The UK proudly holds the position of being the eighth largest manufacturing nation in the world. According to The Manufacturers’ Organisation EEF, the UK manufacturing sector currently employs 2.6mn people, accounts for 44% of total exports and provides 13% of business investment. These figures are underpinned by an increasingly automated and technology-driven industry, which has come to rely on technologies such as nanotechnology, cloud computing and IoT to achieve increases in speed, customisation, precision and efficiency.
Factory floor employees who used to print off component lists for product assembly, now barcode scan for the designs and quickly locate parts in the warehouse. ‘Smart’ IoT sensors collect data about everything and feed that data into algorithms that can intelligently improve efficiency.
