Connect

A part of Funded by Led by

Inside ConnectPage 2

Introduction and welcome

Page 3

Star Hydraulics drive for export

sales moves to outer space

New start up Market DoJo

founded by Bristol Engineers

Page 4

Alderman’s strategy for

ongoing investment

Page 5

Snake-arm robots - Robots for

aircraft assembly - OC Robotics

Emplyment Law- Under the

spotlight - Thrings

Page 6

Bright future for Quality

Component Engineering Ltd

for engineers and business leaders

Don’t miss out on this

opportunity!

If you have benefitted from

the iNet project why not join

other regional innovators

who have used this

publication to promote

their business!

Just give us

the story along with a

relevant picture and your

company logo and we’ll do

the rest!

It couldn’t be simpler

For more information contact

angela.weids@inets-sw.co.uk

Introduction

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus,

coined the phrase “the only

constant is change” and that surely

is the ideal philosophy to drive

Innovation and Growth. It is hard

to be confident about what the

future will bring so it is essential

that we have the vision and courage

to try out new ideas that may lead to

a breakthrough. In that way we can

create our own future. That’s where

the iNet can assist; increasing

awareness, making connections

and promoting innovative and

collaborative ventures.

The iNet can help you to find the

right connections through events,

networking and collaboration with

other organisations, universities

and centres of excellence. This all

starts with a free Innovation and

Technology Review where we help

you to identify your opportunities for

innovation and put you in touch with

collaborative partners who can help

you to make it happen. The iNet is

not immune to change and the

unfamiliar face at the top of the

page is testimony to that.

Let me introduce myself. My name

is Mel Jones and I joined the iNet

on October 1st. I am a Mechanical

Engineer by profession and I have

spent my career in Manufacturing,

covering Engineering Design,

Systems Implementation,

Procurement, Planning, Customer

Service and General Management.

My last corporate role was with

Eaton Corporation where I ran the

Cutler-Hammer high voltage

systems plant near Exeter. During

the last four years I have been

providing leadership and

management development services

to business throughout the south

west. I live in Wedmore, Somerset

and I am looking forward to meeting

many of you in my new role as

Project Manager of the AAE iNet,

where I hope my experience can be

used to your advantage.

The economic outlook continues to

be uncertain and business success

will come to those who rise above

the media fuelled pessimism and

meet the innovation challenge head

on.

The recent death of Apple’s Steve

Jobs and the legacy he left behind

is a reminder to us all of the

tremendous impact that innovators

can have. We can’t all be like Steve

Jobs but this issue of Connect

contains stories of innovative south

west businesses moving in the right

direction. Our iNet goal is to be able

to showcase an increasing number

of south west businesses with

success stories to tell.

02

Now in its second year the AAE iNet is well on

target to help 200 plus member businesses to

Innovate and Grow.

The successful launch of the Space X – Falcon 9

Rocket on 10th December 2010 from Cape

Canaveral in the USA, fitted with 20 Star High

Performance Servo Valves, notches up yet

another success for the company supplying high

performance servo valves where the front line

requisite for this ongoing multi-billion dollar

contract is high “Quality and Reliability”.

Star gained this formidable contract after

extensive trials therefore demonstrating the

capability of its engineers and staff meeting

“new technological frontiers and beyond”, driving

export sales to new levels for the benefit of the

business and UK manufacturing. For Star,

Aerospace is a key market sector both home

and abroad. Many case studies will no doubt

again receive attention at the forthcoming PTC

Asia exhibition in Shanghai where Star initially

launched its drive for exports to the Asian

market back in 2007 for Star’s Sapphire

Technology ™ Servo’s.

New start up Market Dojo

founded by Bristol Engineers

03

Market Dojo offer an online negotiation tool which

can help companies streamline their procurement

activities. The tool is very easy to adopt as it is

hosted online (so no implementation costs), easy to

use (so no training costs) and you can pay as you

go (so no contract).

The online application can help to centralise

quotation activities which might otherwise have

been carried out via email. This gives an efficient,

auditable and repeatable approach. It also has the

capability to run both reverse auctions, to rapidly

negotiate your costs down, and forward auctions,

where you can sell assets or stocks efficiently.

To date the software has helped clients, such as

Hamworthy Combustion, save in excess of 30% on

their procurement activities.

For more details go to www.marketdojo.com

Star Hydraulics drive for exportsales moves to outer space

Aldermans, is a reputable metal fabrication

company of some 40 years standing, and are

committed with a new strategy that includes

provision for ongoing investment in the latest

manufacturing technologies.

While Aldermans supply to all

industries, the company

identifies four sectors that are

key to revenue and growth:

transport/automotive,

specialist furniture,

industrial, and retail.

This diverse manufacturing

company supplies

components and assemblies

ranging from airport terminal

furniture and car parts,

through to electrical

enclosure components and point-of-sale shop

fittings, to name but a few.

“Our lean strategy included re-laying out

the entire factory for improved flow and

making space for our new investment of an

LC2012 C1 punch-laser combination machine”

says Rob Johns , Operations Manager. ”The

flexibility of using punching and lasering in one

machine achieves a better cost per part - while

the laser is used for aesthetic profiling and

apertures for which there is no tool. It’s

automation and accompanying new software

Dr Abe, also allows us speedier processing times

from the drawing office to machine, and in

particular allows us to be very reactive to

prototypes and small runs.”

