ADVANCED ENGINEERING SHOW PREVIEW
MANAGING UNCERTAINTY
ADVANCED ENGINEERING
WHAT COMPANIES ARE DOING TO
DRIVE POSITIVE CHANGE
The current economic climate in the UK
has created some uncertainty. Despite this,
UK businesses have been resilient in the
face of adversity and many are creatively
leading innovation in the engineering
sector. Here, Jeremy Whittingham, Head of
Marketing at Advanced Engineering, the
UK’s leading industrial trade show, explains
five ways businesses are managing
uncertainty.
1. SPEED UP INNOVATION
The speed at which businesses innovate
can take a hit during uncertain times.
Capital investment is likely to fall, decision
making on new projects can stagnate and
new product lifecycles can elongate.
However, for forward-thinking
organisations, the need to innovate and
invest in research and development (R&D)
becomes even more crucial during tough
times. For Xi Engineering, a digital twinning
expert who helps its customers speed up
innovation, this is exactly the case.
“We work with businesses across the globe
to solve engineering problems, in sectors
such as high-end audio, automotive,
renewable energy and transport” explains
Mark-Paul Buckingham, Managing Director
of Xi Engineering.
“We offer services like simulation and
accurate modelling to help our customers
trial innovations that would take longer if
done manually. Our customers benefit from
reduced development time, a reduction in
product cost and a decrease in the number
of product changes required during
manufacturing. This gives our clients the
ability to launch products more quickly
to market without the roadblock typically
associated with engineering product
development.”
2. DIVERSIFY YOUR SECTOR
OFFERING
In the battle to compete against their
rivals, many businesses can become highly
specialised in their product and sector
offering. During times of uncertainty, it can
be wise to step back and consider sectors
where your products and specialisms could
offer transferrable benefits.
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As global engineering company Renishaw
has found, this strategy can yield
surprisingly good results and has helped
the business double its employee numbers
to 5000 people in just eight years.
“Our success lies in the fact that we have
diversified in so many sectors,” explains
Jonathan Archer, General Manager for UK
sales at Renishaw. “For example, in the
medical sector, we’ve used our additive
manufacturing expertise to produce some
truly ground-breaking implants that would
otherwise be impossible to make.
“What we learnt was that, ironically, the
challenges that engineers face in the
high-precision industrial sector are not too
dissimilar to those faced by dentists and
surgeons in the medical sector. So, being
able to think laterally and applying your
expertise in non-traditional sectors is key.”
3. INSPIRE CUSTOMER
LOYALTY
It’s not just business strategy that can
be affected during times of uncertainty;
relationships can also take a negative hit.
That’s why it’s important that businesses
build closer ties with their customers and
their own supply chains to mitigate risk.
That’s what Kawasaki Robotics UK did
when its customers were uncertain about
investing in automation technologies. The
company, which forms the UK division of
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Japan, turned to
education to help strengthen its customer
relationships.
“Market uncertainty has led many
customers to be cautious about investing
in new digital technologies,” explains Ian
Hensman, Sales Manager for Kawasaki
Robotics UK. “This stems from a wider
uncertainty about the benefits of
automation technology and how they’ll
work alongside the human workforce.
“This is an ongoing issue and one that
we really have to help our customers
overcome. We’re doing this by educating
and supporting our customers more
closely on how they can integrate
digital technologies in a variety of
applications such as welding, material
handling, painting and small parts
assembly. In particular we’ve used our
latest collaborative robot product to
demonstrate how automation can work
alongside human workers.”