n TALKING INDUSTRY LIVE Sent to Coventry The inaugural Talking Industry Live conference took place at the MTC last month. Moving from its on-line format to an in-person version, the event started with keynote session dedicated to a case study in digital transformation, followed by three themed discussions. Chair Andy Pye reviews the day. Talking Industry 42 June 2023 www.drivesncontrols.com Talking Industry Live kicked off with a keynote session entitled How to grow from £7m to £70m through the adoption of digital technologies. Unusually, it comprised a double-act – a discussion between Mike Hague-Morgan, executive director of Autocraft Solutions Group, and Dr Megan Ronayne, head of industrial technologies and manufacturing at Innovate UK KTN. The KTN and the Catapult network played a vital role in Autocraft’s digital journey from being a traditional manufacturer using hand tools and paper-based systems, to a high-tech company with world-class quality, repeatability and digital traceability. The change has been the catalyst for its turnover climbing from £7m to £70m. Hague-Morgan explained that he started his journey in manufacturing, working at Ford. By 26, he had been promoted to commercial director in a large multinational company and, due to the decline in some areas of manufacturing, had become something of an expert in consolidating sites and downsizing businesses! In 2007, he was headhunted to join Autocraft Solutions Group (ASG), owned by US-based ATC Drivetrain. This traditional business had been profitable in the late 1990s, but turnover had dropped from £20m to £7m and it was losing £1m a year. “ASG had not won a contract in five years and consolidated from over 200 people to 98,” Hague-Morgan explained. “At this time, engines were unreliable and there were lots of businesses like ASG. There was consolidation of the industry, and I was brought to ASG to manage the consolidation, to the point that ASG would be the last engine remanufacturer business remaining in the UK.” He was given 18 months to turn it around, but 12 months in, the American owners decided to close it. Hague-Morgan decided to buy the business. “I had 98 workers to think about and keep their jobs, with multigenerations of families working for this business.”He had just four weeks to get the money to buy the business. He and two partners needed to find £500,000 and £150,000 of their own money, which they would lose if it went wrong. He used a lump sum from his mother's pension to buy the shares! Happily, his instincts proved correct and he managed to save the business and double its turnover to £14m, returning the money he had borrowed in a relatively short time. The digital revolution By 2015, a big step-change in engine technology was underway, both on emissions and efficiency. Remanufacturing increased, so Autocraft had to ramp up without having the money to invest. At the time, the company was still relying on hand tools, lots of paperwork and a lack of traceability. At the same time, talk was starting about Industry 4.0 – the digitalisation of the manufacturing sector. Businesses were starting to record data for traceability and productivity improvements. In 2017, digital adoption and the importance of digital technologies were ramped up with the Made Smarter Review, led by former Siemens CEO Juergen Maier and Innovate UK KTN’s manufacturing team. Hague-Morgan started to attend KTN events and learned from lots of different factories and manufacturing environments. In 2017, he was invited to a KTN workshop at the Catapult, which was trying to get companies to invest in digital technologies. Tentative steps into computer vision followed, when the company bought its first robot and camera, which it integrated and programmed in-house. The keynote session was presented by Mike Hague-Morgan and Dr Megan Ronayne
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