Editor’s comment: November 2017

For visitors one of the most obvious trends is the increasing amount of automation solutions to further increase productivity by removing as much manual intervention when machining as possible.

It’s an understandable development: in the UK our productivity levels are consistently lower than most other G7 economies and if we are going to compete on the world stage, particularly post Brexit, outdated, sizeable human staffed working methods will have to be a thing of the past. Figures from the International Federation of Robotics show that we are one of the lowest countries in the league tables when it comes to the ratio of robots compared to manual workers in the world. Not to mention that automation may also be the only way we can overcome the persistent and ever-growing skills gap found in UK industry.

We certainly seem to be approaching a tipping point. With other manufacturing advances such as artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, generative design and additive manufacturing increasingly making inroads on the shopfloor, I have to ask myself how many people will be needed to design and make things in the future? Pessimists suggest that as many as 30% of all jobs are under threat from automation. However, glass half full types point to history and suggest that every industrial revolution has led to more employment not less.

It is an unpredictable and confusing future for sure but some argue it could be a much brighter one with less people doing soul destroying, repetitive tasks. Maybe if we are given a universal basic income while not working, as some think tanks have suggested, we could concentrate on leisure activities and spending more time with family and friends.

Personally, I think we have reached a point where human employment cannot avoid being affected by these developments. Either that or we are going to have some very strange company structures where there are ranks and ranks of managers, enormous sales teams, huge design and R&D divisions and whole departments dedicated to making the tea!

Nonetheless, we can’t completely remove the human element from manufacturing. New skills will be needed to interact with automated technologies, programme machines, conceive materials and manufacturing solutions.

The same inventive minds that have come up with these automated technologies will continue to be employed coming up with ingenious systems to modernise manufacturing. The uncertain question is how many?

Ed Hill Deputy Editor