It’s been quite a while since Matrix, the Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel, stepped up to the mark with a report on what is a key sector of the local economy.
Back in 2008, it took a closer look at advanced engineering and advanced materials in separate reports. One member of the panel back then was Dr. Rob Hardeman, Technologist at Seagate’s
manufacturing facility in Derry. Fast forward to 2015 and Rob Hardeman is an enthusiastic Chairman of the panel which is driving forward what is shaping up to be a comprehensive report on Northern Ireland’s AMME sector… with AMME being an acronym for Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Engineering.
“It was important that we widened our scope and the AMME tag means that we can bring a lot of local businesses into the sector covered by our report,” says Dr. Hardeman. He’s a long-term supporter of the work of Matrix, the science industry group chaired by Dr. Bryan Keating.
Rob is expecting to have a draft report for consultation by the end of the calendar year, and the full report published not too long after that. Central to it will be the gathered views of a wide range of local companies who might not always be given to completing run of the mill surveys… but who are keen to talk in detail to fellow technologists and scientists about the challenges facing them in day to day industry.
“With the benefit of hindsight, the reports we produced seven or eight years ago lacked a bit of depth. That certainly can’t be said this time around.” The Matrix report will take statistics from the NI Statistics & Research Agency as well as other key sources as its starting point, and is starting to engage with the private sector here across a range of key areas, from current industry trends through to specific skills and training issues.
“In a nutshell, we want to know what concerns these companies have and what challenges they face, but we also want to come up with ideas around how we can help them, and how the public sector can help them going forward. We’d like to see actions developing from this report.”
Manufacturing, says Dr. Hardeman, still lies at the heart of business and industry here in Northern Ireland.
“We’ve been manufacturing here for many years. We’ve got a strong manufacturing heritage, and that’s something that we have to keep in mind.
“In fact, there is still a higher percentage concentration of manufacturing businesses here than there is in the UK as a whole. During the downturn, manufacturing industry here kept on track better than other UK regions. R&D didn’t fall away and exports, largely speaking, remained strong. “So we have a big and vibrant sector and the signs are good.”
The Matrix study covers most areas of manufacturing, but leaves out agri-food (widely considered to be a sector in its own right) and, for similar reasons, life and health sciences. But that leaves a total of 3,130 organisations of varying size and scale.
“That’s one of the fascinating aspects,” says Dr. Hardeman. “We have been engaging with companies of the scale of Wrightbus, Caterpillar and Bombardier, but also with much smaller manufacturers in every corner of Northern Ireland. And, across more than 3,000 organisations, we’re talking about a lot of jobs.”
He’s also talking about a lot of different products, some of them very specialised indeed. “Oh yes, a lot of the products coming out of Northern Ireland companies aren’t very visible to the man in the street, as it were. A good example is the cluster of companies around County Tyrone producing quarrying machinery for international markets….. the sons and daughters of Powerscreen, as they have been called…
“More visible are the companies here producing for the international aerospace industry. Bombardier is right at the forefront of that sector, but step onto an aircraft these days and there’s every chance that the aircraft seats, the safety equipment and the steps you use to get on board are made here in Northern Ireland.
“And most if not all of these companies are using advanced materials,” he says, moving on to his specialist subject. “We’ve a growing number of companies, for instance, who are operating right at the cutting edge of composite technology.
“Advanced materials play a part in almost everything we rely upon these days,” he says, picking up a mobile phone to illustrate the point he’s making. Although he’s not being interviewed about his own company, there’s little doubt that Seagate’s Springtown plant is a ready-made example of how leading edge technology is researched and developed right here in Northern Ireland.
Dr. Hardeman quotes the pioneering scientific development carried out by Andor at its Belfast plant, and in the area of composites, by Bombardier’s Northern Ireland manufacturing operation.
“And, in areas like polymers, we’re producing everything from hair brushes to recycling bin components.
“There are even direct links back to the Northern Ireland manufacturing heritage. Think of composite materials that include fibres, and you have a link back to textiles….a real area of expertise here for many years.
“We also want to look, in the work that we’re doing, at how different manufacturing industries can work more effectively together, at collaborative research….even collaborative ventures.
“I’d be fairly confident that one conclusion will be that we need to work harder on the development of skills, from school leavers to PhD qualified engineers. Skills are going to be vital to the continued growth of manufacturing here….and it will be right up there on our agenda.
“Thinking outside the box, there are also questions around how big data and data analytics can be put to best use in the manufacturing context. And then there are the benefits of the circular economy in which we work to recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.
“With the wider economy on the up, there’s every chance that we could be publishing our report and our findings at just about the right time.
“But it’s important to us that it doesn’t end up as another book up on the shelf. We want to have key messages and stories as well as stats, we want to be current and we want it to lead to improvements and actions.
“Innovation, after all, is the source of good, long-term business. And our role is to support a thriving business community here.”
This interview first appeared in Business Eye magazine.