On 10th July, InterAct Future of Work co-investigator, Professor Colin Lindsay joined the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce and industry guests at British Sugar, Peterborough to share insights on manufacturing workforces.
Professor Lindsay spoke to a wide range of stakeholders from across the region to discuss the barriers and potential solutions to the challenge of developing future talent – a key focus of the area’s Local Skills Improvement Plan.
Make UK have highlighted the scale of the problem of an aging manufacturing workforce: 1 in 5 employees are aged 55 and over, with 20% of workers set to retire in the next decade. This urgent issue has been investigated by the InterAct Future of Work team, culminating in the publication of the ‘Making Things Work’ – Perceptions of Manufacturing’ report in late 2023.
This report, based on a survey of over 2100 people, addressed the serious issue of how the UK public perceives the manufacturing sector. The researchers placed the spotlight on concerns such as the fact ‘over 70% of respondents have not heard or read anything about manufacturing in the last year’. The survey found that concerns over the sustainability, perceptions of low pay and a lack of flexible working were driving younger and more diverse potential applicants away.
Attendees of the session had the opportunity to discuss these findings, before hearing from Enguinity’s Fiona McGarry about how manufacturers can start to tackle the problem of attracting and engaging with younger generations through innovative solutions.
Discussing the event, Professor Lindsay said: “It was a pleasure to be able to address such a wide ranging group of manufacturers and key stakeholders in the sector. It is encouraging to see how receptive businesses are to the message we’re sharing, and that we’re starting to see real traction in addressing what is a huge and growing issue for industry.”
InterAct was pleased to be able to sponsor and join the inaugural meeting of the Leicestershire group of the East Midlands Manufacturing Network (EMMN) on 5th July at the STEM Lab of Loughborough University.
This exciting development from the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce expanded the regional Manufacturing Network into Leicestershire as a whole, bringing together key players from manufacturing, technology, trade bodies and policy. This introductory session focused on the scale of manufacturing challenges for the region. Participants had the opportunity to share business perspectives and hear about the insights from research aimed at supporting UK manufacturing.
InterAct representatives discussed the scope of the Network, how it can support local businesses and the benefits of the many core and commissioned research projects. Attendees then had the chance to hear from Dr. Kate Broadhurst about her work as part of an InterAct funded project examining the potential of ‘Open Innovation’. This project aims to create roadmaps outlining best practice for collaborative open innovation, designed to help overcome the challenges of technological development and implementation.
InterAct will be continuing to support the EMMN as it grows, if you are interested in collaborating with likeminded manufacturers in the East Midlands region, you can find out more here.
The InterAct team kicked off a series of InterAct Global research missions with a visit to Singapore at the end of June 2024. InterAct Global is expansion of the project, designed to bring insights from international manufacturing and technological innovation to the UK sector. This visit enabled the team to engage with the manufacturers, technology providers and support organisations that have driven Singapore’s industrial development.
InterAct is hoping to create both local and global impact by exchanging knowledge with international players in the worldwide manufacturing ecosystem. These missions will help to better understand the competitive advantages of other countries, learn from them, and exchange best practices and processes. Providing these insights to UK businesses and policymakers, the project aims to tackle the future challenges of digital transformation across three key areas: ecosystems, economies, and workplaces.
Singapore represents an interesting case study for innovation, with a strong track record of economic growth and clearly defined strategies for industrial development. The nation’s role as a hub for trade, finance and technology in the region demonstrates the potential benefits of a unified approach. The team had the chance to explore this in more depth through visits to various organisations and companies including:
InterAct had the chance to expand upon these visits and discussions with a full day workshop hosted at the ARTC, bringing together staff from various additional businesses, including M, Mitsubishi, Edwards and Kowa Skymech.
This engaging session offered participants the chance to hear from both InterAct Co-directors and A*STAR staff as they discussed:
Building the next-gen workforce: Professor Jillian MacBryde’s session highlighting the importance of talent acquisition, development, and reskilling to bridge the skills gap.
Digital transformation: Professor Janet Godsell’s talk shed light on creating efficient digital ecosystems within supply chains and manufacturing landscapes.
AI-powered future: Dr. Haiyue Zhu showcased cutting-edge AI-powered smart robotics and the transformative potential of automation.
