complement each other, and some
customers do come to us for both.”
The acquisition of Precision
Acoustics was more recent.
Livingstone takes up the story:
“They had been our biggest
customer and we’d become
their biggest supplier, so the
complementary factors were
already in place. They were
making all their ultrasound
scanning systems using LG
Motion and MiniTec… The owner
wanted to retire and over dinner she
suggested that I buy the company.
Exciting but weird, because the
company at the time was twice the
size of LG Motion, so it wasn’t a big
company acquiring a small one, it
was the other way around. That’s
all worked very well – Precision
Acoustics is now three times the size
of LG and we’re now just shy of 50
people.”
With this portfolio, it’s clear
that keeping up to speed with the
latest technological trends and
developments is imperative. Beyond
the technologies themselves,
however, Livingstone believes the
key lies in timing the moment when
they become mainstream. One such
technology is robotics, which he
now believes has made this leap. He
says: “Now we’ve got into the robots/
cobots side of things. Again, the
timing seems about right, as the price
point is now coming down to a level
that’s achievable for more companies
and it’s not so scary. The robots now
as opposed to about 20 years ago
are much better: better engineered;
easier to control; more accurate.
Everything you need them to be,
but now the marketplace is ready
for it. It’s not just the big car plants
that can afford them anymore. Now
you can put them into much smaller
businesses. We’ve been looking at
businesses from soft fruit picking
to cake decoration to stacking and
sorting of different shapes integrated
with visual inspection.”
While he embraces the adoption
of new automation technologies,
Livingstone is sceptical about
‘Industry 4.0’, saying: “If I’m
being cynical, I’d have to say it’s a
great marketing plan for German
automation companies. Integration
of technologies to facilitate industry
is something I’ve been doing since I
left school – as has everyone else in
motion control.
It’s great if it’s making people more
aware, but to my mind what’s called
Industry 4.0 is the natural evolution of
where engineering’s going anyway.
As more technologies become
available, you see what’s possible
and you bring it together – it’s what
we do.”
Of course, this approach
necessitates having (and retaining)
skilled staff. Livingstone operates an
apprenticeship scheme (indeed, his
longest-serving former apprentice
has been with him for 11 years)
but sees a more fundamental
demographic issue affecting the
industry.
“There is a generation gap in
engineering,” he says. “There’s a
group who are 50-plus and a group
who are 30 and under. There’s not a
lot in the middle. So, for succession
planning and business growth that
can be a bit challenging. However,
what it does mean is that the
youngsters in our organisation do get
a lot of opportunities. So, they’ve been
to the States, China, Vietnam – all
over, basically.”
This means trusting
individuals with
responsibility. “They
need to get good
enough to do it
on their own, so
they’re going with
other people, but
ultimately you’ve got
to invest in them. If
you’ve employed them
for a couple of years and
you don’t think you can trust them
to go out on site, you’ve probably
got the wrong person,” says
Livingstone.
Beyond skills, he
identi es a more general
problem with UK industry,
saying: “British industry can
suffer from a ‘make do’ culture.
They look at the investment of
£100,000 on a new line and all they’re
seeing is the cost and not the bene ts.
Arguably, that’s because engineering
teams aren’t good enough to sell
the idea to the nancial teams. And
that’s often because people in senior
engineering roles aren’t actually
engineers and can’t sell it because
they don’t really get it themselves.”
Looking ahead, Livingstone is
keen to enhance his management
team to re ect the businesses’
growth. However, he remains
clear about what he wants
from anyone he takes on
in any role, saying: “I
want people who
like what they’re
doing.” !
JULY 2019 | WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK 19
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