UK manufacturers speak out about uncertainty
Ahead of this year’s show, Advanced Engineering, the UK’s largest annual exhibition for manufacturers and supply chain professionals, has launched a new report gauging uncertainty in the engineering sector. The report, entitled Voice of Industry, brings together the experiences of leading manufacturers, on topics ranging from Brexit and the skills shortage to the rise of electric vehicles and product innovation.
The Voice of Industry report delves into the unique challenges that businesses have faced in the last two years and explores the positive results they’ve had in overcoming uncertainty. It features Q&A-style interviews with senior figures in a variety of engineering businesses including Renishaw, Atlas Copco, Kawasaki Robotics and others.
The report opens with a foreword from Mike Wilson, Managing Director of KUKA UK and Ireland as well as Chairman of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA). In it, Wilson challenges the conventional view that uncertainty should be a fact of life.
“The UK is well known as a source of excellence in engineering and innovation. We are the home for leading global businesses such as Rolls Royce and BAE Systems as well as many much smaller, highly creative engineering companies,” explained Wilson. “The current economic climate is uncertain, but I have confidence the resilience of our engineering sector will weather the changing environment and may well become stronger as a result.”
The report also interviews one of these smaller companies, Xi Engineering, a digital twinning company that uses its multi-physics simulations to help businesses speed up innovation. “We offer services like simulation that help our customers create accurate models that represent the real world,” explained Mark-Paul Buckingham, Managing Director of Xi Engineering.
“These simulations offer a robust test-bed for companies to trial various scenarios that would take much longer if done manually. As a result, we’ve helped companies innovate in a wide variety of sectors, from high-end audio and automotive to renewable energy and transport.”
This year’s Advanced Engineering show takes place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham between 30–31 October.