UK manufacturing needs a fresh look at automation systems 12 March 2012

Rolls-Royce is "working at the edge of science", with the joint requirements for complex aerodynamic geometries and robustness for its new aerospace products – building on the UK's world-class manufacturing heritage.

So says Chris Biddle, manufacturing systems executive at Rolls-Royce. Speaking at last week's Automating Britain conference, organised by GAMBICA and Intellect, he made the case for UK manufacturing and automation systems as key enablers.

Biddle, who heads the Rolls-Royce Centre of Competence that sits between manufacturing and IT, makes the point that, although industry has been through a torrid time, the emphasis now is positive, on rebalancing the economy – with manufacturing winners playing to their technical and organisational strengths.

Success, he suggested, is about innovation in the engineering and science of Rolls-Royce's products, but also – and just as important – in improving the sophistication of materials supply and of automation, in order to cut costs and improve agility throughout manufacturing.

Speaking of the company's long-term project to implement Siemens manufacturing execution systems, tightly linked with its PLM (product lifecycle management) and SAP ERP software, he said: "The benefits are huge, including in terms of our ability to change."

For him, this is not just about automating machine cycles, but whole processes, with people and departments part of the equation. "The integration of automation and people is key... Our shopfloor systems all link into SAP ERP and Siemens PLM, so there's a fully joined up flow of data from the master model to the product."

Biddle concedes that, for many, the ROI of this kind of development is difficult to assess – and hence some manufacturers' difficulties in investing in appropriate systems and automation.

Part of that, he says, is endemic in the British education system, which does not typically do well enough in terms of generating gifted engineers who are also promising business people.

"But banks want very good data [to back manufacturing automation projects] and manufacturing systems engineers don't typically have those skills," he observes.

Rolls-Royce is now working with HP and Siemens on the Manufacturing Technology Centre Catapult, which is all about providing a forum for UK manufacturers to accelerate projects from proof of concept to finished goods in a safe and flexible environment.

Brian Tnham

Related Companies
SAP (UK) Ltd
Siemens Industry Ltd

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