The unmanned capability of the Amada LC2012

C1 is delivered thanks to an

integrated part remover for

automatic picking and stacking of

finished components. Additionally,

Aldermans took an automatic

load/unload system to provide

lights-out operation for sheet sizes

up to 2500 x 1250 x 6mm (up to

3.3 tonnes of material can be

accommodated at any one time).

Aldermans are now looking

forward to a prosperous year and

are working on improvements to

other production areas and

investing heavily in developing and enhancing

their workforce, through in house training

workshops, NVQ's and apprenticeships. “In our

business, quality and delivery are assumed it is

price that wins orders and the best way to drive

prices down is through our people and smarter

processes.”

04

Alderman’s strategy for

ongoing investment

05

Compared to the

automotive industry,

the aerospace

industry has been

slow to introduce

industrial robotics

onto its assembly

lines.

Recently, however,

there has been a

general move

towards automation

in order to increase

throughput and

standardise

processes.

The slow introduction of industrial robots into the

aerospace industry is largely due to the need for

high accuracy over large structures. For example,

holes have to be drilled within

large structures with both high

absolute and relative accuracy

relative to other holes and

features of the aircraft

assembly.

Airbus has been researching low

cost, highly flexible automation for

several years. However, tasks

within rib bays and other low

access areas found throughout

aircraft structures have remained

practically inaccessible to

automation.

Manoeuvring an industrial robot through a small

opening becomes an ‘eye of the needle’ problem:

it becomes practically impossible to use a

conventional robot-arm to pass through an

access hole, for example, and conduct work

within a wing box. Operating within a rib bay

requires some of the

capabilities of

industrial robots, e.g.

the ability to place

tools precisely, but

other capabilities

must be added to

operate within

confined spaces.

In particular it is

necessary to have a

robot arm that does

not have prominent

‘elbow’ joints.

Snake-arm

robots, having continuous

curvature along their length, are ideal for

these applications.

OCRobotics is working with Airbus UK and

KUKA to develop aerospace robots to

deliver end effector packages capable of

inspection, drilling, sealing and swaging.

A snake-arm robot can be considered as

an additional tool that the larger industrial

robot can deliver or as an extension to the

industrial robot.

The snake-arm is also equipped with a

wrist and interface to attach different

tools for tasks such as swaging, sealing

and inspection inside the rib bay.

Snake-arm robots -

robots for aircraft

assembly

06

Bright future for Quality

Component Engineering LtdQuality Component Engineering Limited has been

operating for the last 14 years producing high quality

CNC machined components while providing prompt

and efficient customer service. They pride

themselves in being a “forward looking” engineering

company which seeks to establish long-term

relationships with successful businesses. They

provide a complete service from prototyping right

through to assembly and packing with many

customers relying on them for safety critical

components. Directors Tony Russell and Hilary

Drake are pleased to have become involved with

iNets South West. They started the process back

in July with their initial assessment for suitability.

They have been accepted under the “Advanced

Engineering” banner which recognises their skills

in complex precision machining. An Innovation &

Technology Review has been carried out and

already changes have been made and

improvements seen. In particular LIMA(Laboratory

for Integrated Metrology Applications) at the

University of Bath carried out machine tool

calibration. With the aid of the Manufacturing

Advisory Service they are now half-way through

their 5 day strategic review.

Both Tony and Hilary believe the one word that sums

up the experience is Empowerment. They feel their

minds have been opened to a different way of

thinking about their business which has left them

feeling far stronger strategically than ever before.

They are looking forward to the sales opportunities

which should become available through collaboration

with iNet members. With exports already running at

16% and advice and support from this scheme,

including long-term strategic planning the future is

looking very bright.

Publication of the annual Employment Tribunal

statistics and recent government announcements

have shone a light on the cost to businesses of

employment legislation and claims. Whilst there is

apparently an 8% drop in the number of new claims

in 2010/11, this is still 44% up on the number of

claims in 2008/09. Of the 200,000 plus claims, some

47,900 were claims for unfair dismissal.

Discrimination claims account for a similar number,

the most common being sex discrimination. One key

trend is age discrimination claims have risen by 31%

year on year. Given the removal of the exemption for

compulsory retirement at 65, it is perhaps likely that

this upward trend for age discrimination will continue.

What then of the Government’s recent proposals to

assist businesses by reforming the Tribunal system

and/or employment legislation? The first proposal is

to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal

claims from 1 to 2 years.

This key change is on the agenda for April 2012 with

the introduction in 2013 of fees to bring a claim.

It has been suggested that this will weed out

vexatious or opportunistic claims and may

encourage smaller businesses to recruit staff more

readily. The potential down side could be an

increase in more complex claims, where employees

no longer eligible to bring an unfair dismissal claim,

will instead include a claim of discrimination and/or

whistle blowing, for which there is no qualifying

period.

Of equal, if not more, interest are the proposals

to introduce a mandatory conciliation period before

a claim can be issued, which may be a more

successful route to reducing the number of Tribunal

claims. Whichever of the proposals are introduced, it

is unlikely that they will produce overnight changes.

That said, for the majority of employers a Tribunal

claim will come along very infrequently, if at all, but

just occasionally if your contracts, policies and house

are not in order then, like buses, you may find they

can come along all at once.

Employment Law Under the Spotlight