Manufacturing is wealth creation. A strong manufacturing base equals a strong prosperous economy. But developed economies must solve key productivity challenges to remain competitive.
Throughout the 20th century, technical excellence was the driving force for UK manufacturing – the UK was one of the few places in the world where components could be manufactured to the quality required for planes, cars, ships and consumer products.
However, the rising capabilities of developing economies made an uncomfortable reality – technical capability became more of a commodity. The developing economies began to achieve good enough quality at vastly lower prices, and continue to do so today.
The result has been the rapid decline of UK manufacturing in industries such as ship building, consumer products, steel production and automotive. The fallout continues in towns and cities up and down the country suffering lost prosperity, lost jobs and lost identity.
This story of manufacturing decline plays out not just in the UK but in many developed economies.
Today, the UK manufacturing sector predominantly consists of high-value industries in high-tech sectors such as aerospace, medical, marine and defence. At the heart of all of these industries lies machining – a sector which prides itself on technical capability, but keenly feels the pressure from overseas competitors with lower prices.
History threatens to repeat itself, but recent growth in digital technology presents a new opportunity to revolutionise machining productivity.
Machining shop floors are highly variable environments, with each job requiring different tools, techniques and materials. The sheer variety of work makes processes impossible to automate, leading to machining being seen as somewhat of a “dark art”. This variety presents numerous challenges in the day-to-day operation of these businesses, causing headaches in scheduling production, costing jobs, handling variability and diagnosing systemic issues.
Amongst these challenges is a huge opportunity – by combining cutting-edge data capture and analysis with time-served engineering experience, we make sense of shop floor operations and create data-driven step changes in productivity for machining businesses.
We created FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics to deliver the key to success. Our software augments technical excellence with world-beating productivity levels.
By doing this, we enable our customers to generate an output-to-cost ratio that eclipses the competition. This drive towards productivity will deliver stability and prosperity for advanced manufacturing once again.
Our vision is simple
To maximise manufacturing productivity across the globe.
We will make advanced manufacturing as efficient as mass production, and reinstate manufacturing as a foundation from which developed economies prosper.
Our reasoning is short
Manufacturing is wealth creation. Technology is enablement and by supporting productive manufacturing through accessible technology we can and will elevate lives, communities and society.
This is our call to arms.
The FourJaw team.
