Tudor attended the recent MACH 2018 press conference to find out more.
You can always rely on the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) to select interesting venues for its MACH press conferences and for 2018 event, journalists, MTA staff and a selection of exhibition committee members headed down to the south coast to the new Land Rover BAR facility in Portsmouth.
Not surprisingly, things had a very nautical theme. Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) was established in 2014 by the great, four times Olympic Gold medallist himself with the aim of putting together a team to bring the Americas Cup back home where it all began in 1851. Sir Ben Ainslie is unquestionably the most successful Olympic sailor of all time so who better to lead a British entry capable of winning the prestigious trophy, something Britain has so far never managed to achieve?
Land Rover BAR is a commercial sporting team, with a number of individual private investors alongside corporate partners. The team is made up of some of the best British and international sailors, designers, builders and racing support and is headquartered in a new 74,000ft² facility in Portsmouth which houses all the team's activities and developments.
Eyes on the prize
A fitting venue indeed for the MACH 2018 launch: “We feel very privileged indeed to be here today because what’s happening at Land Rover BAR is synonymous with everything we can be proud of in UK advanced engineering,” enthused MTA CEO James Selka.
A word or two on the America’s Cup: it’s the oldest trophy in world sport, pre-dating the modern Olympics, the Ryder Cup and the World Cup – and Britain has never won it. The first race took place in 1851 round the Isle of Wight with the prize of a silver cup and £100 Sterling at stake. It was won by the black schooner America and to honour the victory, the competition was named the America’s Cup.
American teams successfully defended the Cup against all challenges for an unbelievable 132 years, the longest winning streak in sport. Then, in 1983 an Australian team broke the mould and secured victory and since then, it has become a truly global competition.
The 35th match for the America’s Cup will take place in 2017 (Bermuda) and raced in 50 feet long high-tech, composite material hydrofoiling catamarans with wing ‘sails’. If you win the America’s Cup, you also win the right to set the rules, choose the venue and the format of the next one. If and when Land Rover BAR lift the trophy, the team will be able to bring it back home to Britain, where the story started.
“Technology has advanced beyond recognition since the original race in 1851 but some strict ground rules still apply,” advises Andy Claughton, technical director at Ben Ainslie Racing. “The boat is very high tech and controlled by Ben. He has control buttons and switches built into the steering wheel which change the angle of attack of the hydrofoils so essentially he’s ‘flying’ the boat, doing his utmost to keep it straight and level. Incidentally, modern boats travel at about four times the speed of their more traditional wind sail counterparts.
“But some traditional aspects – derived from the fact that sailing is still fundamentally all about man against the elements – still remain. For example the boat hulls and structure are rule-defined, and the wing sails are of fixed shape, but the foils and rudder and control systems are free design. Analysis and computing power is largely unrestricted but all power generation must be derived from humans. It’s essentially an electro-mechanical system; the power to drive the hydraulic fluid moving through the pipework to the rams is all generated by the crew constantly turning handles (grinding). It’s very much a combination of modern technology and physical muscle. Between Ben controlling the boat and the grinders providing the raw power, there’s an absolute mountain of software systems and artificial intelligence.
“But just to make things interesting though there is a crew weight limit,” Mr Claughton adds. “You need your biggest, strongest fittest guys providing the manual power, but you can’t exceed the limit so Ben often finds himself on a diet. He’s easily three stones lighter now than when he raced in the Olympics!”
The boat can reach frightening speeds in excess of 40 knots. The sail wings, constructed from a carbon structure covered with a film are 23.7m long – the same size as a Boeing 737.
All change
Land Rover BAR is all about innovation and pushing the limits of technology and so is the MACH exhibition. The 2018 event will take place from 9-13 April at the NEC in Birmingham with a new a look and new location.
The 2016 edition of the exhibition resulted in sold out exhibitor space, a 10% increase in visitors on 2014 and over £150 million worth of business attributed to the show. MACH 2018 will take place on the atrium side of the NEC, in halls 17, 18, 19, 20, 6 and 7. This is the first move of the show since relocating to the NEC when it opened in 1976 and reflects the changing technologies the show covers.
The new halls mean the show will take place in a single uninterrupted space on one level, making the show easier to navigate for visitors and providing an ideal opportunity to showcase the full UK supply chain under one roof. Compared to the previous hall 4/5 format, the new layout will be better for visitors with more entrances, more restaurants and closer parking. There are two car parks alongside the halls and new hotels within the NEC complex. As with the 2016 event, MACH visitors can get a 25% Virgin Trains discount .
MTA CEO James Selka, said of the move: “The shift in technology towards a more digitised, automated model of manufacturing is an exciting evolution of the sector, of which MACH is at the forefront. As such, we as owners and organisers, have decided to refresh the show and enhance the exhibitor and visitor experience by moving to this new location in 2018.”
The new halls also have more entrances, enabling visitor flow through the halls to be managed more efficiently providing exhibitors with a better stream of potential buyers and partners to their stands. The new layout also means a reduced depth from the front to the back of the halls making it easier for visitors to navigate and see the whole show.
Underpinned by Industry 4.0
As well as the move to new halls, the exhibition will also focus on Industry 4.0 technologies. James Fudge, head of events at the MTA commented: “We understand the importance of reflecting the whole of UK manufacturing within the exhibition and the shift towards greater automation within production. With the application of digital technologies to manufacturing, the theme of interconnectivity will be reflected throughout the show.”
So what was the Software and Design zone is now ‘IT for Manufacturing’ and Industry 4.0 will be underpinning the entire exhibition.
Ballots 1, 2 and 3 have now taken place with over 18,000m² of space allocated already. Exhibitors have been quick to secure their spots on the floor plans and the amount of space allocated for 2018 is slightly ahead of 2016’s for the comparable time period.
Full, live floor plans can be found on the MACH 2018 website at www.machexhibition.com.
MACH 2018 www.machexhibition.com
Land Rover BAR http://land-rover-bar.americascup.com/
