Skills, strategy and innovation - a blueprint for a productivity boosting manufacturing renaissance

The UK manufacturing sector is at a pivotal moment. The world is changing, global politics are in flux and whole economies are seeing seismic shifts. This unpredictability should be seen as an opportunity for a manufacturing renaissance, says Professor Ben Morgan, the new interim CEO of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. 

In the past ten years, whilst the world has been changing, one thing has remained constant in the UK - flat productivity. Global events, from Brexit and the Covid pandemic, to conflict and energy price increases - have created a difficult business backdrop, which has made it much harder for businesses to invest. There has been no certainty or easy bets.

I’m confident that we can turn this tide; that productivity can increase once again, and UK manufacturing can stand at the forefront of this mission.

We have a strong manufacturing sector in the UK, with a high percentage - roughly 90 per cent - of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). If we are to reverse the productivity stall, we have to look at how strategies align for a single vision - whether that is industrial, place based or others - and deliver for SMEs and the broader supply base alongside the primes.

We should not view this so much as a challenge but as an opportunity for a revolution in manufacturing. We have a once in a generation opportunity to kick start it too, with new energy programmes, like we’re seeing with small modular reactors (SMRs), wind turbines and floating offshore renewables - alongside new aerospace programmes and new defence programmes. Energy, mobility and infrastructure are all being looked at harder than ever by the government and industry but the time is now to accelerate these programmes and give industry the confidence it needs to invest.

Why? Because the world desperately needs new materials, new processes,  new products and new applications that give us national economic resilience, financial prosperity and environmental sustainability.

I think it is fair to say the current geopolitical situation has brought about a real period of global uncertainty. International conflicts and new trade tariffs have brought risk to global supply chains. With this as a backdrop, we are right to ask ourselves what all this means for the UK.

My feeling is that we have to try and control the controllables. For UK industry, and particularly for the AMRC, some of these controllables are developing cutting edge innovation, deploying that innovation, and a laser-like focus on skills and talent; making sure we are bringing through the next generation of makers  and looking at that future pipeline of talent much more broadly than we ever have before

A clean energy revolution

Building new nuclear energy power stations in the UK is a critical component of achieving growth and net zero.  The High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult is actively supporting the necessary technology development for both the leading companies but across the supply chain.  HVM Catapult centres such as the AMRC, the Manufacturing Technology Centre and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland are bringing the full innovation power of the network to support this shifting development for the UK. 

South Yorkshire is already home to the Rolls-Royce SMR Module Development Facility, which will produce working prototypes of the individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants, and key pathfinder technology projects in nuclear for Sellafield - to accelerate decommissioning capabilities;for Kairos Energy - on advanced modular reactor (AMR) technology - and the UK Atomic Energy Authority on fusion. 

The research and innovation, alongside the skills capabilities of the University of Sheffield, which is training the next generation of doctoral students, the AMRC Training Centre with its nuclear apprenticeships, and the fantastic regional business community such as Sheffield Forgemasters, Aesseal or AML, means we’re brilliantly placed to develop, de-risk, and deliver on the nuclear mission in South Yorkshire. As the UK’s first Investment Zone, and with industry giants like Holtec signing research agreements with the AMRC to collaborate in nuclear manufacturing, our region continues to be the beacon of world-leading advanced manufacturing research.

When it comes to energy, we know there is a baseload of power that the UK needs. We also know there is substantial energy demand coming from all of our homes, businesses and indeed data centres in the UK - we host the most in Europe after Germany - and these form the spine for our growing use of AI. The need for more clean power will only increase.

That surge in demand poses a real challenge and requires a mix of solutions. SMRs are part of the answer for providing the right amount of clean energy, close to the source of those data centres. And if the UK can be a pioneer in the small modular reactor (SMR) space and capture that supply chain, we could not just supply the UK-based development of SMRs but also export too to global markets. Just think that with SMRs coming on stream in the mid-2030s we could also see a potent solution to our growing need for hydrogen production and Sustainable Aviation Fuel as we seek to decarbonise our transport and industrial sectors.

These challenges are vast, but so is the potential. Building on the controllables, improving processes, driving innovation - if we can bring products to market quickly, we can ensure that the faith put in the manufacturing sector by the Government in the imminent Industrial Strategy, pays the economic dividends we all want to see. 

That’s why flagship projects like Composites at Speed and Scale (COMPASS) are so important. COMPASS, an £80m boost to composites research and development for aerostructure manufacturing in the UK will establish the vital methodology for the future production of Boeing’s next single aisle aircraft. It will need to be lighter weight than ever before and capable of being produced at a rate that can meet burgeoning global demand. This open access facility will reduce large component process times from ~40 hours to ~four hours, and is a brilliant demonstration of the global orientation of UK innovation capabilities. 

We can do it in aerospace, and we can do it in many more sectors.

Investing in skills

Diversity of thought for new products and processes is what is driving innovation; bringing fresh thinking and ideas to the table and stretching people’s preconceptions. That’s why we have to be looking beyond what we know as the ‘traditional’ engineer and STEM and more towards STEAM to include the creatives and the arts.

