Its safe to say that the engineering community has been under a great deal of strain over the last few years, with socio-economic and political upheaval across the global. None-more-so than the manufacturing industry.

Both here in the UK and worldwide, the manufacturing sector is facing a number of urgent challenges which are driving transformational change across the entire industry. The ambition to reach Net Zero, finding reliable access to sustainable resources, and the accelerating pace of emerging technologies and workforce mobility are some of the key issues the industry is having to address.

Manufacturing executives are now not only being held accountable by their shareholders for the company’s bottom line but they are now, more than ever, being scrutinised by the public and policy makers for the adherence to sustainable processes and supply chain management.

Despite all these challenges the manufacturing industry has managed to remain resolute; finding new ways to address sourcing bottlenecks, logistics backlogs and supply chain collapse. By creating resilience in their networks and apply new tools and approaches such as distributed manufacturing, manufacturers are turning critical risks into strategic advantage.

To find out more about the last few years of challenges, Helen spoke with engineers Nigel Pekenc and Professor Kostantinos Salonitis to get their views on emerging transformations and whats next for the manufacturing industry.

Nigel is a Partner in Kearney’s Strategic Operations Practice, based in London.  He has advised clients in industries from engineered equipment to healthcare.  Nigel has been focused on the reconfiguration of global value chains to meet changing needs as supply and demand shocks continue.

Kostas is Head of the Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre and the Deputy Director of Manufacturing at Cranfield University. He is a Fellow of the IMechE and chair of Manufacturing Industries Division. His current research focus is on the sustainability of manufacturing systems and processes, the design and optimization of manufacturing systems, and the use of lean and green approaches for managing manufacturing.

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You can find more information about the work of the IMechE at www.imeche.org