The Future of Manufacturing in Scotland

The Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition was held in October at the Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow. The event consisted of a variety of display within the manufacturing industry. From technology showcasing some of the latest 3D printers and robotic arms, to improved materials for manufacturing and programming for designers. I attended the conference to engage with Scotland's and the UK's most knowledgeable and experienced additive manufacturing community and learn more about the future plans of the manufacturing industry in Scotland.

The conference comprised of talks and presentations split across 6 stages, taking place concurrently. This allowed attendees to participate in as many conversations as they wanted to. There was representation from technology, manufacturing, design and engineering, transport, healthcare, aerospace, food and construction industry.

So much insight was shared about the Scottish Government’s ambitions for the manufacturing sector in Scotland. The talks commenced with a speech from Ivan McKee MSP, the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism & Enterprise. He stated there is an opportunity for manufacturing and supply chain to support the Energy sector, particularly SME’s. Although Scotland is currently running on renewables for Electricity and has one of the largest supply in the world, the average cost of energy has continued to rise up to three times across engineering companies. Another challenge discussed was the lack of skill set in the manufacturing industry. Thus, the Scottish government is developing training and apprenticeship opportunities to bridge this gap. They were other talks by industry professionals that highlighted opportunities for additive in Scotland including oil and gas, wind energy, railway and defense. In addition, current applications of 3D printing were presented with case studies in subsea, motorsport, dental and electrical sector.

As an attendee, there was so much I took away from the event. It was a great networking opportunity and I got to connect with professionals in manufacturing. I also considered it to be timely, particularly because of the current energy transition and advances towards sustainability. It revealed there is a potential for manufacturing and supply chain to support the energy sector. I believe the future can be dramatically influenced by additive manufacturing when combined with robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and smart materials.

Mariah.