UK manufacturing steps up to COVID-19 crisis

The race is on for UK engineering giants to produce Smiths ParaPAC300 ventilators for the NHS.

Health services throughout the world are continuing to clamour for essential medical equipment to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak with ventilators being top of the list. Production capacity has already been reached and the supply chain spanning closed borders is under significant strain.

Nonetheless, the ventilator is the single most vital piece of equipment needed to keep people with lung failure alive long enough for their immune systems to fight off the virus. In the absence of normal lung function, the ventilator supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. It’s sophisticated technology and requires engineering precision to manufacture.

To meet the demand and fulfil the needs of the NHS alone, the UK Government has enlisted the help of manufacturers that are not specialists in medical device technology, a step that hasn’t been taken since World War II. After initially snubbing EU help and stating that it had merely missed the deadline, the Government then approached manufacturers such as Dyson to design and build new ventilators in the hope that they could meet stringent health industry certification requirements despite never having been involved in the industry.

Now, the Ventilator Challenge Consortium has been established, which brings together major UK technology giants to begin rapidly building ventilators and breathing apparatus by Smiths Medical that are already certified and in use.

The Consortium is led by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, a group of manufacturing research centres in the UK and includes Williams Advanced Engineering, Airbus, GKN, Rolls-Royce, Thales, Siemens, Mclaren and BAE Systems. One of the projects is to rapidly produce an initial batch of 5,000 Smiths Group ParaPAC300 ventilators for the NHS.

Under the leadership of the Catapult, such giants of advanced engineering are the best placed to step up to the challenge and ensure the country’s health service does not run out of capacity if the number of critically ill patients continues to rise into the summer months.

Clustering Innovation

A number of larger test organisations both in the UK and abroad are expanding into new fields of technology and clustering their expertise with research and development experts in related industries.

At an event in Millbrook last year, the CEO made the point that never in its history had the organisation ventured into areas of technology that weren’t squarely embedded in the automotive industry. He was referring to low latency telecommunications in general and 5G in particular.

Autonomous vehicles and 5G communications are so closely entwined that it’s essential that a test house such as Millbrook expands its expertise and facilities to accommodate unfamiliar technology.

Indeed, within the automotive sector, the test house giants of Millbrook, Thatcham Research and HORIBA MIRA are overlapping their boundaries and collaborating where possible to achieve the necessary improvements in the industry. Both Millbrook and HORIBA MIRA have new battery testing facilities and are in competition for the same clients. Despite this, when asked if the two organisations work together or distance themselves from each other, a Millbrook spokesman told me that although client projects are held under a strict veil of secrecy, there are other projects run by the company’s own researchers that are shared within the industry to move technology forward at the pace required to meet future trends.

HORIBA MIRA has long been home to the MIRA Technology Park, a haven for innovators in the automotive industry with ready access to expertise and testing facilities. Now, HORIBA MIRA has announcd that the latest company to take up residence in the park is American “Plug and Play”. Between the two companies, they’re creating the UK’s first Mobility Innovation Hub,

Similar to Innovate UK, Plug and Play is an innovation platform for bringing together start-ups, entrepreneurial investors and global corporations. According to Plug and Play, the global mobility industry is facing unprecedented change amid megatrends in EVs and connected and autonomous vehicles. This is driving the need to accelerate innovation through investment in talent and technology.

According to MIRA Technology Park’s Jack Bartlett, the collaboration will provide large corporate organisations in the mobility sector with a means to innovate, utilising the benefits of the established and proven Plug and Play innovation model and the location benefits of MIRA Technology Park.

“Plug and Play’s decision to set up their UK mobility operations here will be a major step forward in how the UK industry will develop and deploy the next generation of automobiles,” he says.

Such trends being set by large test organisations are likely to change the test house landscape. Whether a niche test specialist or a large multi-discipline test house, there is a need now to engage with a wider range of technology providers as the overlaps between disciplines grow broader.

A Global Monitor

Satellites provide a global monitor

Satellite based sensing and monitoring is helping tackle global issues such as climate change.

There’s something a bit “Yin and Yang” about satellites. However, the ideal platform for spying and the future battlefield between global superpowers is also a major part of the world’s infrastructure, providing GPS, high speed communications and a platform for scientific experiments and telescopes that can see deeper into the universe.

Satellites have potential capabilities that we haven’t even begun to fully explore and the increasingly sophisticated sensors that are deployed on them are at the heart of those capabilities.

