March 2021

n NEWS March 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com 8 MORE THAN a third of UK manufacturers have seen sales and orders drop since the start of the most recent lockdown, according to a new survey by the manufacturers’ association, Make UK. A similar proportion (36.7%) think it will take between 6–12 months for normal trading to return, while 28.9% believe it will take a year or more. A quarter of the 186 companies surveyed (25.4%) report that they are currently operating at full capacity, while half expect to have recovered to that position by the start of 2022. Based on the survey, Make UK is calling on the Government to set out a major long- term industrial and economic strategy, on a scale not seen since the Marshall Plan, to ensure the UK takes advantage of its world- class science base and growth in new technologies. While further short-term tactical measures will be needed to support companies, Make UK believes that there is an urgent need to develop a longer-term strategic vision that sets out how the UK can prosper. In particular, Make UK believes that the Government must go beyond simply thinking about how we can diverge from the EU, to how the UK can benefit from digital technologies, the innovation derived from academia, and growth opportunities from the transformation to a net-zero economy. Make UK also wants the Government to support a new Manufacturing Skills Taskforce, to reform the Apprenticeship Levy, and to introduce a net-zero support package. It believes there should be rewards for businesses that reach green targets, and support for those sectors where transition will be a challenge. The survey backs Make UK’s call for the furlough scheme to be extended to at least the end of Q3, with more than a third of companies (37.8%) reporting they still have up to 10% of their staff furloughed, and 44.3% saying that they have no employees furloughed. The survey suggests that most redundancies have already taken place, with two thirds of companies stating that they have no plans to make any redundancies in the next six months, “We need to lift our horizons to how we can transform the economy,” says Make UK CEO, Stephen Phipson. “This will require a different mindset in Government from believing we can achieve growth simply through diverging from EU regulations which have little or no economic significance in the bigger picture. “Instead we need an industrial strategy and vision on a scale not seen since the Marshall Plan which identifies new technologies and market openings that will benefit from enterprise friendly policies on taxation, research and development, infrastructure and regional investment. “In particular, Government must work with industry to harness our thriving, world-class academic science and innovation base and put in place a process whereby this can be commercialised, especially as we move to a net-zero economy,” Phipson concludes. “Now we have left the EU, this will require a drive and vision to ensure we build new markets in the UK, together with support for exporters to help them compete in global ones overseas.” www.makeuk.org A third of UK manufacturers say sales have fallen in latest lockdown SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC has formed a strategic relationship withWood, the Aberdeen-headquartered global automation systems supplier, to help deliver its vision of“universal automation”, based on open standards. They will offer their customers next-generation, open automation and control technologies, promising step-change improvements to their existing operations, and easier upgrades. The agreement gives Wood’s automation and control group access to Schneider’s IEC 61499-based software, helping it deliver open automation using object-oriented, event-based programming. Last year, Schneider called for a revolution in automation technologies when it launched what it called“the world’s first software-centric automation system”. It urged industrial users, suppliers, systems integrators and OEMs to adopt this concept, saying it would“unleash innovation and boost efficiency, resilience, productivity, agility and sustainability”. Now, it has added more detail to its vision in a presentation to the ARC Industry Forum 2021. Schneider argues that today’s“open” automation is not open enough because it locks companies into vendors. By contrast,“universal automation”is based on interoperable,“plug and produce”software components. “With closed systems, the full potential of Industry 4.0 remains untapped,”says Fabrice Jadot, Schneider’s senior vice-president for industrial automation“To accelerate industrial digital transformation, we must prioritise portability of automation applications. Today, agility and resilience are paramount. The IEC 61499 standard delivers that needed interoperability and that’s why it is fundamental to the shift towards more flexible automation.” Schneider has announced a new version of its IEC 61499-based EcoStruxure Automation Expert software, including: n an EtherNet/IP scanner for software-programmable controllers; n an ASi-5 gateway; n position control with Schneider’s Lexium 32 servodrives; n an improved user interface; and n the ability to define supported function blocks in logical devices. Jadot concedes that users will need to adapt to the new technology.“This is not the same automation platform from 30 or 40 years ago, so there’s an initial learning curve for adjusting to IEC 61499-based technology,”he says.“But we’re finding that once customers dive into the technology, they see real returns in flexibility and speed of engineering unlike anything they’ve seen before.” Schneider teams up with Wood to push ‘universal automation’ Make UK’s latest Manufacturing Monitor survey reveals that UK manufacturers want the Government to waive business rates and cut costs