There are just six basic manufacturing techniques, says Christoph Roser: cutting, material transformation, joining, coating, moulding, and forming. Explore the evolution of these techniques – together with how they are organised and controlled – and you explain how production has shaped our lives over the millennia. This is the core idea behind Roser’s Faster, Better, […]

A UK manufacturer of streetlights has shifted its focus to protection devices for frontline medical staff to combat the coronavirus threat. Indo, a company in Southampton which makes digitally controlled lighting, is producing a new form of personal respirator designed to shield nurses and doctors from the virus at the heart of the pandemic. The […]

While the coronavirus crisis has dealt a hammer blow to many manufacturers, for Joe McBride it has brought an opportunity. After switching much of his textile production from pillows and related household goods to face masks, his company has seen a huge spike in orders and is working flat-out to meet demand. [This article appeared […]

A team of UK engineers is working on an innovative mask that uses principles borrowed from diving helmets to shield wearers from the devastating impact of the coronavirus. [The article first appeared in Made Here Now.]  The new hood-based mask could be manufactured in UK factories and made available to frontline medical staff as well […]

While “re-shoring” has become a hot topic, few manufacturers have done as much to make it a reality as David Nieper, a mid-sized clothing manufacturer based in the Midlands. The number of garment manufacturing jobs in the UK has fallen by 90 percent since 1980, pushing the country far down the world league table of […]

The technology behind the most potent weapon systems ever devised could help the world move to low-carbon energy production, say the scientists and engineers behind one of the UK’s most innovative businesses. Tokamak Energy is developing small fusion reactors for producing energy, crucially without the use of fossil fuels implicated in climate change. The science […]

Britain’s biggest trade body for manufacturing is launching its first large-scale event aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds, underlining how efforts to attract more young joiners are increasingly viewed as vital to the sector’s long-term prospects. The format for MakeUK’s event in Birmingham on October 12 2019 has been devised with the help of a 12-strong “culture […]

  Plessey Semiconductors – carrying one of the most illustrious names in UK electronics – has set out a new strategy based on making itself a key part of the new industry of augmented reality. Since 2018 Plessey has scaled back its manufacturing ambitions as it focuses on development and support for customers. It has […]

Brompton Bicycle is “effecting cultural change” through its role in encouraging cycling in cities and improving people’s lives, according to its chief executive. Will Butler-Adams says the company’s folding bikes – which can be packed into a small space and carried on public transport – have helped in “making cycling more attractive and comfortable” in […]

In a cavernous plant on the outskirts of Coventry, a massive bet is being placed about the sort of vehicles that will be trundling around cities and along motorways over the next 30 years. The factory is the result of a £325m investment by a big Chinese automotive group and adds up to one of […]

  An innovative UK company is rethinking the production of one of the world’s most common industrial products, with its formation aided by an unusual business network focused on technology and manufacturing. The Bessemer Society brings together “fantastic people who have fantastic opportunities and are facing similar challenges” according to Ian Balchin, a business veteran who is […]

  The death of Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya – founder and chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group – has robbed the UK of a charismatic leader who has played a key role in the reawakening of British manufacturing in recent years. Lord Bhattacharyya built up Warwick Manufacturing Group into one of the world’s most influential applied research […]