Now, an organisation called 4EI (4 Earth Intelligence) is using its capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics and machine learning to make use of satellite data for smart monitoring and analysis creating city, region and countrywide data for applications such as air quality, asset management, ecology and urban heat monitoring.

According to David Critchley of 4EI, the group has witnessed an exponential increase in the demand for new methods of addressing a variety of issues affecting the planet. As a result, 4EI intends to use space and remote sensing technology to address such challenges as climate change, pollution and population pressure.

So far, the company has engaged in projects such as the development of a new global air quality index, the creation of multiple iterations of the satellite environmental inventory of Abu Dhabi and innovative data fusion techniques in detecting soil quality and climate resilience analysis for Local Authorities in the UK.

Using consistent and repeatable spatial data derived from satellites, 4 Earth Intelligence can provide insight about a wide range of measurable impacts using a variety of data analysis techniques and show change at very regular intervals. The company will work collaboratively with commercial companies, agencies and governments to help improve decision making.

With the quantity of sensors available on satellites now and the vast amounts of data they generate, the company is able to generate information that can have a tangible effect on the big issues that are most topical today such as climate change and the factors that contribute towards it.

Global Certification

UK testing bodies and accredited certification laboratories can help manufacturers to reach new markets worldwide and cope with changes to existing regulations.

Ensuring that UK manufacturers continue to have global reach for their products is an important role for testing bodies such as UL, TĂśV SĂśD and many other test houses. With libraries of all relevant standards, which are constantly updated, they can provide manufacturers with the information they need to gain and maintain compliance.

Recently, the Eurasian Customs Union of Russia and some of its neighbours updated the requirements for obtaining the all important EAC label (the ECU equivalent of CE labelling) for product market approval in the region. From the 1st March, it’s necessary to comply with the Russian RoHS requirements (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) as well as providing proof of the electromagnetic compatibility of a product.

First introduced in 2018, the requirements are defined in the Technical Regulation 037/2106 and binding after the two year transition period on March 1, 2020.

This change applies to a large number of product groups, including telecommunications equipment, computers and their peripherals, domestic electrical appliances and devices with wireless charging function.

The good news is that the prescribed test scope is based on the EU Directive 2011/65/EU ROHS 2 and EEE and the Russian standard (GOST EN 50581-2016) is identical to the two European standards EN50581:2012 and EN 62321 and the specifications on RoHS.

The change applies retrospectively to devices that have already been approved for the Russian market so RoHS conformity must also be provided for products already bearing an EAC label, so that they can continue to be sold on the Russian market and in the Eurasian Economic Union.

Staying on top of such changes in both the Eurasian Customs Union and other large markets in the world is complex, time consuming and prone to expensive errors. Test house expertise along with the constant access to updates for global standards makes them a valuable resource for any manufacturer planning to take technology products into new global markets.

Fuelled up for change

With hybrids added to the Internal Combustion Engine new vehicle sales ban, will car makers and utility companies be ready for the renewed deadline?

Earlier this month, the Government announced that it was bringing forward the ban of new vehicle sales for Internal Combustion Engine cars from 2040 to 2035 as well as adding hybrids into the mix of prohibited sales.

For consumers in the new car market after that time, the only options will be battery electric vehicles or alternatively fuelled hybrids, a prospect that is certainly the right way to go but can it be achieved in such a short time frame?

The car industry is already well on the way to being prepared for the change as it was already working towards the 2040 deadline. I spoke to Peter Miller at Millbrook earlier this month and the new battery testing facility there is geared up and ready to support the industry in battery development work.

Infrastructure development is woefully slow with some county councils dragging their heels with no fixed plans for charging point installations. According to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the availability of charging infrastructure is a major barrier in mainstream consumer adoption of electric vehicles. TRL believes that the provision of rapid charging points every 20 miles on motorways and A-roads will significantly encourage adoption.

It’s arguable that this would even scratch the surface in a world where EVs dominate the roads. Charging points will be needed at homes in rural communities, for residents of tower blocks, at tourist destinations and all stopping points such as car parks, retail outlets, on street parking locations and leisure centres. The demand will be huge and there are currently no concrete plans to meet this demand.

Another option is that of alternative fuels of course. Toyota is well down the road in the development of hydrogen fuel cells and the infrastructure to support them so the possibilities for hybrid vehicle development certainly isn’t closed.

