Long-term survival of UK manufacturing rests on NPI
For the past 30 years, too many companies have rested on the laurels of established successes, rather than focusing on research and development in order to ramp up new product introduction (NPI). “For our business, and I think for UK manufacturing in general, it’s paramount we realise that we need to be building businesses which are going to here in 25, 50, 100 years, not six months.” That’s the opinion of Tim Pryce, CEO of Icon Aerospace Technology, who recently sat down with The Manufacturer to discuss the 150-year old business’ multi-million-pound modernisation programme. Read more...
Scottish decommissioning start-up eyes North Sea prize
A new Scottish company is taking on the North Sea decommissioning market, claiming to offer a “one-stop-shop” for plug and abandonment (P&A) of oil wells. Headquartered in Aberdeen, Well-Safe Solutions was formed by a group of offshore industry veterans, including Alasdair Locke, co-founder of the Abbot Group. The company is seeking to raise £200m in investment and claims it could create as many as 400 jobs. Alongside private capital, Well-Safe has also secured funding from Scottish Enterprise. Read more...
The UK's motorways could get tunnels that absorb air pollution
The UK, like the vast majority of countries around the world, has an air pollution problem. Climate studies have estimated 90 per cent of the population is breathing dirty and harmful air. The country's dirty air contributes to 16,000 UK deaths per year. In response to the ongoing crisis, the government has been forced to publish its plan to tackle air pollution within the country. The air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide outlines a number of plans for reducing pollution alongside roads. Read more...
Global packaging robots market is booming
A rising number of manufacturing industries around the globe is one of the major factors boosting the growth of the packaging robots market, according to new research. Packaging robots can help reduce part package time, labor cost reduction, and ability to lift larger packages. Some of the advantages of packaging robots are reduced part package time, labor cost reduction, and ability to lift larger packages, according to study by research company, Zion. These robots are very easy to integrate into any kind of workspace. Read more...
Planning permission granted for East Anglia offshore windfarm
ScottishPower Renewables may site next-generation offshore wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. Business secretary Greg Clark has granted consent for offshore wind turbines with a tip height of 247m for the East Anglia THREE project, which will have a total output of up to 1200MW. This output would require up to 172 individual turbines across an area of 305 km², 69 km east of Great Yarmouth. A company spokesman told The Engineer that no decision had yet been taken on the source of the turbines. Read more...
Synthetic biology start-ups doubled every five years in UK
The number of synthetic biology start-ups in the UK between 2000 and 2016 has doubled every five years, with three-quarters still active reveals a new survey. National centre for the commercialisation of synthetic biology, SynbiCITE, reveals in its report that £620 million has been raised since 2010. Read more...