October 2020

COMMENT n ALL ABOARD FOR THE DIGITAL JOURNEY In the past few years, we’ve heard plenty about digitalisation and how it is going to revolutionise manufacturing. Companies have been told that they need to adopt technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, the IIoT and 3D printing, if they are going to remain competitive. But have they been listening and, more importantly, are they doing anything to adopt these technologies? Well, a new report* from Make UK and the cloud computing specialist Infor paints a mixed picture. The survey follows up on one carried out two years ago and there has certainly been progress since then. The percentage of UK manufacturers that have done nothing about digitalisation has dropped from 30% in 2018 to 11% in 2020, while at the other end of the scale, the number that have actually implemented digital technologies has risen from 4% to 13%. In between, the bulk of manufacturers are aware of the concepts and are considering implementing them (up from 27% in 2018 to 34% now) or are already introducing digital technologies (from 39% to 42%). The manufacturers report that the main barriers to further, faster digitalisation are a lack of suitable skills and scarcity of finance – especially following the loss of business as a result of Covid-19. Other hindrances include poor knowledge of government assistance schemes, and a lack of help for SMEs. Other countries – Germany and Japan, for example – have extensive support schemes to help SMEs to modernise. The report also reveals large regional differences in the adoption of digital technologies. The government’s Made Smarter pilot in the North West has resulted in 20% of small manufacturers in the area already having reached the highest level of digital implementation (bettered only by the South East, on 33%). The pilot offers SMEs financial assistance, an advisory service and training, and report calls for similar schemes to be rolled out across the rest of the country. By contrast, in the West Midlands, 18% of manufacturers have done nothing about digitalisation and just 9% are in the top tier of adoption. And in Wales, about a quarter of manufacturers have not yet thought about going digital. Although the Covid pandemic has highlighted the potential advantages of technologies such as remote monitoring, it has also hit many manufacturers’ r&d spending plans, with around 40% saying that they are cutting investments. The report calls for fiscal incentives to support digitalisation and r&d – for example, in the form of additional allowances for technology-related investments. But, it adds, that industry must also play its part in delivering a digital future for British manufacturing. In particular, SMEs need to accept that digitalisation is essential and to make it a strategic priority in their plans if the UK is to remain globally competitive. The report shows that given the right level of support and assistance – as has happened in the Made Smarter pilot – most UK manufacturers will readily adopt new technologies. What we need now is for the government to make such support more widely available. Tony Sacks, Editor * The report, Bouncing Back Smarter: InnovationMonitor 2020 , can be downloaded fromwww.makeuk.org/insights/reports/innovation-monitor-2020 BLH Series Oriental Motor (UK) LTD www.oriental-motor.co.uk – info@oriental-motor.co.uk – 01256 347 090 EZS Series AZ Series CVK Series BLE2 Series KIIS Series DGII -Serie KIIS Series AngleGearboxes STEPPER- MOTORS BLDC MOTORS AC MOTORS ACTUA- TORS We have the solution. Position. Transport . Rotate Drives & Controls: Oriental Motor’s AZ Series in Robotic Applications Oriental Motor has developed a range of robots to demonstrate the features and functionality of their AZ Series: 7-Axis Robot Cost-effective in-house solution for high-precision robotics applications. Manufacturers can build a 7-Axis Robot to their exact specifications. Powered using AZ Stepper Motors and perfect for moving and manipulation tasks. EH Series Electric Gripper Ideal for inclusion in a wide range of production lines. Manipulates components and undertakes complex tasks such as measuring a component’s size or density. Using the AZ Stepper Motor, the gripper drops components into position and feedbacks back if it’s the correct size and fit. For more information about Oriental Motor’s AZ Series, call the Oriental Motor team on +44 (0)1256 347090 .

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