Author: European Springs Web Team

2018 has been an exciting and progressive year for the manufacturing industry. In December 2017, Industry Week offered up a number of predictions for 2018, stating ‘Technologies that will have the greatest impact include cloud, mobile, big data and analytics, and internet of things (IoT),’ and it’s fair to say this prediction has been pretty accurate.

In this post we take a look over the past year in manufacturing and also take a glimpse into what we can expect from the industry in 2019.

Virtual Reality

It is rare that a company survives in a modern working environment without using some kind of digital technology, and it could easily be argued that virtual reality has been at the forefront of much change.

A large number of spring manufacturers are adopting this challenging and impressive technology in an effort to engage more with the front-end consumer. Through cloud-based crowd sourcing, product virtualisation and the integration of social media, manufacturers are taking a step forward in product innovation and development, connecting more deeply and more successfully with their consumers to ensure a better response to customer needs.

Both manufacturer and consumer alike have seen success through the implementation of this technology, making it one of the leading trends of the year.

Whilst the end product and customer satisfaction are hugely important to a manufacturing company, what goes on behind the scenes is just as crucial, if not even more so. There is a real sense of urgency for manufacturers to become digitised across the board, especially when it comes to connectivity and up-to-the-minute analytical data collection.

In their discussion on manufacturing trends of 2018, Strategy& noted: ‘72 percent of manufacturing companies surveyed by PwC said they are dramatically increasing their level of digitisation and expect to be able to be ranked as digitally advanced by 2020, compared with just 33 percent today.’ This is an exciting move for the industry, and throughout 2018 a rising number of manufacturers have begun utilising more connected equipment, including actuators, sensors and data analysis software that provides and shares critical, real-time data with other networks, servers and machines via the cloud.

Greater connectivity means employees and factories are working smarter, not harder, and increased supply chain visibility has been a substantial achievement for many companies.

Internet of Things

However, the widely scrutinised Internet of Things (IoT) is a comparatively new technology and brings with it benefits as well as some setbacks. Despite its increased implementation throughout 2018, there is still a lack of standardisation across the board; implementing numerous systems across numerous networks and machines can be lengthy and costly in more complex manufacturing environments.

Some experience trepidation at long testing periods whilst others are distressed at the thought of obsolescence of newly purchased machines. Those more careful companies should not wait for too long to join the technological revolution, though, as those already embedded claim it is fast-paced and tactical.

What Can We Expect In 2019?

With technology at the forefront of the industry, there is a rising need for data scientists to enable future growth. Whilst AI and predictive analytics will continue to infiltrate the industry, Erich Gampenrieder, the Global Head of Operations Advisory at KPMG in Germany says, ‘Successful transformation is all about people.’ Data scientists will play a crucial part in shaping the industry over the coming years, providing insight and intuition into which sectors of the industry to advance first and where to focus the biggest digital transformations.

Furthermore, in 2019, we may see a trend of specific budgets for technological advancement as opposed to traditional IT or LOB budgets. As more and more processes become digitised, from design and operations to the supply chain, more thought, time and budget will need to be focused on the digital sector and its innovations, making a specific budget a necessity. 2019 could see the beginning of this, establishing an industry standard and setting the industry up for the future.

There can be no doubt 2019 will be another inspiring year for the spring manufacturing industry; KPMG’s 2018 Global Manufacturing Outlook stated: ‘CEOs have responded in remarkably high numbers that they are prepared to take charge of the process of reshaping the corporation and to set out a vision of what the organisation should be aiming for.’ There are therefore high hopes for continued innovation and deeper collaboration between manufacturing and technology.

Here at European Springs Ireland, we are constantly keeping our finger on the pulse of new technologies that we can incorporate into our operations. As manufacturers of many different types of springs, we are keen to continue developing our processes to ensure we offer the very best products and service to our valued customers.

With the automotive industry gaining a reputation for producing harmful greenhouse gasses over the past few decades, leaders within the sector realised that something had to change. Over the past 5 years, a whole host of changes have been made to ensure the impact the industry is having on the environment is minimised, and this has been a genuine success.

In this article, we take a look at the changes that have been made to prolong sustainability in the automotive industry and how they are set to shape the future of car production, as well as how it will affect the end user for years to come.

Green Production – An Important Factor for Sustainability in the Automotive Industry

In years gone by, the automotive production industry had been heavily criticised for their lack of focus on environmentally friendly materials and building techniques. However, in the last few years the industry has seen a shift in thinking and many car manufacturers are incorporating far more recyclable materials into their vehicles.

We have started to see aluminium being used in car production far more frequently, which is certainly a step in the right direction due to the material being extremely lightweight and malleable. The use of aluminium as a key component in car manufacturing is a master stroke, as it can be used to manufacture any car and contributes to a significantly lower fuel usage thanks to its lightweight properties.

