As if to counter the doom and gloom of Lockdown 2 and our now full immersion in the dark season, the media in our sectors has offered a glut of positive news stories, many promising new jobs for skilled workers in UK tech and manufacturing. Here’s the best of the news from November 2020 as we saw it. It’s almost enough to make you cheerful! Stay positive out there.
Automotive
The Gordon Murray Group goes from strength to strength.
Not long after the successful launch of the headline-grabbing T.50 supercar, the Gordon Murray Group has announced that it will establish a new global HQ and technology campus on a 54-acre site in Windlesham, Surrey with £50M investment.
The site’s 130,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility will include three buildings, housing world-leading automotive design, research, engineering and development as well as sales and marketing and a heritage centre. The site will create over 100 highly-skilled jobs, while 90% of components for the new T.50 will be sourced from British suppliers. The site is due to be completed by the end of 2024.
We’re very proud to work with the Gordon Murray Group and watch its continuing development with interest and a great deal of excitement.
Source: gordonmurraydesign.com
Motorsport
Over to you, Lewis.
Lewis Hamilton is now the most successful F1 driver in history, having matched Michael Schumacher’s seven world titles and exceeded his total of races won. And we love what he said about it when asked to reflect on his achievement:
“It’s so important for kids out there to hopefully see this – don’t listen to anybody that tells you that you can’t achieve something. Speak it into existence, you’ve got to work for it, you’ve got to chase it. Never give up and never doubt yourself.”
Source: theguardian.com
Manufacturing & Technologies
Plenty to cheer about for UK manufacturing
November has brought plenty of positive stories about manufacturing in the UK. To cite just a few of many:
Subsea engineering company Feritech is to build a new 3.5-acre, state-of-the-art facility just outside Falmouth, greatly increasing its manufacturing capabilities and services to local and global customers. Over 90% of the company’s products and services are exported, with clients in more than 40 different countries.
Meanwhile, IMI Truro Marine, a global manufacturer of high integrity valves and actuators, will open a new multi-million-pound site in the West Midlands. It’s a move which safeguards the jobs of its existing skilled workforce while also creating new employment opportunities. Construction could begin on the site before the end of the year and be completed in Q3 2021.
Elsewhere, Multi-Ply Components, a leading specialist in the design and manufacture of carbon fibre composite components for medical x-ray equipment, is to build a 40,000 sq ft site in Blackpool.
Sources: mtdmfg.com(1), mtdmfg.com(2) & mtdmfg.com(3)
Future Tech
Government’s “Green Industrial Revolution” plan for 250,000 new jobs
The government has released a 10-point plan to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050. A raft of measures includes mobilising £12 billion of investment to create up to 250,000 new green jobs in the UK, supporting the development of technology that captures and stores carbon created in industrial processes and investing in offshore wind farming.
The government also intends to tackle inefficiencies in residential heating, a major source of carbon emission. It will issue grants to help make homes more energy efficient, creating new jobs in the process.
It has emphasised the significant impact that “Green Industrial Revolution” jobs could make in regions suffering industrial decline, helping to “level up” the country and focusing on industrial heartlands including the North East, Yorkshire and West Midlands.
Exec & Leaders
Stephan Winkelmann returns to Lamborghini
Volkswagen Group veteran Stephan Winkelmann will return to his role as CEO of Lamborghini while keeping his current job as head of Bugatti (also, along with Audi and Lamborghini, part of the VW Group).
Winkelmann was CEO of the famed sportscar brand from 2005 to 2016. He has spent time in various roles at Fiat, including as CEO of Fiat in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. He will begin his dual role in December.
Source: autonews.com
Graduate
Dyson awards recognise healthcare and sustainability tech
This year’s Dyson Awards have gone to a urine test for breast cancer and a waste crop material that converts UV light into renewable energy. It’s the first time a Sustainability Award has been included alongside the existing International Award, each receiving £30,000 to develop their products.
The Sustainability Award goes to AuRESS System Technology, a UV-harvesting material made from fruit and vegetable waste, which could be integrated into building facades or clothing to harness solar energy.
The International Dyson Award was won by The Blue Box, a home-testing platform for detecting breast cancer. Created by 23-year old Judit Giró, it features a sensing platform that seeks out the same cancer-related compounds detected by dogs trained to sniff out cancer, and then analyses them using a cloud-based AI algorithm that evolves with every test and is claimed to be 95 per cent accurate.
We were pleased to see that the Tyre Collective - whose brilliant invention for capturing tyre particles at the wheel of a vehicle we noted in September’s news - was a runner up.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the combined age of the two Dyson Award winners is a mere 50! Youth is no barrier to success or ambition in the design, engineering and technology fields, and the creative fire burns strong in young minds - a compelling argument for the continued promotion of STEM subjects amongst young people. Just look at what young engineers and designers can do.
Source: theengineer.co.uk