The Third Angle

Net Zero is the UK’s contribution to stopping global warming and it seems on a weekly basis we are hearing about new pledges from the UK government to drive this initiative – whether that be to make our next car purchase electric or to change our current household heating systems to hydrogen-based boilers. 

But aviation also has a role to play, with the government pledging net zero internal UK flights by 2040.  Today’s attempts to fly on battery power rely on the same Lithium-ion technology that powers cells phones and automobiles; it can work, but to really get off the ground aviation will need a new generation of energy storage technology.   

Of course, all these alternative power sources will generate a large amount of heat.  Heat that companies will also need to look at ways of controlling. One such company is Oxford based Qdot Technology who are working on answers to the cooling problems using its expertise in thermal management technologies.  Dr Holt Wong, one of the founders of Qdot Technology, talks to PTC's Paul Haimes about what his company is doing. 

Listen to PTC's Paul Haimes as he chats to Meggitt's Global Demand Planning Lead, Andy Bennett, about how Servigistics enabled Meggitt to hit the ground running after lockdown was lifted.

This year more than ever we’ve been urged to take a ‘staycation’.  With Covid travel restrictions ever changing for foreign destinations, British holidaymakers are making the decision to take a break closer to home.

In fact, according to figures from tourist board Visit Britain, 16.4 million UK adults were intending to take a domestic getaway this summer. Of these, around one in three (or some 5.4 million) were planning on camping or caravanning. 

This in turn means caravan manufacturers needing to keep designs fresh and manufacturing efficient to meet the demand.  One company in particular, and a PTC customer through its Partner Root Solutions, is Swift Group.

Paul Cunningham, engineering director, and Chris Milburn, design director at Swift Group chat to PTC's Dave Hughes about how design is helping to drive Swift’s future.

We’ve spoken on previous podcast about how the UK government is positioning itself as a ‘global services and technology hub’ with the intent of making it the best place to start and grow a digital business, trial a new technology or undertake advanced research. 

Key to that success will be innovation hubs and facilities, like BAE’s Factory of the Future, that is at the forefront in terms of innovation and technologies such as Industry 4.0. 

PTC's Dave Hughes, chats to Alex Griffiths, Senior Integration Engineer at BAE Systems, about BAE’s Factory of the Future and how, through deployed technologies, it’s more than just bricks and mortar.

Chris Courtney, UK Research and Innovation, and Francisco Betti, World Economic Forum, continue their conversation with PTC's Nick Leeder about the much talked about 'levelling up' of the UK.

If the UK government is to deliver on its much-stated goal of tackling regional economic inequality in the UK, it must focus more on UK manufacturing as it plays a huge part in addressing these disparities .

It would be an understatement to say that the forecast looks decidedly mixed for UK manufacturing post-Brexit. 

On the one hand, data from the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for March and April is encouraging. Two consecutive months of strong growth in output, order books and employment would seem to bode well for the sector.   

On the other hand, profitability has dropped to its lowest level for a decade, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  

And both studies observe that the sector faces strong headwinds as it navigates the post-Brexit era.  

PTC's Nick Leeder is joined by Francisco Betti, head of advanced manufacturing at the World Economic Forum, and Chris Courtney, Challenge Director of the Manufacturing Made Smarter programme at UK Research and Innovation, to chat about what this potentially means for UK manufacturing, and what's next.

A new education blueprint for creating future industrial talent is being developed in the heart of Luton by a former engineer turned teacher.  

PTC's Paul Haimes chats to Daniel Pallett, Senior Teacher and Engineering Lead at the Chiltern Academy (part of the Chiltern Learning Trust) about the need for greater collaboration, a more focused curriculum and a central pot of Government funding for shared resource.

Climate change is fast becoming everybody’s problem, as communities worldwide increasingly bear the brunt of droughts, floods, storms, forest fires and rising seas.  

The manufacturing and production sector has a big contribution to make in tackling the threat. It’s an engine of economic growth and social development, certainly, but it’s also responsible for producing 20% of global CO2 emissions and consuming 54% of the world’s energy, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) reports and online data. 

Join PTC's Paul Haimes as he talks to Beatriz Fernandez who is leading the World Economic Forum's Carbon Reduction in Manufacturing Initiative.

Stannah is a UK manufacturer with a rich 150 year old history.  Listen in as Ross Pascoe, chief technology and design officer at Stannah, and Dave Hughes, presales director at PTC, have an insighful conversation about the transformative impact of digital technologies.