The Electronic Systems Council today unveiled its annual report to invited industry guests at its first annual meeting.
Over the last year industry executives have been working to advance a joint agenda with the Government to grow the economic footprint of the UK electronics systems sector. Currently, the successful industry:
• Contributes £80bn turnover, or 5.4% of GDP, to the UK economy
• employs 850,000 in highly skilled jobs
• invests significant sums in research and development,10% of turnover is not uncommon
By 2020, the Council wants to see turnover rise to £120bn and employment number rise to 1 million at the same time as up-skilling the existing workforce. To deliver against these objectives the Council has identified six key workstreams to drive forward its work programme.
• Industrial Automation
• Internet of Things
• Healthcare
• Robotics and Autonomous Systems
• Skills
• Technology
The Industrial Automation workstream is promoting Industry 4.0 and today launched a technology demonstrator that is based at the Manufacturing Technology Centre.
The demonstrator is a live production line that is open for electronic system companies of all sizes to test and trial their equipment and ideas.
As well as automated robots and the ability for technology simulations, it is also a test bed for the business application of the Internet of Things and will allow software gurus to explore the algorithms and data systems needed to enable the sensors in equipment and products to talk to each other.
Commenting on the ESCO annual report launch, Warren East, Chairman of ESCO said: “I’m really pleased to be able to present the first annual report of the Electronic Systems Council, which shows the progress made over the last year. With strong foundations in place, we are looking to raise the stakes in year two. There are significant growth opportunities in growing electronic systems markets and we must help UK companies access new and emerging markets. Electronic Systems is a competitive field, we must make sure that we are firing on all cylinders. The Council provides a strong forum for industry leaders and government to work together on helping our industry to grow and up-skill”.
On the Industry 4.0 demonstrator Warren East, Chairman of ESCO said: “Industry 4.0 is a revolutionary concept which offers significant growth and job opportunities. Electronic Systems companies will play a key role in developing the robotics, sensors and the virtual reality technology that will deliver future factories the world over. The demonstrator we are launching today is the culmination of industry and government collaboration and provides a platform for companies large and small to test and demonstrate their technology to potential customers and conduct research simulations”.
Graeme Philp, Chief Executive, GAMBICA and ESCO Industrial Automation lead said; “The use of Industry 4.0 advanced automation techniques has the ability to redefine manufacturing, allowing it to be carried out close to its end user market and/or to the point of intellectual property generation, potentially all but removing labour cost from the equation. These new rules of the game play well to the UK’s strengths. To realise a double benefit, we need to make sure that we become a significant developer of this new technology as well as a significant user.”
ESCO is the Electronic Systems Council representing 35,000 UK companies in the electronic systems community.
The ESCO annual report can be downloaded from here