- Partnership could provide transformation blueprint for manufacturing companies looking to enhance productivity through digitisation
- Drawing on rapidly advancing research, digitisation will revolutionise operational efficiency and responsiveness at Protaform, giving it a competitive edge
- Innovating UK manufacturing helps to keep supply chains in the UK and reduce carbon footprints.
Aston University is working with Redditch-based manufacturing firm, Protaform Springs and Pressings Ltd, on a digital transformation of their production processes in a pioneering project that could provide a blueprint for similar companies across the UK.
Through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), researchers from Aston University will enable Protaform to reap the benefits of both Industry 4.0 advances – which include innovations powered by automation, big data analytics and smart systems – and Industry 5.0 approaches, a rapidly advancing area of operations management research which place the wellbeing of the workforce at the centre of the production process.
The team will use the latest smart sensors and micro-controllers to enable automated data collection from Protaform’s manufacturing processes. They will create real-time, data-driven dashboards, enabling factory data to be accessible from any location worldwide. They will also use a whole systems approach to review and analyse the human-machine interactions within the company, identifying key success factors and areas for further optimisation.
The project will enable Protaform to implement more effective production planning and control their end-to-end manufacturing, creating a transformation in their business and management processes to drive efficiency improvements and deliver sustainable growth. Enhanced efficiency will prepare Protaform for rapid growth, ensuring it continues to reduce waste and energy usage and shrink their carbon footprint.
The partnership will contribute to the growth of the UK manufacturing sector by providing a blueprint for manufacturing companies looking to make productivity and efficiency improvements through digitisation. Keeping manufacturing in the UK brings other benefits, including security of supply chains and reducing carbon footprints.
Paul Taylor, group finance director at Protaform, said:
“The team at Aston University has been great to work with and very proactive.
“They’ve taken the time to understand our needs properly, rather than making assumptions about what we do and where we want to go. That’s been very reassuring and makes a strong foundation for a productive partnership.”
Professor Ben Clegg, previously head of operations and information management at Aston Business School, is leading the project. He said:
“Implementing a new piece of technology or digitising a machine is doomed to fail, unless you rethink strategy, processes and address people’s attitudes towards change.
“A factory is a complex system, and it’s the interaction between different parts of the system – the people, the machines, the data, the regulatory frameworks – that provide opportunities for success.
“This is why, for a project of this kind, you have to take a whole systems approach.”
An award-winning innovator, Professor Clegg has worked extensively with organisations to increase their productivity through smarter use of people, processes and technology. He has developed a novel methodology, Process Oriented Holonic (PrOH) Modelling, which has been successfully adopted by companies through previous KTPs. PrOH Modelling is used to define systemic problems within organisations and support knowledge-based decision-making and implementation to tackle those problems.
Professor Clegg will be joined in the project by two colleagues from the Operations and Information Management Department at Aston Business School: Dr Donato Masi, senior lecturer in operations management and Dr Amar Al-Bazi, senior lecturer in operations and supply chain simulation; and KTP associate, Miss Anuradha Kamble.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, funded by Innovate UK, are collaborations between a business, a university and a highly qualified research associate. The UK-wide programme helps businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills. Aston University is a sector-leading KTP provider, ranked first for project quality, and second for the volume of active projects.
For more information on the KTP, visit the webpage and prohmodeller.org.
- Notes to Editors
Watch our short film to see how it works and visit our website for examples of KTP in action at Aston.
To find out more about how your business can benefit from working with Aston University, please email ktp@aston.ac.uk.
About Aston University
For over a century, Aston University’s enduring purpose has been to make our world a better place through education, research and innovation, by enabling our students to succeed in work and life, and by supporting our communities to thrive economically, socially and culturally.
Aston University’s history has been intertwined with the history of Birmingham, a remarkable city that once was the heartland of the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world.
Born out of the First Industrial Revolution, Aston University has a proud and distinct heritage dating back to our formation as the School of Metallurgy in 1875, the first UK College of Technology in 1951, gaining university status by Royal Charter in 1966, and becoming The Guardian University of the Year in 2020.
Building on our outstanding past, we are now defining our place and role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (and beyond) within a rapidly changing world.
For media inquiries in relation to this release, contact Sam Cook, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44) 7446 910063 or email: s.cook2@aston.ac.uk
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