Safety in Numbers?

Safety in Numbers?

Recognise this scenario - as manufacturing director or production manager you invest money, time and effort to gain control and insight into your manufacturing operations. You know what’s working. You’re seeing improvement opportunities from automation and other initiatives. You’re even able to predict problems before they have an impact on productivity, quality or performance. And then, in come the accountants with their crude, elementary operational measures, questioning your performance. No one would listen to them…except they are speaking about the company’s financial results.

Small is beautiful - with reservations

Small is beautiful - with reservations 

A theme which has emerged this month has the different considerations which apply in large manufacturing organisations, compared to the SME sector. Consulting Editor Andy Pye looks at some of the implications.

SME manufacturers have been hailed as the rainmakers of the UK economy who could export Britain out of an £8.6 billion trade deficit, at the UK Manufacturing Summit. Factories, not finance houses, are now being recognised as Britain’s best hope for evading debt, an audience of government chiefs and leading industrialists at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers heard in March.

Squaring the circle - new magazine launch

Squaring the circle

Andy Pye, Consulting Editor, welcomes readers to the inaugural issue of Controls, Drives and Automation (CDA), a brand new bimonthly print magazine for readers in the UK. It is a new read for machine builders, systems integrators and other decision makers who are looking for products, solutions, technical and best practice advice in the areas of Motion Engineering, Power Transmission and Automation and a new route to market for manufacturers & suppliers.

New magazine launches are rare in this era, so perhaps this is the one and only time when it’s justified to be a little self-indulgent! One of the articles in this issue discusses how some aspects of automation haven’t changed as much as we might have hoped – most control cabinets are still hard wired – while another article discusses the rapidly evolving area of mobile SCADA. A third makes mention of the need to take account of legacy systems in rail automation. Definitely a case of mixing the old and the new. Finally we announce details of a significant events celebrating Automated Britain, which Gambica is hosting.