ADVERTORIAL aPriori
Engineering Survey 2020
or cancelled altogether. Whether, in hindsight, this
will be characterised as a temporary stalling, or a
permanent backwards step, will depend on how far
businesses are prepared to restructure and reinvent,
and how fast.
Necessity is the mother of
reinvention.
The ability to adapt to a crisis or major shift has
always been crucial, not only for survival, but also
leadership. Yet our data showed that whilst 72%
of respondents recognised the importance of
“The last decade has seen incredible
progress in digital twin simulation,
yet 47% of respondents stated they
were not yet actively using modern
manufacturing and simulation
software in their design process”
COVID-19: The curveball that will
reinvent the wheel.
There can be no doubt, 2020 threw us a curveball.
And whilst the ability to adapt may be hardcoded
in an engineer’s DNA, the impact of the global
pandemic has pushed us all harder and faster
towards a radically different future.
The Engineer teamed up with leading digital
manufacturing simulation software provider, aPriori,
to conduct a readership survey on the effects
of COVID-19 in the UK industrial engineering
sector. The response was unprecedented, offering
fascinating insights into the state of our industrial
nation, and our shared industrial future.
Was change overdue?
Five months after its initial landfall in the West,
COVID-19 has reconfigured the future of industrial
engineering. Analysts have been quick to turn a
spotlight on the pain, but what of the opportunity?
Will we look back in a decade’s time and find we
arrived at our desired destination faster than we had
initially anticipated? Did COVID-19 push a button for
industry that was long overdue?
Much of the survey data was sobering, but
not unexpected, with over 60% reporting loss of
revenue and over 50%, disruption to the supply
chain. Output has, unsurprisingly, also been
significantly affected, with over 50% experiencing
staff furloughs in their organisations, and over 28%
reporting product launches that were either delayed,
July 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 12
Doing more, with less.
The COVID-19 landscape is littered with a
combination of fresh challenges, including furloughs
and disrupted production lines, and the more
familiar foes of shorter production schedules and
tightened budgets. 41% of those surveyed stated
they were trying to ‘do more with less’. So where
are the opportunities to tune up and get back on the
right side of the curve?
The survey results held up a mirror to
an existing shift, that has seen some legacy
manufacturers lose their competitive edge and start
to lag behind their start-up counterparts, due to late
adoption of more advanced digital practices. The
last decade has seen incredible progress in digital
twin simulation, yet 47% of respondents stated they
were not yet actively using modern manufacturing
and simulation software in their design process.
The technology has long been readily available to
plug in, and uptake was already on the rise long
before the pandemic hit, particularly amongst new
manufacturers. It’s clear it has an important role
to play in the sector’s recovery, and companies
based on strong digital foundations will likely be
better positioned to respond, adapt and grow going
forward. The pandemic may well expedite an even
broader take up of digital simulation technology,
which could help to limit long-term casualties, and
be a welcome positive outcome for our sector and
our position in the wider global economy.
We need to talk.
Remote working and communication have proven
key to keeping heads above water for the short
term. Interdepartmental communication can be a
common stumbling block in industrial design and
engineering, but some firms faced additional hurdles
as the pandemic hit home, due to a preference for
purely on-premise collaboration. And with many
sites largely shut down, it’s no surprise that 36%
of respondents reported problems communicating
with colleagues and 27% had difficulty accessing
systems and share files. Firms with strong and
established digital infrastructure may have a
shorter road to recovery, if their digital technology
set enables and supports virtual collaboration for
remote workers.
Time will reveal our losses, but also our
learnings. For legacy manufacturers and start-ups
alike, it’s clear that across the sector, the key to drive
growth and maintain a competitive edge lies, not
only in creating strategies to survive the present, but
in leveraging the opportunities to thrive in the future.
The time is now. The 20/21 industrial landscape
might take a very different shape to what we were
expecting, but it may well be leaner, faster and full of
new faces.
THE STATE OF OUR
INDUSTRIAL NATION
consistent product margins for their future survival,
61% were still forging ahead with current product
plans and had not considered re-evaluating new
product initiatives in response to the changing
market conditions. In addition, less than half, 42%,
reported that they were actively working or getting
started on process improvements to accelerate new
products to market in the wake of the pandemic.
With younger, more agile manufacturers starting to
rise to the top before the pandemic, ‘business as
usual’ could well prove a perilous approach.
/www.theengineer.co.uk