Plant Works & Engineering March 2022

News 0 8 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk March 2022 Nearly three years on since the words were first mentioned, the Government has finally published its levelling up plans. But what does this mean for manufacturers, many of whom are located in areas that will be crucial to levelling up. In short, the Government has defined levelling up as the steps needed to make us more prosperous, more united, and less unequal. These ambitions are broken down into 12 missions to achieve the overarching aim of tackling regional disparity. But these missions can be better described as ‘targets’ or ‘metrics of success’ which set out in a quantifiable way, what the Government is wanting to achieve. Furthermore, the Government has also set a timeframe by which each of these missions must be achieved, 2030. This gives us a clear idea of what the Government wants to achieve and by when. Holding Government to account in meeting these missions will be a new Levelling Up Advisory Council, who will track and measure the progress being made. Unsurprisingly many of the announcements have been recycled from the 2021 Spending Review and the Government’s Plan for Growth. Equally, the funding is also not new - what was announced at the Spending Review back in 2021 is what is available to ‘level up’. This means the largest pots of funding purely dedicated to ‘levelling up’ available remain the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, the £220m UK Community Renewal Fund and the £3.6bn Towns Fund announced last year. The Government has promised to engage further through Ministerial visits across the country, local panels, annual reporting of progress and even a public forum to share ideas. It is very much the first step in a very long journey. But buried on page. 168 we saw a nod towards working with the manufacturing sector which was good news, “…the UK Government will engage with manufacturers to ensure that we are maximising existing spending and non- spending policy levers and strategic investments to attract, anchor and grow manufacturing and supply chains to support levelling up”. The true test of the Levelling Up White Paper will be the measurable change it brings to manufacturers and the 2.7 million people working in our sector across the country. With only two and a half years of this parliament remaining, time is ticking to demonstrate change, and fast. By MAKE UK chief executive, Stephen Phipson MAKE uk - the manufacturers’ organisation monthly news comment Talking Industry Live & The Knowledge Hub seminar programmes have recently been finalised for the forthcoming co-location of events at the NEC, Birmingham (5-7 April 2022), which includes Plant & Asset Management, Drives & Controls, Smart Industry Expo, Fluid Power & Systems, Plant & Asset Management, and Air-Tech Exhibitions. The wide range of topical panel discussions of the popular Talking Industry webinar events will move temporarily from the digital sphere to live panel discussions at the NEC under the Talking Industry Live brand for three days during the forthcoming co-located shows. Talking Industry Live, as a CPD member, will include accredited panel discussions that will fully reflect the ongoing global transformation to the smart manufacturing era and provide fascinating panel discussions and insight into the potential plants of the future, covering all aspect of the digital transformation across the manufacturing spectrum, as well as looking at how digitalisation has helped during the Coronavirus pandemic and its importance in any future outbreak. Leading experts will address the vast array of information around 4IR, discussing the practicalities, technologies and issues surrounding transition and implementation of digitalisation in UK manufacturing. In addition, as part of the Manufacturing Technology Centre’s (MTC) significant presence at the co-location of events, the organisation will lead the discussion on the changing manufacturing landscape, including the challenges and opportunities that will help provide practical steps, which manufacturers can take on the journey to embrace digitalisation in the post COVID-19 era. It will also take participate in a debate alongside BT on the topic of Industrial Networks, IIOT, 5G and Communications, as well a panel discussion with the MTC’s Chief Automation Officer, Mike Wilson leading the discussion on Robotics and Advanced Automation. Other Talking Industry Live panel discussions will focus on The Future of Additive Manufacturing; Fluid Power and Factories of the Future; The Hidden Menace: Strategies to avoid Cybercrime; Bridging the Engineering Skills Gap for Factories of the Future; Maintenance 4.0: The Future of Asset Management, plus much more. While The Knowledge Hub will have a strong emphasis on technology that will bring together all aspects of plant and asset management, hydraulics, pneumatics, robotics and automation, energy efficiency, machine safety, drives, motion control, legislation, system strategies and technological developments. Featuring representatives from across industry including government agencies, research bodies, trade associations, and manufacturers. For more details on the seminars and shows please read PWE’s special co-location preview on page 14. Talking Industry Live & The Knowledge Hub seminar programmes finalised