Another benefit of aluminium being used in car production is just how easily the material is recycled. When cars come to the end of their life cycle, the material can be stripped and reused with ease.

Electric Cars’ Contribution to Sustainability in the Automotive Industry

Electric cars have most certainly been surging into prominence over the past few years. The UK have seen sales of electric cars rise by over 11% in 2018 compared to 2017, which led to the market share of electric vehicles increasing from 1.5% a year ago to 2% this year. Whilst the electric car revolution hasn’t fully hit the UK just yet, it’s clear to see many people are making the switch from petrol and diesel to electric-powered cars.

It may appear that the UK isn’t likely to let go of their petrol- and diesel-powered cars without a fight, but it certainly is achievable within the next decade. Take Norway for example, almost half of the vehicles on their roads (48%) are now running almost exclusively off the nation’s hydro power resource.

Whilst electric cars are still in their infancy, there’s no doubt that this type of sustainable transport is here to stay. Over the coming years, we expect to see electric powered cars taking a larger share of the market, before eventually overtaking the sales of petrol- and diesel-powered cars.

Long-Haul Lorries Heading Towards Electric Power

It’s not just cars that are on the road to being powered by electricity; lorries look set to be heading down the same route too, with long-haul freight lorries being the main contributors to carbon emissions across the globe. Whilst there is a long way to go before electric-powered trucks hit our roads in full force, steps are being made to incorporate the technology into the next generation of fleet vehicles.

Both Tesla and Nikola are leading the way in hydrogen-electric lorry technology and the former are confident they will have their trucks on the road before the end of 2020. The Tesla Semi, an electric-powered lorry capable of carrying up to 36 tonnes over distances of 300 miles, has already attracted over 500 orders from globally renowned companies such as Pepsi, UPS and DHL, among others.

With this technology looking set to revolutionise the fleet industry in the coming decades, it comes as no surprise that huge brands are backing the environmentally friendly alternative to traditional automotive fuels. Along with creating virtually no carbon emissions, electric-powered lorries will be providing massive savings thanks to lower fuel costs and a longer engine lifespan, which will lead to less vehicle maintenance being required.

As spring manufacturers, we are keen to keep our finger on the pulse of the very latest in environmentally friendly practices across all manufacturing sectors. We pride ourselves on keeping up-to-date with the very latest processes to ensure we are working in the most sustainable and environmentally friendly way possible.

It’s been a hectic few months within the manufacturing industry, from Industry 4.0 continuing the push towards the digitalisation of the industry to the uncertainty that Brexit brings with it.

In this article, we will share our take on some of the top stories coming out of manufacturing in the past few months.

UK Manufacturing Growth in September 2018

It’s fair to say that UK manufacturing has faltered in the past 10 months due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, but September of 2018 saw a stronger growth within the industry than previously forecast.

The growth came thanks to rebuilding inventories, efforts to clear backlogs of work and inflows of new business into UK manufacturing businesses.

The IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 53.8 in September, compared to 53 in August 2018, with any reading above 50 indicating expansion.

Rob Dobson, director at IHS Markit, said: “September saw a mild improvement in the performance of the UK manufacturing sector. Domestic market demand strengthened, while increased orders from North America and Europe helped new export business stage a modest recovery from August’s contraction. Business confidence also rose to a three-month high.”

This can only be seen as very welcome news after the trials and tribulations that 2018 has brought with it thus far. Here at European Springs, we are confident, that the industry will continue to grow into 2019.

Industry 4.0 Continues to Grow

The ‘fourth industrial revolution’ is well and truly underway; Industry 4.0 is certainly here to stay, and strides have been made throughout this year to further solidify its status. The digitalisation of manufacturing is long overdue, and Industry 4.0’s focus on interconnecting all machines within a factory through the Internet of Things is helping to propel this modernisation forward. Enabling all machines to communicate with each other and learn from their own mistakes has led to more efficient workflow within many factories.

The growth of Industry 4.0 in the past few months has led to many firms increasing productivity and relying less on human workers at a factory level, freeing up more time and resources for focusing on other concerns, such as creating new products and increasing efficiencies further.

As the digitalisation of engineering continues to accelerate in 2019, we expect Industry 4.0 to be equally as important, if not more so. Expect to see the market grow exponentially in the coming years, as more streamlined processes are implemented within the industry.

China’s 55km Mega-Bridge

A truly incredible engineering feat, China’s mega-bridge spans an impressive 55 kilometres (34 miles) and connects Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland cities of Macau and Zhuhai, making it the world’s longest sea crossing. The bridge took over 9 years to construct, cost around £15.3 billion to build and is designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.

The bridge was officially opened on 23^rd October 2018 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, alongside leading officials from both Hong Kong and Macau.