Singapore’s decarbonisation roadmap: Daren Tan outlined Singapore’s ambitious plans for decarbonisation, addressing environmental challenges head-on.
Attendees also contributed to an extended shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the manufacturing sector through two workshops built around the approaches of the InterAct Future of Work and Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems teams.
We want to thank all of our generous hosts and partners for the success of this mission, and look forward to bringing more insights from our further global engagement activities.
We hear a lot about the impact of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing, but it can be a complex and thorny issue to definitively explain. The term has become synonymous with smart manufacturing and the introduction of new digital technologies within the sector. Technologists talk about the Internet of Things (IoT), AI and machine learning, robotics or the power of cloud computing, but what does it all mean?
InterAct welcomed Dr. Olivér Kovács of the Ludovika University of Public Services, Budapest to an online session on 23rd May to share his insights on the 4th Industrial Revolution, how technological change can be accomplished and what key barriers to innovation remain.
Dr. Kovács is a Hungarian economist whose research embraces two fields:
Sustainable development through the lens of complexity science (including structural change, techno-economic paradigm shifts, Industry 4.0, state fiscal sustainability and the theoretical and empirical issues of fiscal policy and fiscal consolidations)
Innovation and innovation policy
He has been a member of public body of Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2015 (Economics and Law Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Committee on World Economics and Development Studies), a member of the EuroMoney Expert Panel since 2010, and a member of the Darwin Club for Social Sciences which is equipped with the idea of applying evolutionary and complexity approaches to socio-economic phenomena.
Dr. Kovacs has published several books including:
Stability and Dynamism – Fundamentals of Innovative Fiscal Policy
Complexity Economics: Economic Governance, Science and Policy
Reversing the Great Suppression – Unleashing the Catalytic Public Sector for Innovation Dynamism
You can watch the full session on our YouTube channel.
Recent InterAct research from the Strathclyde University based ‘Future of Work’ team has highlighted the major issue of UK public perception of the manufacturing sector. In the emerging ‘war for talent’, perceptions are essential to providing a snapshot of public opinion about the attraction of the sector and the desirability of working in manufacturing. They may not measure up against ‘reality’, they may be ‘misinformed’, but ultimately they significantly shape the workforce of the future.
In an effort to start changing the narrative around manufacturing, InterAct has partnered with expert creative change consultants GW+Co to deliver an online workshop for manufacturing leaders on 23rd May. The session explored the underlying issues for manufacturing, address the myths of modern branding and introduce ways for you to enact meaningful change within your business.
Attendees had the chance to work with GW+Co’s CEO, Gilmar Wendt, to learn about his innovative approach to tackling the brand and perception challenges of their own organisations, including:
How three manufacturing businesses have changed perceptions by aligning their people with brand, culture, and strategy.
Tools and approaches that deliver successful brands by tapping into the existing skills and knowledge within a business.
Training in a technique developed by GW+Co that helps businesses to identify the pitfalls specific to their business, and documents outcomes in a way that ensure project success and team cohesion.
If you are interested in learning more about the perception challenge facing the manufacturing sector, read our recent reports, which will be joined later this year by further work on practical guidance for rebranding.
You can listen to a summary of some of the key takeaways from the report by Dr. Robert Stewart for ManufacturingTV below
On the 5th June, Innovate UK’s Made Smarter Innovation Showcase took place at Smart Factory Expo.
For the past four years, Made Smarter Innovation Alley at Smart Factory Expo has been a key platform for connecting technology companies with manufacturers, however this year it had a strong focus on celebrating the incredible achievement of organisations the industrial challenge (ISCF) has supported.
The event was an opportunity for the dynamic display of cutting-edge companies and academic organisations. The showcase highlighted success stories where organisations have leveraged the Challenge’s support to become leaders in areas like carbon abatement, resilience, and productivity and people running through the heart of the Showcase.
Smart Factory Expo saw over 13,000 attendees across the 2 days who explored over 200 exhibitions. Made Smarter Innovation hosted over 30 organisations, including InterAct, on their stand.
