New smart factory helps UK tech take flight
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How a digitally connected, first of its kind, collaborative hub will help the north prosper
October 21 2020, 12:01am
‘The challenge is to ensure that the UK will have world-class design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities that can deliver military aircraft for the next hundred years,” says Professor Andy Schofield, technology delivery director at BAE Systems’ military aircraft facility in Lancashire. “We need to work in areas like digital manufacturing, intelligent automation, additive manufacturing, smart structures such as the use of embedded sensors, and more intelligent infrastructure.”
This is the basis of BAE Systems’ Factory of the Future and it will be a key enabler to deliver the Tempest – a future combat aircraft system that will enter service with the RAF in 2035 and is predicted to support an average of 20,000 jobs every year from 2026 to 2050, as well as contributing at least £25 billion to the UK economy in the first 30 years alone. The Factory of the Future represents the company’s embrace of Industry 4.0 (known as the fourth industrial revolution)which is the automation of manufacturing industry using 5G and AI technology.
It’s vital to the economy of northern England. BAE Systems is one of the region’s largest high-tech manufacturers, employing 21,000 people across 12 sites. It works with thousands of suppliers, including many SMEs, and invests hundreds of millions in the local economy. The Factory of the Future is not a single site, though. Rather, it is an ecosystem that takes in dozens of businesses ranging from BAE Systems to small local companies, as well as research organisations, academia and a talent academy. It is a test bed for the development of next-generation aerospace materials – including graphene – in a joint project with the University of Manchester. The Factory of the Future also supports the creation of new hubs, but is as much virtual as physical. It is highly connected and networked, and makes extensive use of technologies such as the internet of things, AI and machine learning, 5G and smart sensors.
In practice, one of the biggest goals is to bring companies’ supply chains much closer together and drive efficiencies. Advanced data analysis, says Schofield, means that businesses will be able to predict supply chain problems and help reconfigure operational procedures. All of this is very good news for small businesses. Donna Edwards of the Made Smarter North West technology adoption programme, which encourages SMEs to use digital technologies and skills, says: “Companies like BAE have pushed new technologies and best practice down the supply chain – so you’re seeing a lot of systems integration and supply chain integration. When companies start adopting these technologies, you see rapid improvements in productivity.”
Melissa Conlon, of Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), says she hopes the Factory of the Future and associated investment will help close the productivity gap between the northwest and other areas. “The ripple effects could boost manufacturing across the whole of the north of England and drive the adoption of new technologies.”
So, what does this mean on the ground? Michael Gibson is MD of Miralis, a logistics optimisation company that works with BAE. He explains: “There are increasingly high volumes of sensitive goods moving around in the supply chain, particularly when it comes to projects like fighter jets. Production lines can shut down when items do not arrive on time or are damaged, so what we’re developing is a chain of custody system using 5G.”
The benefits will be large and small and often surprising. Perhaps the greatest effect, says Ben Morgan of AMRC, will be pushing out cutting edge tech to SMEs. “Look at something like reconfigurable robotics, where a robot can be used to perform many tasks – if BAE can crack that it will be revolutionary when rolled out to SMEs,” he says.
SMEs will be able to invest in automation – perhaps to build Tempest components – but then use it to build virtually anything. “They can use the robots profitably to do small batches of work, which will create high value jobs and have knock-on effects all over the area.”
Training, upskilling and diversity are vital in the Factory of the Future. Here, BAE Systems works with the IN4.0 Group to deliver a 12-week specialist digital skills training programme for 70 northwest-based science and engineering graduates, 50 per cent of whom are women. The scheme is supported by the Fast Track Fund, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. IN4.0 Group CEO Mo Isap says: “We need to unlock talent from the most diverse backgrounds and narrow the digital skills gap. The IN4.0 talent academy serves as a bonus term for graduates to be fully equipped as digital champions in industry.”
Andy Schofield sums it up best: “The Factory of the Future is a huge opportunity to work together to deliver benefits for the north and build manufacturing capabilities fit for the next century.”
POWERING THE NORTH
On October 20, The Times held a panel event, in association with BAE Systems, on Powering the North. It was hosted by Simon Duke, Business Technology Editor of The Times, and you can watch the video below. This is some of what our panellists had to say about preparing northern manufacturing for a more digital future…
Luke Georghiou, deputy president and deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester: “The North” is sometimes too easy a shorthand to use. There are real differences. The Northeast is heavy engineering. The Northwest is much more manufacturing-based. Right across the region, we have significant agricultural elements as well. We have cities, we have towns, and we have rural areas. Always different interests and economic bases.
Nigel Whitehead, director, external affairs, BAE Systems: I think we are galvanised in the North by some of the common themes: that economic requirement to improve our performance, the distance between the North and the prosperous Southeast, and the need to connect across the region. It is possible, I think, to lay out a strategy for the area, which will include an industrial strategy focusing on centres of excellence, perhaps placed around the regions.
Jo Lappin, chief executive, Cumbria Enterprise Partnership: The Local Enterprise Partnerships in the North have come together to say that we can work together on clean energy, which is a huge growth opportunity. We’re already net contributors to the grid in terms of electricity. We also see that we’ve got a very strong trade and investment offer, and there’s plenty to sell in terms of lifestyle and opportunity in the North. And then there’s industrial strategy. For me, industrial strategies have got to be local industrial strategies. So, they’ve absolutely got to be about data, intelligence and analysis, and we must then provide a very specific local response.
Sam Olsen, chief executive officer, Movement to Work: One of our partners is Accenture. They did a piece of research recently that shows that only 13 per cent of businesses are realising the full impact of their digital investments, which relates to a cost of about £16 billion in the UK.
Luke Georghiou: One of the key challenges that we have in the North is that we have a long tail of lagging firms. The way to improve those firms is to increase what we call their “absorptive capacity”, their ability to take on the latest ideas and technology. To do that, they need well-trained, skilled people.
Nigel Whitehead: Regarding industrial strategy, through government procurement processes, there are some key examples of where they can prime the pump on that. The Tempest programme, which is the next generation of combat aircraft, is already being developed in the Northwest. A thousand people are working on that today – 2,500 people will be by this time next year. Over the life of the programme, we’ll generate about £100 billion for the Exchequer. If that is expressed through a region, it can have a profound effect. That, indeed, is the route we’re on.