Smart Machines & Factories

Burnley born, Susan Scurlock, CEO and Founder of Primary Engineer and its wider programmes has been awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List for services to Education and Engineering across the UK. The honour is fitting recognition for Susan’s pioneering work that is helping reshape how young people are introduced to the skills needed for a career in engineering.

A new white paper from Siemens examines the investment required to support the UK chemical industry’s digital transformation towards a highly connected and data-rich operating environment.

Shell Lubricants’ latest manufacturing industry report exploring Industry 4.0, has revealed that UK manufacturers are engaged and optimistic about Industry 4.0 technologies with 96% of those surveyed anticipating that new high-tech equipment will deliver cost savings to their company. However, a lack of expertise combined with concerns about pace of change and costs are hindering the widespread uptake of connected, predictive and data-based technologies.

Sheffield City Region schools are taking part in nationally recognised Primary Engineer programmes supported by the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to inspire the creative engineering talent of tomorrow.

The Coventry-based Manufacturing Technology Centre is developing a partnership with the North American space agency (NASA) as US space scientists look to use MTC-developed technology in future space missions.

Omron has opened a new Robotic Innovation Lab at the company’s UK headquarters in Milton Keynes. The lab, which represents an investment of £600,000 with a creation of five new jobs, is set to demonstrate how robots can be a boon to the UK manufacturing industry, as well as providing customers with a realistic overview of how robots can enhance their own individual applications.

The newly launched Smart Industry series of Conferences: Demystifying the jargon: How to make the digitalisation transition will address and unravel the vast array of conflicting information around 4IR, discussing the practicalities, technologies and issues surrounding transition and implementation of digitalisation in manufacturing across key market sectors in clear and concise language.

The recent Smart Machines & Factories 4IR survey, supported by GAMBICA and EEF, and sponsored by Festo GB, highlighted that some manufacturers are already grasping 4IR opportunities, but others are still to take their first steps on their journey.

The 29th SPS IPC Drives event is set to highlight the importance of smart and digital automation. Some 1700 automation providers from all over the world are expected in Nuremberg on 27 - 29 November 2018.

An overwhelming majority of UK industrial product manufacturers want continued regulatory alignment with the EU, a new industry survey has revealed.

Manufacturers are continuing to boost investment in Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies with increasing evidence that many companies have moved beyond the initial ‘conception’ phase and into the ‘evolution’ phase where they are seeing real benefits from their investments according to a survey by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.

Europe's biggest conference on maintenance & asset management returns to Antwerp, Belgium between September 24th - 27th.

Irish manufacturing solutions firm SmartFactory announced funding of €500,000 as part of the Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start-Up fund. The investment was announced at the recent Start-Up Showcase Event in Croke Park and will see SmartFactory expand its operations and double its workforce over the next three years. The company, established in 2016, is based in the Nexus Innovation Centre at the University of Limerick.

Rockwell Automation is joining industry leaders ABB, Belden, Bosch Rexroth, B&R, Cisco, Hilscher, KUKA, National Instruments, Parker Hannifin, Phoenix Contact, Pilz, Schneider Electric, TTTech, and WAGO (collectively known as Shapers) to create a communication solution for real-time and sensor-to-cloud applications in industrial operations. The solution will be based on the OPC UA protocol, which allows easy and secure sharing of information across different vendor technologies, and the time-sensitive networking (TSN) suite of standards, which helps improve latency and robustness in converged industrial networks.

Toshiba machine partner and robot distributor, TM Robotics, has released a white paper that examines the political challenges facing today’s manufacturing industry. Tackling issues such as the threat robots pose to jobs, robot taxation and investments in Industry 4.0, the company discusses the politics of automation from a robot manufacturers perspective.

Nearly half of manufacturers have been the victim of cyber-crime, and a quarter have suffered some financial loss or disruption to business as a result, according to a new report.

A webinar that takes a look at the topic of digitisation in manufacturing and considers the process of connecting mechanical automation components to the cloud and how to derive insights from the vast amount of data collected, is being organised by Festo.

The latest development in the partnership between Siemens and Newcastle University is being launched to accelerate digitalisation and boost skills to meet the needs of an increasingly-digitalised industry and society.

Automation specialist Cortex has partnered with The Robotic Workforce, as a Solutions provider, to make intelligent automation technology available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), boosting productivity by up to 90%.

Rapid sales growth continues in the first quarter of 2018

PROCENTEC invites everyone to the launch of its newest PROFIBUS and Industrial Ethernet diagnostics solution: the PROCENTEC Mercury. This newest addition to PROCENTEC’s product portfolio will be showed at the PROCENTEC stand on the Hannover Messe from Monday April 23 onwards.

The Knowledge Hub seminar line-up at the forthcoming co-located events; Smart Industry Expo, Drives & Controls, Air-Tech, Fluid Power & Systems, and Plant & Asset Management Exhibitions, has secured some the UK’s leading voices on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, offering expert insight, practical advice, and high profile panel discussions.

Digitisation is revolutionising the world of work: Robots work hand in hand with humans or travel autonomously through warehouses. Technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality connect workers with the factory, while exoskeletons support them on the job. Meanwhile, energy consumers are developing into energy suppliers.

IBM, Cisco, Microsoft and others join forces with universities and industry bodies to boost future digital skills.The next generation of digital specialists will be created through the new Institute of Coding, a consortium of more than 60 universities, businesses and industry experts set to receive £20 million to tackle the UK’s digital skills gap.

Phil Banks has been appointed as the head of strategy, Integrated Drive Systems (IDS), Siemens UK & Ireland. As part of his new role, Banks, will be responsible for the development and implementation of the business strategy to drive further growth for IDS solutions.