3D printing motors on

3D printing - also referred to as additive manufacturing - is not new. Indeed, it has been used been used for rapid prototyping in, for example, the automotive and aerospace, sectors and for tooling for upwards for upwards of 30 years. Then along came Industry 4.0, and additive manufacturing was identified by some as having the potential to transform the manufacturing process itself.

Industry FOMO has to be a good thing, right?

A recent survey of 300 managers, directors and higher-level executives from the industrial manufacturing community across the UK, USA, France and Germany by Ubisense has found that amongst those surveyed, almost half (46%) feel they are being left behind when they see industry peers roll out Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, despite more uncertainty of the value, benefits and role of the internet of things in their assembly processes compared to 2020.

We have the technology...

THIS WEEK, a report from the  International Energy Agency has concluded that if the world hopes to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions by mid-century, nearly half the cuts will have to come from technologies currently only in the demonstration or prototype phase or not yet commercially available.

Reasons to be cheerful

Brexit. The global pandemic. The UK's perennial productivity crisis. These issues are not necessarily going to be high on anyone's list of reasons to be cheerful - unless you are Mike Wilson, that is. Ever one to be optimistic, at a recent industry event (online, of course), the Chairman of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) turned these particular challenges on their head, viewing them instead as opportunities in relation to automation.

Digital skills gap grows

The disruption caused by the global pandemic means that the perennial issue of a shortage of engineers in the UK doesn’t seem to have been at the forefront of anyone’s mind recently.

Going for green!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty positive for the much talked about 'green recovery'. With the ambition to create two million green jobs by 2030, the UK government has launched a taskforce to set the direction of the job market as the country transitions to a high-skill, low carbon economy.

A (re)shore thing?

While the coronavirus has seen many UK businesses step up to the mark and fulfil incredibly important roles under unprecedented circumstances, there is also no doubt that the crisis has also exposed weaknesses in many UK supply chains and highlighted just how much reliance there is on the the supply of critical items from overseas.

More digitalisation funding needed

It’s great news that Made Smarter, North West technology adoption pilot, has reached a major milestone, having funded more than 100 businesses. The scheme works with small and medium-sized manufacturers to help them introduce digital tools and technologies to help boost productivity and growth, and more recently, to help navigate the impact of Covid-19.

The new norm

If there’s one thing that the coronavirus pandemic has shown us, it’s that industry can be agile and innovative under the most arduous circumstances.

Culture wars

It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone reading this magazine that the UK lags way behind it’s global counterparts when it comes to the implementation of robotic automation - a fact that was underlined at a recent event hosted by automatica exhibition, the British Automation and Robot Association and VDMA Robotics + Automation. What is quite shocking though, is just how far behind the UK is - in 2018 we didn’t even make it into the global top 15 in terms of industrial robot installations, and overall robot density (number of industrial robots per 10,000 employees in manufacturing) is just 91 compared with 338 in Germany, which leads in Europe.