Industry in the North West continues to drive forward digital revolution towards Net Zero

BRITAIN'S manufacturers are powering forward in their digital journey towards Net Zero as the sector moves to reduce energy usage and costs, cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost productivity, according to new research published by:- Make UK, the manufacturers' organisation and Sage, the market leader for cloud business management solutions.

The research by 'Decarbonisation through Digitalisation' shows manufacturing businesses are investing in digital technologies more than ever before and reaping multiple benefits - from productivity increases, product improvements, reduction in waste and labour efficiencies. Use of a pool of digital tools including data analytics, supply chain management to boost resilience and full automation of business processes including finance, human resources, manufacturing and procurement have been working together to boost productivity.

Nearly half of manufacturers have an active plan to invest in digital technologies to decarbonise their business and almost a quarter have already invested in digital solutions. A further 23% plan to do so in the coming 12 months. Some 62% of companies which have already adopted digital technologies into their production processes reported energy cost savings - over half said those savings were between �10,000 and �100,000 the last 12 months. A further 46% said energy savings came in under �10,000 but were still significant to their businesses. But savings did not end there with companies citing real cost savings on labour, material wastage and water usage. 44% of companies surveyed said that digitalisation has been their firm's top driver of productivity improvements, with production processes tightened up.

The need to reduce carbon is now embedded in most companies' business plans with a quarter of Britain's manufacturers believing new digital technologies have already had an impact on decarbonisation and their ability to achieve challenging Net Zero targets. Just one in ten businesses do not believe that digitalisation will have any impact on their Net Zero ambitions.

Of those surveyed, 30% of businesses reported they had already invested in supply chain management digital tools which can reduce emissions and build resilience from delivery disruptions caused by new Brexit trading rules and long-term Covid disruption in Asia.

However, significant barriers to digitalisation remain, with 6 in 10 manufacturers still wary of the upfront cost without accurate timings for return on the investment. Companies (45%) said more evidence on investment return would help drive positive decisions towards the adoption of digital tech as part of their journey towards Net Zero.

Half of manufacturers told us that tax incentives to invest in digital decarbonisation technologies and upskill their current workforce would provide a major boost to uptake. Again, SMEs found taking those 1st digital steps much harder than larger companies with 64% of smaller firms saying they experience skills shortages while trying to invest and adopt digital tech.

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, the manufacturers organisation said:- "Britain's manufacturers have long been at the forefront of digital innovation globally and they have taken significant steps to cut carbon emissions and move towards Net Zero. But in order to supercharge that journey, business needs Government to play its part in driving the process forward. To that end, Government needs to help them move forward faster by committing to a national rollout of the industrial digitalisation programme Made Smarter across the UK and expand its remit to include industrial decarbonisation. Made Smarter has already delivered amazing successes in helping SMEs boost their productivity through digitalisation, and they are ideally placed to pick up the mantle to help decarbonise through digitalisation. We need to see an expansion in the R&D tax relief to include capital equipment relating to industrial decarbonisation and the introduction of a Help to Grow Green tax credit to incentivise businesses to take those 1st active steps to produce goods more sustainably at a time companies are cash-strapped through the burden of higher labour and energy costs. "

To read the full study, please click on here. Let us know your thoughts on this news topic... Email our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Mastodon, Facebook or Twitter.

Technology parents can only dream of! Northern developing an app to check:- 'to the minute' when trains were last cleaned

NORTHERN is developing an app that will let its team of over 500 train presentation operatives know:- 'to the minute' when any given train on their network was last cleaned. It is part of a new plan led approach to the 'basic cleans' that take place in carriages while trains are waiting at stations during passenger service.

Train presentation staff will be able to easier-identify which trains are most in need of attention, based on real time data, rather than tackling them on a:- '1st come, 1st serve' basis. Richard Holt, head of train presentation at Northern, said:- "The technology we're developing will give my team a level of insight parents can only dream of when it comes to their children's untidy bedrooms - knowing exactly 'to the minute' when a space was last cleaned. It will enable them to ensure the right trains receive the right attention at the right time - which is essential when the time available to complete a 'basic clean' can be very limited. With over 2,500 services a day departing from stations across 3,000km of track, the cleaning task facing my team is massive. This new approach was the brainchild of one of our graduate trainees, Sebastian Chromiak, who deserves the credit for taking this challenge and finding a data-driven solution."

For its work on this new approach, the train operator has been nominated for a Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) 'Award for Excellence.' Holt added:- "Since the Covid19 Pandemic, our customers' expectations in terms of train cleanliness has, quite rightly, increased significantly. My team has worked incredibly hard to maintain those new high standards and to be nominated for a CILT Award for Excellence is a testament to their efforts."

The CILT Awards for Excellence celebrate industry best practice in logistics and transport and recognise the brightest talent and most pioneering organisations across the UK.

This year's finalists were selected by an expert judging panel from across the transport and logistics profession. In their category (Operations Management), Northern has been nominated alongside online fashion giant Boohoo and supply chain specialist Wincanton.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on:- Thursday, 28 September 2023.

In 2022, Northern released a video to highlight the monumental task its 500 train presentation operatives have to keep its 345 trains clean and tidy.

Northern carries out train cleaning duties at 42 locations on its network, including:- 5 main TrainCare Centres at Allerton (Merseyside), Newton Heath (Grater Manchester), Heaton (Tyne and Wear), Neville Hill (West Yorkshire) and Hull Botanic Gardens (East-Riding).

Each year, the team carries out 695,000 'carriage cleans' and work their way through 32,759 microfibre cloths, 10,300 sponges, 1,724 litres of toilet cleaner and 2,265 litres of floor and surface cleaners. They also replenish some 26 million pieces of toilet tissue and 778 litres of hand soap.

Northern is the 2nd largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.