LEAD FEATURE ADVANCED MACHINERY INNOVATION INITIATIVE
The report
was published
following a
meeting to
discuss what
was seen as a
missing element
in the Made
Smarter Review
that focused
on Industry
4.0 but not on
the specifi cs
of connected
machinery –
the business
end of any
manufacturing
process
Future State Workshop of UK Advanced Machinery
Manufacturers report – overview
Available in full at NPL’s website ( www.is.gd/ehitig ),
the 12-page workshop report frames the current UK
situation and the potential bene ts. Bringing together
10 precision engineering experts from industry and
academia, a November 2017 meeting is
behind the report, which notes that “the
majority of accurately manufactured
goods – used in almost every
imaginable application for everyday
living – are produced by hightechnology,
advanced computer
numerically controlled (CNC) machinery”.
The global advanced machinery sector
is valued at ~£125 billion, with signi cant
producers located in Germany, Japan, China, Korea,
Switzerland and Italy, it says, adding that the UK holds
0.5% of the global market. The potential for the UK is
put at a four-fold growth in the output of advanced
CNC machinery, so reaching £2 billion, plus the
creation of 20,000 jobs, by setting an “unambiguous
emphasis on productivity growth from new digitally
enabled production machinery”. Achieving that gure
for growth would put the UK on the same level as
Switzerland, a country already well known for its high
precision advanced machinery.
It is suggested that apart
from establishing an institute
to support that outcome, there
should be encouragement to
redirect UKRI-funded
programmes and centres to
encourage development and
adoption of UK advanced
machinery. UKRI – UK
Research and Innovation –
works in partnership with
universities, research
organisations, businesses,
charities and government to
create the best possible
environment for research
and innovation to ourish.
It runs the Industrial
Strategy Challenge Fund,
for example.
The UKRI’s support for
advanced machinery is in
stark contrast to that in
Germany and Japan, the
report highlights, where national programmes have
been long-established. It is noteworthy that these
countries’ own research and innovation centres most
often employ only domestically produced machinery,
it says.
A key feature of the current landscape is
the disruption of existing manufacturing
methods/machinery, making space for
new innovative developments to secure
a leading place. “Now, at a time of
potential disruption from increased
digitisation, there is no UK Research or
Innovation Institute aligned to the needs of
the UK’s Advanced Machinery sector,” the
publication underlines. The AMP Institute aims to be
Andrey Kuzmin/ stock.adobe.com
just such a place and ll that void, clearly, and build on
the UK’s, albeit distributed, expertise in this eld.
And the UK does remain home to some extremely
successful leading brand, advanced machinery
companies, the report points out, adding that these
companies “succeed through outstanding innovation,
insightful investment and early adoption of rapidlyadvancing,
computer-based digital systems, and by
focusing on niche market segments where technical
prowess, agility and deep understanding are essential
to overcome international competition”.
Such success has been achieved notwithstanding
the UK’s disadvantages, such as skills shortages,
limitations of local supply chains and limited –
historically – support from UK government and the
research and innovation community.
Making an international comparison, the publication
says that, recognising the pivotal role of CNC in digital
manufacturing, the US and China have both
established signi cant research, innovation and
industrial development programmes in intelligent CNC
control. The UK has no such national programme, it
points out, but goes on to suggest that the stimulation
of a UK control system manufacturing capability is just
one of the opportunities that should be pursued. As a
matter of interest, such control expertise was
originated within the Cran eld Unit of Precision
Engineering (CUPE – another 1960s’ Wilson
government initiative and where Shore was once
process development manager) from which today’s
Fives Landis (Cran eld Precision) draws its DNA. Fives
Landis, Keighley, in its Landis Lund guise, was a user
of that developed expertise in past times. The dots
are still there to be joined up.
14 October 2020 | www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets
/ehitig
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/www.machinery.co.uk