I asked Peter Miller for his opinion on how hydrogen affects the development of EVs. “Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are still hybrids, they still need batteries and so the main focus is on battery development and battery testing,” he says.

Telltale App Prevents Greenwashing

Smartphone app tells consumers when suppliers are “greenwashing”

Whatever your thoughts are about BitCoins and other crypto-currencies, one of the positive spin-offs has been the development of “Blockchain” technology, an encrypted chain of records that defines the provenance of whatever is being tracked. It was needed for cryptocurrencies to prevent money from being manufactured at will and it’s now finding a home in other industries to prove elements within the supply chain, including environmental impact and workforce sustainability.

Based on a study this year by the Edelman Trust, fewer people than ever before have trust in the household brands they’re buying. Whereas in the past, conformance to standards was used to elevate that trust, now it’s recognised that the standards are too narrow in their scope and so conformance doesn’t necessarily equate to morality or sustainability. Holding up accreditation certificates as a means of hiding other ills in the company is referred to as “greenwashing”.

To give consumers more of an insight into the provenance of the goods they buy, two companies are using blockchain technology to gauge trustworthiness, measure performance against criteria that buyers are interested in and reduce incidences of greenwashing.

DMT in Germany has launched CERA, a global certification scheme to guarantee standards of environmental, social and economic impact. CERA uses Blockchain technology to enable the traceability of raw materials along the entire value chain to ensure high accuracy and security of information.

Swedish company, PaperTale has gone a step further and produced a SmartPhone app allowing consumers to verify the claims made by companies. PaperTale enables traceability throughout the production process and has a built-in “Environmental Calculator” which shows the product’s environmental impact, based on production methods and materials being used.

The platform shows basic information about the employees behind the products and confirms whether the workers received law abiding salaries and if they have written employment contracts. With PaperTale’s platform, every step in the production chain is verified through the Blockchain.

With public scrutiny of supply chain operations being higher than it’s ever been, these companies are using an opportunity created by Blockchain technology to provide information that people are interested in and prevent consumers from having to buy blind or believing the greenwashing.

Aerospace an Attractive Proposition

The UK aerospace industry remains attractive on global markets despite political uncertainty.

A recent report from Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) shows that UK is in the top four nations in terms of investment potential in the aerospace industry.

The Aerospace Manufacturing Attractiveness report took account of such factors as cost, economy, infrastructure and labour. The USA was ranked in top position, followed by Canada, Singapore and then UK, being the top European nation in the list.

The analysis took into consideration geopolitical risks, such as Brexit, with the UK judged to remain a strong investment competitor as a result of its robust Aerospace & Defence industry.

Roland Sonnenberg, head of UK aerospace and defence at PwC, commented “We’ve seen a lot of speculation that uncertainty over Brexit terms and the potential disruption to global supply chains may impact the ability to attract global investment but this analysis shows that the UK continues to be a strong competitor when it comes to investment.”

There is nonetheless some fragility in the sector with a heavy dependence on continued Government investment. The Future Flight Challenge initiative saw a Government commitment of £125m for new aerospace technology and a further £2 billion has been pledged for the next generation fighter jet, “Tempest”.

With commitments and pledges being swift to evaporate during political uncertainties, with Brexit still in a state of uncertainty and an election on the horizon, the industry is understandably reticent to bank its future on pledges and commitments.

Speaking at an open forum recently, Tim Figures of Make UK (formerly the Engineering Employers’ Federation) discussed the implications of Brexit and pointed out that the present uncertainty over timings and potential outcomes is likely to persist for some time.

“The prospect of exiting the EU with no deal has not gone away despite efforts in Parliament to prevent it so manufacturers should certainly not stop preparing for it,” he says.

Pundits like PwC may be bullish about the future of UK aerospace manufacturing but the political risks persist and will certainly continue throughout the change-over to whatever outcome the Brexit process may hold. The pragmatic approach favoured by Make UK at least allows companies to envisage and plan for the darker routes through political uncertainty.

New security concepts for the IIoT

Licence management and security intertwine in the network of the Industrial Internet.

With the growth of Industry 4.0 and its enabling technology, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), there is an associated change in the way electronic systems are being integrated. Intgegrated circuit specialist, Infineon, is adapting its technology to support the growth in the IIoT and to assist its customers in the management of licences and the secure use of digital systems in industrial environments.

