Government invests £147m in UK Manufacturing

Frog Bikes is British SME leading a project innovating the design of children’s bikes. Using the latest digital technologies and manufacturing techniques (for example virtual design and testing, and automated, robotic techniques to join bicycle components together), they will create a lighter, better-performing bike. The system streamlines production, reduces cost, and, by allowing suppliers to use recycled materials, creates less waste. The project will bring these manufacturing techniques to the UK, securing control of the company’s supply chain and helping to reduce their carbon footprint.

Raynor Foods Ltd, an award-winning UK sandwich supplier, is leading a project to create the ‘Digital Sandwich’. This is the world’s first national and ‘open’ software platform: a major piece of software that smaller programmes can operate within. Food and drinks businesses can connect online using these programmes to share valuable data - increasing productivity, improving cashflow, boosting food quality and reducing waste within the supply chain. This includes SMEs, who don’t usually have access to this kind of technology. This platform is to have eventual applications for sectors such as pharmaceutical, aerospace and automotive.

GKN Aerospace is heading up a cross-sector team involving organisations from the Aerospace, Automotive, and Pharmaceutical industries to trial a combination of digital technologies in live manufacturing environments. These include Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies, intelligent robots, Augmented Reality, and ‘smart’ devices that can exchange information between old and modern computer systems to enable a greater understanding of the data. This project will create a more seamless flow of real-time information, enabling cost-effective manufacturing decisions across the supply chain.