Made Smarter Innovation supported a number of engaging talks across the Smart Factory Expo theatres:
Made Smarter Innovation Challenge update from Deputy Challenge Director Dr. Ben Farmer (Innovate UK).
InterAct also had the chance to showcase the latest animated videos from the ‘Insights from History’ project, highlighting the important lessons for innovators that can be drawn from past industrial revolutions. You can watch the full series on our YouTube channel.
On 16th April, InterAct Co-directors Professor Janet Godsell and Professor Jillian MacBryde joined audiences from across the manufacturing, digital technology, policy and academic communities at MACH24 and the ‘Future of UK Manufacturing’ Conference to discuss the strides InterAct is making to deliver new human insights into the digitalisation of manufacturing.
MACH24 is one of the UK’s largest manufacturing focused trade shows, bringing together over 500 exhibitors – all eager to showcase their latest cutting edge, innovative products and services across many sectors. InterAct was present for three days this year, with a stand in the Engineering Supply Chain Show where researchers and InterAct staff had the chance to engage with dozens of businesses.
The ‘Future of UK Manufacturing’ conference is an event organised by High Value Manufacturing Catapult, EPSRC and the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge, which brings together leaders from academia, government and industry. This year’s line up of speakers included: Sarah Sharples, Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department for Transport, Katherine Bennett CBE from the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Benjamin Nicol from the Advanced Manufacturing team at the Department for Business and Trade, and Professor Jillian MacBryde, InterAct Co-director and Vice-Dean of Strathclyde Business School.
Visiting the events at the NEC, Birmingham and Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield respectively, Professors Godsell and MacBryde delivered talks focusing on the scope of the InterAct Network’s projects, our growth over the past two years and the exciting forthcoming research outputs.
Discussing her session at the ‘Future of UK Manufacturing’ conference, Professor MacBryde said: “It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to be here with so many voices from across the industry, policy, and academic divide, all discussing how we can drive forward a bold vision for the future of manufacturing in the UK.
We are conducting a lot of really valuable work concerning the integral role of people and human insights in the digitalisation process, and it’s been great to have the opportunity to deliver a overview of what we’re doing to such a receptive audience. The discussions we’ve engaged in here today will definitely help to inform our research going forward.”
To improve productivity and efficiency the manufacturing sector has regularly looked to evolve its systems and embrace new technologies. More recently the pace of change has intensified as we see the emergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, advanced analytics, cobotics, and smart manufacturing. Learning from past challenges, particularly in the 1980s when the adoption of robotics faced obstacles due to insufficient consideration of human factors, centres like the Made Smarter Innovation: Centre for People-Led Digitalisation have recognised the important role that people play in the adoption and acceptance of new technologies.
Although digital technologies have the promise of creating significant economic, environmental and societal benefits, they also have the potential to substantially alter the future of work – the jobs people do and how people work. The world is currently at a crucial decision point – what do we want the future of work to look like?
Taking a people-led approach to digitalisation aims at improving the outcome of the adoption of digital technologies. This is achieved through prior explicit consideration and planned appropriate action that prioritises human needs and working patterns in the design and implementation of digitalised work systems.
The team at People-Led Digitalisation are seeking to publish innovative research which explores the human element of digitalisation, be that in the design of digital technologies or the implementation of digital technologies within a manufacturing environment.
They are welcoming original research, reviews, impact and industrial case studies, from the perspective of improving manufacturing performance such as (but not limited to); increased productivity, reduction in environmental impacts, re-imagining manufacturing jobs, people-led digital change. The following top-level themes should be used as a basis:
The future of work in manufacturing to 2030 and beyond,
Stakeholder engagement in digital change,
Digital skills,
Industrial Digital Tools for good work,
Metrics of success in digitalisation projects,
Enablers and barriers to the adoption of digital technologies,
Readiness for digital change,
People-led approach to design of digital technologies.
