Gary is Managing Director of not one but three businesses (LG Motion, MiniTec UK and Precision Acoustics) and has worked with Chatty Hatter for decades. His business interests span electro-mechanical automation, modular aluminium profile system manufacture, and acoustic and ultrasound measurement – serving many industries, from medical to space and university research.
In the reunion – Gary and Nicole haven’t seen each other in person for two years – the pandemic is the first point up for discussion. Gary tells Nicole how the pandemic has certainly presented challenges but that “every challenge is another opportunity”.
The conversation covers how companies will need to restructure for the post-pandemic world and what this will mean for productivity, increased automation, a shrinking labour pool.
The advent of artificial intelligence has meant that more data can be collected and that more tasks can be done from home, argues Gary, explaining that manufacturing and automation have had to adapt, including his own businesses.
An optimistic Gary looks ahead to new avenues, such as environmental and sustainability projects and how despite feeling like he has lost a year, he has continued to make sure work morale is high, with continued investment and training. “It’s not about getting bigger, it’s about getting better”, he says.
There will need to be some rethinking by businesses and industry, from how robotics and automation can be integrated and how this can be a positive, freeing up time for other skillsets.
Gary and Nicole discuss how manufacturing will have to change, from adapting ways of working to introducing new ones. These changes will affect the supply chain – will companies want one big factory or lots of smaller ones? How will travel restrictions and rising container costs be met?
“Business is simple, people make it complicated,” says Gary and in this podcast, you can listen in to some practical advice, some insightful ideas and some sound managerial advice on the international engineering industry.
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