At a high-powered conference in Coventry, manufacturing leaders from across Europe said the latest industrial revolution opened up huge potential for manufacturers, but companies needed to invest in intelligent automation and the best people to reap the benefits.
The digitising of the factory and supply chain has been described as the biggest change in manufacturing industry since the introduction of the first robots.
The conference, held by the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, aimed to mobilise industry, working with government and private organisations to drive the digitisation of the UK manufacturing sector. Entitled “Digitising Manufacturing 2016", the event brought together manufacturing leaders from across Europe to inspire UK businesses and organisations to embrace change.
Among those attending was Tim Dafforn, chief scientific adviser at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ernst Stӧckl-Pukall, head of division in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Tom Egan of the UK Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Leadership Group and Tim Page, senior policy officer at the TUC. They were joined by senior representatives from British, German and Swedish industry and representatives from Siemens, Bosch Rexroth, Hayward Tyler and the British Standards Institute.
Mr Stӧckl-Pukall said the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was about to publish its Digital Strategy 2025 to cover growth, employment, skills and the regulatory framework.
“In Germany, a digital infrastructure is planned which will provide internet speeds of at least 50mbps for everyone in the country by 2018,” he said. “By 2025 this will have been upgraded to a gigabit fibre-optic network for all business. A favourable regulatory environment will encourage private investment, and investment funds will be available to support nationwide coverage.”
MTC www.the-mtc.org