The InterAct ‘Future of Work’ team consisting of Dr. Robert Stewart, Professor Jill MacBryde, Professor Colin Lindsay and Carolina Marin Cadavid (University of Strathclyde) have published a new report drawing from their 2023 survey of UK public perceptions of manufacturing. ‘Making Things Work’ – Perceptions of Manufacturing is an insightful examination of the survey findings that looks at issues such as:
Whether people still value (and how positive they feel about) manufacturing in the post-industrial economy, and their awareness of manufacturing in the media
What people associate with manufacturing work and jobs, and what qualities they are looking for in jobs that need to be reflected in job offers to attract talent
The perceived quality of manufacturing jobs for those currently working in (or familiar with) the sector and whether people would encourage others to enter the sector
How new manufacturing technologies are likely to change future jobs and careers in manufacturing
How can the sector best attract emerging young and ‘untapped’ talent
Discussing the report findings, Dr. Robert Stewart said: “In the ‘war for talent’ perceptions matter because they provide a snapshot of public opinion about the attraction of the sector and working in manufacturing. They may not measure up against ‘reality’, they may be ‘misinformed’ but ultimately this matters more to many of the people we interviewed than employers and industry stakeholders.
However, if you are wondering how people in the UK look at the sector, or how employers should be best positioned to attract people into manufacturing, ignore them at your peril.
Our results throw up some surprising and interesting findings that we hope will offer insight to, and spark further investigation from, academics, employers, industry stakeholders and UK policy makers.”
“Companies need to figure out now how to survive in the future by selling less.” That was the message Professor Janet Godsell conveyed to female supply chain executives at Supply Chain Superwomen. The event, organised by Supply Chain Media to mark International Women’s Day, proved to be a unique opportunity to share supply chain challenges and visualise future scenarios in an open atmosphere.
Female supply chain executives gathered from across Europe at a hotel at Schiphol Airport on 8 March to attend Supply Chain Superwomen. For many of the 45 participants, normally outnumbered by their male colleagues, the event proved to be an eye-opener as they suddenly realised how many women hold top positions in their field. Supply Chain Superwomen was an opportunity to support each other as role models and to encourage more women to run for top jobs.
Diversity leads to higher profitability
“We need to attract more women into supply chain,” said Martijn Lofvers, founder and chief trendwatcher of Supply Chain Media and chair of the event. “Not only do we have to enlarge the supply chain talent pool, we also know that diversity leads to higher profitability as it brings more insight, better decision-making and it drives innovation.”
According to a recent Gartner and Awesome report the percentage of women in the supply chain workforce in 2023 was 41%, compared with 35% in 2016. Just 34% of first line managers are female, falling further to 31% at senior management level and 26% at senior vice president level. “The percentage of women in supply chain is rising, but it’s not fast enough and requires more action by the talents themselves, their managers and HR managers. It is also imperative for the talents to have a supporting sponsor,’’ said Lofvers.
Building future scenarios
With the focus of the event on innovation, Professor Janet Godsell, dean of Loughborough Business School, UK, was invited to lead a workshop on building future scenarios to stimulate the delegates to think out of the box, to start a journey and to make a bolder first step.
“Women need to be brave in organizations to make disruption,” she said. “Since the industrial revolution we have pursued consumption-driven economic growth based not on what we need but on what we want. Now we recognize that this is destroying the planet, hampering social equity and widening the gap between rich and poor,’’ said Godsell.
Surviving with less sales
‘‘Today we are at a pivotal point and we need to make a fundamental change in the way we pursue growth in order to better balance the environmental, social and economic cost of growth. Looking to the future we have to consider the challenges, the trade-offs and the opportunities. Companies today have to work out how to survive in the future by selling less.”
With that in mind, the workshop based on backcasting, a visual approach to scenario-building by creating postcards, stimulated discussion, decision-making and most importantly drawings that depicted the future, in this case 2040. “Backcasting tries to shake people out of their current mind-set and to get them thinking differently about how a digitally-enabled supply chain can look,” explained Godsell.
Dragon’s Den
Earlier in the day three start-ups were invited to enter the Dragons’ Den and deliver their pitches: Lox Solution, which coordinates all carriers during the last-mile delivery, The Climate Choice, an intelligence platform that collects and audits data to enable scope 3 decarbonization, and Winddle, a supply chain collaborative platform to create ecosystems.
The delegates were invited to spend their money – poker chips in this case – on the start-up that had most potential to help them with their supply chain challenges. While all three were relevant, managing sustainability was the biggest issue for many. Consequently, the winner was Lara Obst of The Climate Choice.