We’re already seeing the benefit of doing that at the AMRC. We’ve had apprentices coming through who are former teachers reskilling into a new career, and design students interning with us - weaving the arts and creativity into what we’re doing here in the innovation space. That kind of diversity of thought is especially important because of things like artificial intelligence (AI) - where we need to be leveraging AI into manufacturing. The financial industry has been proficient in the adoption of digitalisation and using technology to deliver financial services and the sector is now leading the charge with AI.

Manufacturing will do the same; to gain the competitive advantage we have to be that early adopter. But we also have to walk before we can run - there’s all sorts of technological pieces that we have to get in place first.

Building confidence for industrial innovation

To have a real chance at achieving and sustaining all of this, we need an industrial strategy that is integrated; across sectors and capabilities like AI, hydrogen and mobility, but also across government, and it needs to have longevity and teeth. We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes we saw with the 2015 industrial strategy that was aborted. What businesses need more than ever right now is certainty; to gain confidence to invest. And that is not from industry but with the investors that we need to come in behind industry. We need to build that confidence as a sector.

Publicly-procured programmes hold the potential to really jumpstart the advanced manufacturing renaissance - as long as we capture both the supply chain pieces alongside the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) elements. These programmes and their longevity, give confidence, and create a good base of manufacturing on which businesses can invest into innovation programmes and the skills that sustain them.

Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. It can start small; one robot and a few connected machines. To do it on a bigger scale, to really impact productivity, bringing in the right skills, innovation and supply chain, it takes time. We have to start sowing the seeds of innovation now and to also think about how we do that with a place-based approach.

AMRC Cymru and AMRC North West are both aligned to their regional economies, whether through skill sets, capabilities, or the technology we’re developing, trying to drive productivity and adoption for SMEs. They have fantastic track records of impacting the region, whether that’s AMRC Cymru’s Accelerating Decarbonisation and Productivity through Technology and Skills (ADAPTS) Flintshire programme that’s elevated scale-up opportunities for SMEs, and enabled their adoption of digital tools, or its work with BAE Systems to investigate how digital technologies - along with greener, sustainable solutions - can be used to elevate the RAF’s fleet of frontline aircraft.

At AMRC North West, the team there is building on its successful 5G Factory of the Future programme with Factory of the Future Open RAN (FoFoRAN) exploring accessible and affordable 5G Open RAN options for manufacturing, to increase the resilience of the UK mobile network and ensure we’re not overly reliant on any one form of technology. Research and development programmes like these are huge for the UK economy, with the potential to support thousands of jobs, with the technology developed spilling out into other sectors.

Place-based investment and innovation

We see this support too in the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult, working closely with the other member centres to develop a forward strategy, and ensure that we’re building on opportunities; for the nation, and anchored in place, whether that’s Coventry or Darlington, South Yorkshire or Lancashire. 

This anchoring of opportunity sees us working with local government. In the South Yorkshire region we have a lot of advanced manufacturing assets, and we’re perfectly placed to power the opportunities. There are highly innovative businesses there ready, developing skills and innovation with a strong link into the ecosystem - it’s key we capture that nascent talent and business in the market. Our work with Magnetic Systems Technology, to devise and improve processes and enable high-volume manufacture of traction motors, enabled the business to revolutionise its manufacturing process, ensuring a cleaner and 35 per cent faster process that yields a more consistent product.

Through comprehensive evaluation and implementation of cutting-edge manufacturing processes, and factory simulation AMRC has been instrumental in shaping Magtec's industrial roadmap, embedding sustainable improvements that provide both immediate and long-term impacts while providing Magtec with a clear roadmap of ‘Blueprint 5000’, outlining a strategic path to achieving an ambitious build rate of 5,000 motors annually, representing a six-fold increase in capacity.

The local work we’ve been doing means we’re seeing invitations to collaborate further afield. With our fellow HVM Catapult centre, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), we’ve started an exciting journey in South Wales, with the opening of HVM Catapult Baglan. AMRC Cymru engineers will be running the centre’s digital factory hub, with links to green steel and offshore renewables in the Celtic Sea - there’s a swell of excitement for the connectivity here between North and South Wales, two big areas of industry. We need to keep building these relationships, but we also have to be in a position where we’re structured in a way that gives us the agility to respond.

There’s a huge amount of experience and talent within the AMRC family. When I started here, the business looked a lot different. It was sparking relationships, and with a vision and relentless hard work, that allowed us to grow. It’s a privilege to hold the reins now and take the AMRC forward. I’ve been here for 17 years, and my career has taken me from ‘shop floor to top floor’, starting as an engineer and now leading the organisation. 

In my mind, it’s like we’re at Everest base camp right now, regrouping and readying ourselves because we want to head to the summit. I know there’s a lot more we can do; we have a lot more to give, there’s more impact we can make to fulfil our purpose of transforming lives through innovation - and we will.