Digital solutions improve productivity in manufacturing but cost, complexity and lack of skills can hold back adoption by small–medium sized enterprises. ‘Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring’ developed by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Nottingham uses off-the-shelf, low-cost and openly available digital technologies to provide solutions.
One company keen to explore how digitalisation could help improve productivity was Glasgow-based footwear manufacturer Buchanan Orthotics, which is now piloting a job tracking solution. Cambridgeshire construction manufacturer David Smith adopted a new digital job tracking solution to work out the location of customer orders on their shop floor. And Kemdent, a manufacturer of high quality dental materials in Swindon, implemented a digital temperature monitoring solution across four of their wax production lines, improving the efficiency and quality of their operations.
Nationwide support for Shoestring is growing, with industry partners doubling to 56 in the past year. Over the next three years, the team will support UK regions to develop their own local Shoestring programme.
Added 9 November 2022