Machinery Magazine UK Podcast Andrew Allcock

Machinery’s editor, Andrew Allcock, talks to Autodesk’s Jonathan Geffen about how the design-manufacturing engineering dynamic has changed in recent years; what role Fusion 360 can play in supporting a new collaborative way of working; the benefits of such a single, collaborative environment; why engineers should consider switching to the platform and leave behind traditional single-function, desk-bound software packages; details about the functions and capabilities of the various ‘workspaces’ (software applications) that can be accessed within Fusion 360; plus commercial details about subscriptions, releases and how to access your free trial.
To boost your design and manufacturing engineers’ productivity and get great products to market faster and more efficiently, make sure that you fully understand what Fusion 360 is and how your engineering teams can collaborate quickly, effortlessly and without any misunderstandings or mismatching data. It really is the future and Autodesk is investing heavily into this area, adding broader and deeper capability on a regular basis.

​In this edition, recorded on Wednesday, 24 June 2020, Machinery talks to Simon Stowe, planning engineer at Unipart Powertrain, Coventry, West Midlands, which is part of Unipart Manufacturing.
We’ll be discussing how Universal Robots collaborative robots have been implemented across a number of processes, replacing previously manual tasks; how their flexibility has aided their reuse as work has changed, indeed, how that particular aspect was actually key in one application; how Universal Robots’ cobots are now being used in the training of apprentices at both degree and sub-degree level; and also how the cobot message is being taken to other parts of the Unipart organisation. It’s fair to say that Simon is extremely enthusiastic about cobots and what they have and will make possible at Unipart.

Dundee-based SP Elements, a division of SP Automation & Robotics, is Scotland’s sole distributor of Universal Robots’ cobots. SP Automation & Robotics has over 30 years’ experience in automation, but this new venture is aiming at a new market. Based around its core product of Universal Robots’ cobots, SP Elements will bring automation to a wider audience, as its managing director, Roy Henderson, explains in this edition.

​In this second episode of a four-part series sponsored by Universal Robots, Machinery’s editor, Andrew Allcock, talks to Dr James Law, the Director of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange at Sheffield Robotics, one of the largest robotics research institutes in the UK, and the lead for Collaborative Robotics. James also holds a joint appointment between the Department of Computer Science and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, or AMRC, at the University of Sheffield.

Machinery editor Andrew Allcock talks to Universal Robots' UK sales manager Mark Gray.
They discuss the company’s history and technology; the UK industrial robot automation picture, with an emphasis on collaborative robots, so cobots, which are intended for work alongside and with people; what the barriers to cobot uptake have been and are; what UR is doing to address these barriers; we’ll example some relevant cobot success stories; and we’ll finish by considering the future outlook for cobot uptake in the UK.