Made Smarter - Innovation Network Series

Alec Anderson is the founder and MD of Koolmill, which has developed innovative rice milling machines. With its customer base in low-income countries, purchase of the machines is not feasible, hence the business has transitioned to a servitised approach, offering milling-as-a-service. Koolmill received an Innovate UK funding to create the world’s first Industry 4 rice mill with the help of Siemens. Alec will discuss the challenges associated with digitatision and servitisation within their industry.

Keith Thornhill is Head of Food and Beverage at Siemens. Siemens has been helping Koolmill to create a near real-time monitoring system, using digital twin technology and augmented reality, so it can proactively anticipate problems, including the need for repair or spare parts, rather than simply react to situations. Keith will outline challenges industry has and how the food industry will be increasingly utilising technologies to tackle those challenges.

Jen Griffith is a Product Designer at EGG Lighting, where she is helping design sustainable industrial lighting systems, exploring the synergies between servitisation, circular economy with digital as a key enabler. Jen will present how servitisation fits within the EGG ecosystem, how it impacts the business and the customers, and different levels of servitisation they offer.

Iain McKechnie is Director of Strategic Programmes at the Advanced Services Group, part of Aston Business School. Iain has worked with hundreds of manufacturers across different sectors to profit through advanced services. Iain will present different business models for servitisation and circular economy.

As usual there will be networking at the end – an opportunity to find collaborative partners & inspiration, and to share what you do.