Security has long been the subject of intense debate surrounding the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the connected enterprise. The “old” model of software protection using familiar anti-virus and firewall tools can’t easily or be mapped onto connected hardware and so an entirely different model is needed.

To this end, Infineon has teamed up with Wibu-Systems, a company specialising in IIoT security and licence management. The CodeMeter device lineup of Wibu-Systems, coming in the form of USB dongles, secure flash memory cards, and ASICs, is powered with Infineon SLM97 security cryptocontrollers to provide the highest certified secure repository for digital keys associated with encrypted software, firmware and sensitive data and their entitlement rights.

CodeMeter µEmbedded, a variant of the company’s technology designed for microcontrollers, has also been successfully integrated with Infineon products to ensure IP protection and secure licence updates and upgrades.

Infineon and its partners are now confident they’re able to trade technology data via a secure cloud, to defend industrial control systems from unauthorised and manipulative cyber actions and to enable secure identification with wearables via mobile devices using state of the art encryption mechanisms.

A novel application of licence management in Industry 4.0 is the ability to “trade” machine configurations and 3D Printing data, for example, to allow single or multiple usages of the data in real time with the licence expiring once the agreed usage has been reached and making it no longer available.

The concept applies to either shared cloud-based platforms or embedded electronics. According to Oliver Winzenried of Wibu-Systems, there isn’t a single industry that is left untouched by connected Industry and to make best use of the advantages it offers, there’s a need to protect intellectual property in equally novel ways.

Have your say on commercial AFV regulation changes

DVSA light commercial vehicle inspection

The DVSA is proposing a relaxation on driver categories for heavier vehicles with electric powertrains to offset reduced payload capacity.

Acting quickly on the need to clean up city streets by reducing emissions on commercial vehicles, the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Authority (DVSA) has entered into a period of public consultation on regulatory changes affecting commercial vehicle operators to encourage the uptake of alternative fuels.

Lighter weight small delivery vehicles are those which are most commonly used on city streets to keep shops stocked and maintain the urban economy. These are also some of the most polluting vehicles, with high NO2 emissions from diesel engines.

With the recent changes announced by the Government to reduce the use of internal combustion engines and drive short term emission reduction initiatives for Britain’s most polluted areas, regulations have been proposed to encourage the take-up of alternatively fuelled vehicles by light commercial vehicle operators.

Often, such vehicles are driven by category “B” licence holders, which is the category held by passenger car drivers. They don’t need special licences to drive heavy goods vehicles. By introducing heavier electric power trains, vehicles either cross the boundary into new licence categories or payload capacity is reduced, neither of which provide any advantage to the operator.

The DVSA is proposing regulatory changes that increase the weight threshold at which a different licence category is needed. The change would affect only electric or gas powered vehicles. The changes also include whether the MOT exemption for electric vans should be removed.

The consultation is open for public comment to be submitted to OLEV (the Office for Low Emission Vehicles) by 18th October 2017.

Electric vehicle development for India

Tiago hatchback vehicle on trial

Tata Motors plans to massively expand the use of EV technology in India in line with Government objectives.

At an event held last week at the Transport Catapult in Milton Keynes, I spoke to Tata Motors’ head of propulsion and innovation, David Hudson, about the company’s electrification plans.

Already active in the production of electric vehicles for commercial and public transport operators, the Indian motor manufacturer now has its eye set on the rapidly developing consumer market. Other car manufacturers are supplying EVs in the country and Tata is well placed to provide strong competition in a highly cost sensitive domestic market.

The Indian Government declared plans to move towards transport electrification across the country as far back as 2013 and is on track towards creating a robust infrastructure to support the large number of electric and hybrid vehicles being used there, a significant challenge in itself.

According to Hudson, the company’s European Technical Centre at the International Automotive Research Centre in Coventry has been engaged in solving the technical aspects of delivering a power train with an appropriate range, power and cost to meet the market expectations.

The result is the Tiago Hatchback, (see Concept of low cost EV with regenerative braking) a fully electric micro-mini vehicle that is able to compete head-on with such successful products as the Renault Zoe. Ideally designed for the busy streets of Mumbai and other large cities in the country, the commercial launch of the Tiago hatchback will see it become the Zoe of India, if Tata’s expectations come to fruition.

Tata Motors European Technical Centre will be at the Low Carbon Vehicle LCV 2017 event being held at Millbrook in September.