then there was the Volkswagen emissions scandal. At the end of 2015 it was estimated that 11 million cars were recalled due to the emissions issues alone and UK sales of some of its brands fell sharply in October and November.

However, despite these problems throughout the year, the UK car manufacturing industry has continued to do well and is re-establishing a reputation for quality, manufacturing excellence and innovation. So well in fact, that it hit a 10 year high in 2015 and exported more vehicles than ever before.

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28 Dec 2015

Round up of Manufacturing and Engineering News of 2015

As we approach the year end, we thought we’d take a quick look back at some of the top manufacturing and engineering news of 2015.

We started 2015 with the great news that the new Hitachi Class 800 trains were being introduced into the UK rail network with testing due to start in the spring of 2015. That wasn’t the only good news. In addition to the new stock entering the UK network the bulk of the fleet was also going to be manufactured here in the UK with a new facility being built in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. The factory which represents and £82bn investment was completed on schedule in September 2015 and has resulted in 730 new jobs in the area.

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27 Nov 2015

The future of UK manufacturing

There has been much made of the future of UK manufacturing and engineering. Reports show that the UK is holding it’s own and that the future of manufacturing in the UK is good. The flip side of this good news, however, is the major concern over our engineers of the future. The UK still has a skills gap and when it comes to engineering we still have an annual shortfall of 55,000 people. The 2015 EngineeringUK report claims this shortage of skills is costing the UK £27bn a year.

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20 Nov 2015

Denmark to build world’s longest immersed tunnel

Denmark has engaged in many challenging infrastructure projects in an effort to improve transport links. Over the years Denmark has built many record breaking bridges and tunnels earning it the reputation of a global centre of structural engineering excellence. And they are about to take on their biggest project yet.

Known as the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link , an 18km long sub sea tunnel to link the German island of Fehmarn to the Danish island of Lolland has been approved. It is thought the construction of the tunnel will have a huge impact on transport in the region and will replace about 2 million annual ferry journeys. It is also believed it will cut rail journey time between Copenhagen and Denmark by 25%.

The project has been approved in Denmark but is currently awaiting approval from the German government.

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30 Oct 2015

Additive Manufacturing in the Aero Industry

Back in 2014 we were talking about the experimental 3D printed joints being tested by the Airbus Group. The Rotite Fastener, was being tested on bicycles before being progressed into aircraft, but it was hoped that the technology could be developed and progressed into the aero industry making the attachment of electrical and mechanical components easier.

Additive manufacturing (the process of building components layer by layer) started off being used just for building prototype parts, but has now moved on to producing in flight components in the aero industry.

In March this year 3D printed parts got the go ahead from the FAA to be used in flight and as a result Boeing have used additive manufacturing to install over 20,000 non metallic 3D printed parts in their planes. They are using 3D printed parts in military and commercial aircraft.

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23 Oct 2015

UK – China Industry Relations | Investment or Timebomb?

This week it’s been announced that Tata Steel could slash up to 1,200 jobs across Scunthorpe and Soctland. Caparo Industries has called in the administrators and now up to 1,700 of their staff are facing real uncertainty about their futures. The UK Steel industry is in crisis and many commentators are rushing to blame China. But the fact of the matter is that the global Steel industry is in crisis, not just the UK, with many nations overproducing and even our closest neighbors in the EU undercutting British produced Steel. At a time when unprecedented trade deals are being fought for and signed across the globe we have to ask if we should still be trying to use China as a scapegoat or if it’s time to reconsider our economic ties with the emergent power.

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16 Oct 2015

Pilotless helicopter tested in the battle to fight wildfires

First came driverless cars, then came research into autonomous ships to help with transport freight emissions. Earlier this month Mercedes Benz tested an autonomous big rig on a public road and this week the news is of a pilotless helicopter being tested to help in the battles with wildfires in the United States. Autonomous and remote controlled vehicles are being used more and more in the battle for improved efficiency, safety and sustainability.

Earlier this week a Lockheed Martin helicopter capable of flying autonomously was launched in Idaho. Whilst the helicopter is capable of flying without a pilot, there was a safety pilot on board during the testing. The helicopter completed multiple drops of water that it had scooped up and then delivered to a demonstration ridge.

Why a pilotless helicopter?

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9 Oct 2015

TPP & TTIP | What Do They Mean For Manufacturing?

There’s been a lot of talk in the Media about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this week as it’s finally been agreed upon between states after a 12 year negotiation. Though the TPP does not directly affect the UK there is a similar agreement in negotiation called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which is between the US and various EU countries. These agreements are meant to encourage Free Trade and are being sold as ‘good for everyone.’ It’s very obvious that this is almost never the case in the world of business.

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