Manufacturing at Heart

My guest this week is Jochen Kreusel, Group Senior Vice President of the ABB group, Zurich, and market innovation manager of the group’s Power Grids division. Jochen will deepen the discussion about what's happening with Europe's transmission and distribution networks, explaining what's happening now and what is coming in terms of future development.

My guest on the show this week is Jorge González, Managing Director of Ormazabal, a company headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, providing solutions for the electricity distribution networks focused on innovation. Jorge unravels some of the mystery behind the term 'smart grid' and discusses the importance of manufacturing on the evolution of the energy sector, whilst at the same time, the energy sector has also influenced the evolution of manufacturing! A modern transmission backbone in combination with adequately developed, modern distribution networks is the enabler for integrating the high shares of wind and solar power Europe is striving for in order to decarbonise its energy system. .

My guest this week comes from the world of textiles. Deborah lived all little girls' dreams by completing a degree in fashion and textile design, starting a career in fashion buying and becoming successful - she supplied Harrods, Fortnum and Mason, Selfridges, Nieman Marcus and many more. But after her daughter was born with a genetic disability, something had to change......

Pamela Cain believes in 'quality', so does Rob Marchant, her business partner. MarchantCain Design Ltd thrives on providing quality bespoke, niche, low volume designs to the automotive industry - it does so with a winning combination of experience and a smattering of youth - where the obstacles to innovation don't exist. This is another great story where hard work and personal sacrifice results in what they were both seeking, a highly successful, innovative business where each and every day brings a new challenge and a smile to their faces!

Germany is renowned for it's engineering prowess and rightly so! My guest this week is one from this breed of 'innovators'! Dipl.-Ing. Guido Follert is the Head of Department Machines and Facilities at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics. Guido talks freely about the 'raison d'etre' of the Fraunhofer Institute, where Rack Racers and Stack Access Machines are part of the daily 'jargon'.

My guest this week, the first in the second series of Manufacturing at Heart podcasts, is Luke Benton, the Managing Director of MNB Precision Ltd. Established over 35 years ago (by Luke's Grandad), MNB Precision provides manufacturing and precision engineering services to world leading companies across the Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Aerospace, Rail and other manufacturing industries that may require precision engineers.

The really exciting thing about IoT is that it enables companies to develop entirely new business models around providing services to customers. This means you can create brand new revenue streams, not just improve on the existing ones - Andreas explains how......

Cathie Hall returns to the show to explain how the 'Digital Transformation' is affecting her customers. She explains that whilst the Internet of Things (IoT) can appear daunting, many businesses are further down the line of digital transformation than they may at first realise....!

My guest this week is Govert Hamers, President and CEO of Vanderlande, the global market leader in baggage handling systems for airports, and sorting systems for parcel and postal services. The company is also a leading supplier of warehouse automation solutions. Having recent won a bid to supply baggage handling services to the new Istanbul airport, Govert reveals the complexities that go with such a prestigious contract.....and the enormity of their own business.

In this week's show, Ben Kolp tells us why manufacturers should be doing more to tell their stories with the help of social technologies. He works for Orca Social and has a funky job title of 'customer happiness' - how cool is that?! Orca Social's mission is to achieve competitiveness via social technologies for companies to become sustainable in a rapidly changing business landscape of limited resources. Let's find out how!