As part of a scheme connecting China’s tech hubs, the mega-bridge will be primarily used by freight vehicles and shuttle buses, with private vehicles requiring a permit to cross.

Brexit

There’s no escaping it; Brexit has dominated the news both within the industry and on a wider scale across the entire UK. Whilst the intricacies of Brexit are still largely an unknown, there is no denying the fact that many companies within the UK are taking preventative measures as they prepare for Brexit, regardless of the deal the UK get from the EU.

In the coming months, we should hopefully know more about how Brexit will affect the manufacturing industry. But whilst the current outlook post-Brexit is undeniably bleak, we are confident that the UK manufacturing industry will recover over the coming years, thanks to the determination of each and every person who works within the sector.

These are just a few of our top picks from the very latest news coming out of the manufacturing industry over the last few months. As spring manufacturers, we are keen on keeping a close eye on all of the very latest news within the industry; be sure to check back in soon for another look at the most up-to-date news within manufacturing.

There are many spectacular women in the field of engineering, but with females making up less than 10% of the engineering workforce at the start of 2018, it’s clear to see that changes have to be made to close the gender gap within the industry.

Here, we take a look at some of the top female engineers within the industry, who have had truly incredible careers.

Jocelyn Goldfein

Jocelyn Goldfein has held many senior engineering roles throughout her professional career, including Director of Engineering at Facebook and Vice President at VMware. She holds a BS in Computer Science from the prestigious Stanford University, and since graduating in 1997 has completely transformed engineering in the technology industry.

VMware

Jocelyn Goldfein worked at VMware for an extended period of time, beginning her employment in 2003. She was initially given the responsibility of building core virtualisation technology and contributed to the company’s remarkable growth in revenue.

While working for VMware, Goldfein was given more and more engineering responsibilities, which included the development of desktop and developer products. Her hard work led to her becoming Vice President of the company, and in this role, she helped the company reach even higher levels of success.

Facebook

Goldfein worked as the Director of Engineering at social media giant Facebook for over four years, helping to further develop certain aspects of the networking site, as well as helping it move forward to the next generation of technology.

While at Facebook, Goldfein led the company’s push on mobile infrastructure, using her engineering skills as well as her computer science knowledge to develop apps and revolutionise the site in a way that made it easier for people to use on the go.

Goldfein also launched major new product initiatives during her time at Facebook, all of which continue to be used by millions of people all over the world every day. These product initiatives include News Feed, Search and Photos. Goldfein managed these projects alongside her strategic engineering operational initiatives, which included major changes to Facebook’s technical recruiting strategies.

Inspiring Women/Today

Goldfein is now Managing Director at Zetta Venture Partners, a company who lead funding rounds for start-ups applying AI to solve business problems. Alongside this role, she is also an active public speaker, with a particular focus on inspiring young women to enter the field of engineering.

In 2017, Goldfein was named in Business Insider’s list of 43 Most Powerful Female Engineers – she came in at position number 9.

Lisa Perez Jackson

Lisa Perez Jackson is a chemical engineer, and in 2008 she became the first African American to be the head of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a role she held until 2013. She is now the Environmental Director at Apple Inc.

Early Life

Jackson was born on 8th February 1962 in Philadelphia and adopted at two weeks’ old by Benjamin Perez, a postal worker, and his wife Marie, who was a secretary.

Jackson grew up in a middle-class suburb of New Orleans, and although her immediate world didn’t surround her with the poverty and environmental issues that gripped other parts of the city, she was still well aware of the adversity that these people faced. This awareness is recognised as one of the factors that contributed to Jackson’s passion for the environment in later life.

She attended St. Mary’s Dominican High School, an all-girls’ Catholic institution, she proceeded to attend Tulane University, where she studied chemical engineering.

Jackson graduated in 1983 and went on to do a master’s degree at Princeton University. Following her graduation, she focused on working for non-profit environmental organisations until moving into more advanced positions for the US government.

Professional Career

Lisa Perez Jackson joined the EPA in 1987 as a staff-level engineer, working on remediation programs, waste clean-up regulations and overseeing hazardous waste clean-up projects throughout central New Jersey. She later served as the deputy director and acting director of the EPA’s regional enforcement division.

Jackson worked for the EPA for 16 years, then moving on to join the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as assistant commissioner of compliance and enforcement in 2002. In this role, she headed up many campaigns to improve the local environment and was highly praised by many environmentalists.

After an incredible career, Jackson was nominated by President Obama to become the Administrator of the EPA. In this role, she pledged to focus on air and water quality and limiting greenhouse gases, using her understanding of chemical engineering and her past experience to introduce many new ideas and plans to the position. Jackson stepped down from the role on 15th February 2013 and took up a role with Apple to oversee environmental issues for the company. In 2015 she was promoted to vice president of environment at Apple.

Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer is an American engineer, business leader and computer programmer, and former CEO of Yahoo!. In 2014 she was ranked as the 16th most powerful woman in the world by Fortune Magazine and was in America’s 40 Under 40 in the same publication.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEcQrILxTlc

Early Life

Mayer was born in Wisconsin on 30th May 1975 as the daughter of an engineer and an art teacher. She enjoyed a small-town childhood, where she was involved in many different activities.

Mayer had always aspired to be a doctor; however, while at Stanford University she discovered her passion for computer science. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science, specialising in symbolic systems, and an MSc in Computer Science, specialising in artificial intelligence.

She then went on to undertake research internships at SRI International and at the UBS research laboratory in Zurich. Her hard work and success led to her receiving 14 job offers as soon as she had finished her postgraduate degree.

Professional Career

Mayer went on to work at Google, with her job offer coming directly from founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Mayer led Google’s user interface and web server teams and contributed largely to the company’s success as their 20th employee and first female engineer.

During her time at Google, she worked on some of the company’s most used web tools, including Google Maps, Street View and Gmail. She was also responsible for approving all of the Google ‘doodles’.

After more than a decade working for Google, she was appointed CEO of Yahoo! in July 2012, and helped turn the company around by changing course and slowly battling falling stock prices. In 2017 Mayer announced her resignation from Yahoo! to start a new project with an old colleague, Enrique Munoz Torres. The pair started up Lumi Labs, a business focusing on artificial intelligence and consumer media.

As spring manufacturers, we always have our finger on the pulse of the engineering industry. So be sure to check in each month to keep up to date with the latest engineering news.

We spend a lot of time looking at the most exciting updates from the world of engineering – the new inventions and innovative solutions which are making waves within engineering circles. However, we also like to think about the bigger issues within our industry – and one of those, of course, is the question of who will take up the mantle and ensure that these crucial developments continue into the next generation and beyond.

Luckily, we are constantly seeing evidence that the next generation is full of budding young thinkers who are more than ready to rise to the challenge and pioneer their own advances in engineering. So how do we inspire our children and ensure that this passion is encouraged?

Introduce Construction Toys at Play Time

If you’re looking to start tapping into your children’s engineering spirit from a really young age, you could introduce construction toys into your child’s daily play time. For slightly older children try origami; this can be invaluable when it comes to developing skills of creativity, inventiveness and problem solving. Best of all, it’s incredibly fun, so long as you don’t impose limits on what should or shouldn’t be created. Instead, children who are encouraged to see their imagination as the only boundary will naturally learn to push to make new things possible.

Encourage ‘What If’ and ‘Why’ Questions

Almost every young person loves to fire a relentless barrage of questions at their parents, and many of us are guilty of offering overly simplified answers rather than encouraging them to explore their questions further and even research the answers for themselves.

Young people who are curious about their world can ask some pretty tough questions, and its fine not to know the answers. However, if you decide to treat these occasions as opportunities for shared learning, you’ll encourage them to continue looking for answers about the world – the engineering mindset!

Of course, there’s nothing worse than pushing young people into an occupation which they’re just not interested in; we’re certainly not suggesting that engineering is the only valuable route to take. However, if children have a natural enthusiasm for problem-solving and construction, then encouraging them will definitely help to keep these interests alive.

Increase Awareness of Engineering

A career in engineering can be for anyone if the right practical and problem-solving skills are developed from an early age. If a young person is looking to pursue a career in engineering, it’s critical they aren’t deterred from this, simply because they aren’t seen to be academically achieving the highest grades in their class.

In engineering, employers are always on the look out for young people with the right types of knowledge and skills that can be moulded over time. No one is expecting a young person to possess all the necessary skills straight out of school; as long as there is a foundation to build upon and a willingness to learn, you have every chance of securing your dream job in engineering.

Apprenticeships

Gaining hands-on experience in engineering is absolutely vital. If a young person is interested in taking up a career in engineering, then apprenticeships are one of the best ways to get into the industry. Not only will you get paid whilst learning, you’ll get real hands-on experience in how engineering works. Whilst learning about how engineering works from the classroom is great, nothing beats learning on the job.

In recent years the amount of apprenticeships within a whole host of industries has increased hugely, as employers are finding it more difficult to hire competent young people in trade sectors. If you prove your worth during your apprenticeship, the company you carried out your training with may well offer you a full-time position upon completion of your training. It’s hardly surprisingly that the number of such apprenticeships are on the rise, with so many talented young people gaining workplace skills that can set them up for life-long careers in their chosen sector.

We’re always looking out for the next great minds who may become the spring manufacturers, engineers or innovators of the future, so it’s fantastic to have the opportunity to share these tips and ensure that young people are being encouraged to question and expand their practical skills.