Issue 30
Robert Bosch SRL : A New Pillar of Bosch
Passing a five-year operational milestone, the German company’s facilities in the city of Cluj have emerged as a leading light in its automotive electronics operation.
Ossur
Össur Facilitating Freedom Össur continues to redefine the boundaries of prosthetic possibility, investing heavily in R&D to ensure its products become accessible to everyone who needs them Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Callam Waller “In 1996 I became a below the knee amputee. “I was studying Rehabilitation Science and Physiotherapy at Leuven in Belgium at the time, and decided to complete my course and pursue an orthopaedic direction. When I finished, I got involved in a European project which was focused on monitoring important physical measurements inside prosthetic legs. “It was rather early on in my prosthetic rehabilitation that I started using one of the company’s silicone liners. I saw the ICEROSS® brand, asked my therapist what it was, and he said it originated from Iceland, which made me want to explore the connection between Iceland and prosthetics. “The company was also involved with the post-graduate study. I connected with the then VP of R&D and asked him in 2001 if I could complete an internship with the company. Thankfully that happened, I came here, and the rest is history.” Kim De Roy is talking about Össur. Now serving as the firm’s Executive Vice President of Research and Development, he has witnessed a remarkable 18 years of pioneering development since he joined as a young intern. It is an ongoing journey of discovery, one that De Roy succinctly summarises in one word. “Innovation,” he says. “This is how I would describe my time at Össur to date. If you look at what we did back in 2001 – some of those basics are still…
G4S Cash Solutions Netherlands
G4S Cash Solutions Netherlands Money Made Simple G4S Cash Solutions Netherlands is providing a one-stop payment handling solution in the Netherlands, its Ops 2020 vision geared towards efficiency, ingenuity and seamless customer service. The division acts as an excellence centre, a template which is targeted for global roll out Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Richard Thomas It is no secret that more consumers and businesses are making payments via cashless methods. In Europe, the UK is by far the largest cashless market, with an annual €106.7 trillion in non-cash transactions in 2017, followed by Germany (€55.8 trillion), France (€27.2 trillion) and the Netherlands (€23.7 trillion). From contactless debit cards and biometrics to mobile wallets and wearable payment rings, the options facing us are steadily growing. This does not suggest that cash is no longer a significant form of transaction, however. Far from it. In the Netherlands, for instance, 29 percent of all payments made by people aged 19-24 years are completed using cash. This is the lowest proportion across all age brackets, the figure rising to 38 percent for 45-54-year-olds and over 50 percent for people aged over 65. Interestingly, the youngest age bracket measured by Statista, 12-18 years, reported 57 percent of all payments being made with physical money. For companies like G4S Cash Solutions Netherlands, despite the fact it is adapting for the modern day, its core market of cash shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon. “When the opportunity to join G4S came up, my first question was: Will there still be cash in 10 years’ time?” recalls Ab van Eck, the firm’s Operations…
Dale Farm
Dale Farm Bolstering the Dairy Boom Famous as the UK’s largest farmer-owned dairy business, Dale Farm is showcasing excellence and powering forward-thinking agriculture Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Matthew Selby While the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries may have somewhat propelled the diversification of the UK economy, agriculture remains a key pillar of national GDP. Looking at the dairy industry, for example, statistics from the House of Commons Library show that the UK is the third largest milk producer in the EU and the 10th largest producer in the world. In fact, dairy is a crucial mainstay of UK farming, accounting for just shy of one fifth of total national industry output, with tens of billions of litres produced across the country year after year. An established stalwart inspiring the strength of this thriving sector is Dale Farm, a cooperative owned by 1,300 dairy farmers across the UK. With heritage dating back to the 1800s, Dale Farm is renowned as Northern Ireland’s leading dairy company and the largest UK farmer-owned dairy business, providing an extensive range of esteemed products, from milk, cream and cheese to ice cream, yoghurts and spreads. “We alone process around one billion litres of milk across three pools in Northern Ireland, the Lake District and Scotland,” reveals Nick Whelan, the cooperative’s group CEO. “We use that milk to produce and supply a wide variety of dairy products to the retail, foodservice and ingredients markets across both the UK and more than 45 countries internationally.” An esteemed ethos Having grown up on a southern Irish dairy farm himself, Whelan has developed an adept understanding…
Al Nabil Foods
Al Nabil Foods Thriving on Optimism and Opportunity An intelligent, intuitive, proactive business, Al Nabil Foods is defining the meaning of food service excellence throughout the GCC Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Matthew Selby “There’s a big focus on food quality and food safety in the GCC and Middle East at the moment. Production facilities are becoming modernised, major investments are being made into quality assurance and quality control, while influencers and more defined packaging are helping to keep the consumer well informed. “In addition, these consumers are also concerned about the healthiness of their food, where it comes from and its impact – trends that have led to the industry being swept by innovation, from product differentiation to environmentally friendly packaging to energy saving machines.” For Al Nabil Foods, a major Jordanian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business and its CEO, Ahmad Sallakh, the Middle Eastern food industry is an exciting space right now. According to a recent report from MEED, food imports into the GCC are forecast to reach $53.1 billion by 2020, owed to changing preferences and progressive tastes. This in mind, Nabil Foods stands to thrive with its adaptive, buoyant attitudes and clear, informed strategic oversight. “You could say,” the Chief Exec states, “that the GCC’s food and beverage market is faced with different challenges, whether they’re economic or social. But we’re always optimistic. We understand that it’s a very dynamic environment and view this as a source of opportunity.” Defined by digital transformation Initially launched in Baghdad, Iraq in 1945, the company relocated to Amman in 1988, consistently expanding its operations as a major regional…
AB Connect
AB Connect Binding Innovation with Agriculture With British farming poised for both challenges and transformation, AB Agri’s UK animal feed business, AB Connect, is playing the lead role when it comes to taking a fresh, differentiated approach Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Matt Selby The UK’s agricultural industry is flourishing. According to AB Connect’s website, agricultural land uses approximately 70 percent of the UK’s entire land area and produces roughly 60 percent of all food consumed across the country, while the national food and drink industry maintains an annual turnover in excess of £70 billion, a figure that makes it the nation’s largest manufacturing sector. Equally, however, it is an industry facing both significant challenges and opportunities at the moment. “By 2050, the UK is forecast to become the most populous country in Europe,” Simon Heath, Managing Director of AB Connect cites, calling upon recent forecasts. “That fact alone brings with it challenges, and getting more from less, creating less waste and improving efficiencies across the entire value chain is the only way we can feed the population for decades to come.” Despite this outlook, Heath is quick to iterate that AB Connect, a company which has the primary purpose of helping farmers, producers and businesses throughout the UK food and farming supply chain, will embrace such challenges. Being part of AB Agri, and a leading facilitator of process optimisation, it is backed by major parent company Associated British Foods (ABF), an active advocate of proactive investment in preparation for the future, making it stand out as a true innovator within the market. “These challenges play to us,” Heath…
Mixed messages: The impact of Brexit on automotive and tech sectors
Brexit has uncoiled into an unprecedented political mess.Splintered parties, three years of ongoing EU negotiations, and a prime minister who was only put into power because her predecessor lied to the nation when he said he would not resign in the event of a referendum defeat – these are times quite like no other in the UK.For business, which above all values stability, there is still little sign of calming waters just yet.With organisations calling for some degree of certainty regarding the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the dismay at the political class’s failure to negotiate and execute a departure appears to be at least one sentiment uniting commerce.However, the impact of Brexit on numerous industries continues to be cause for impassioned debate. While the true impact of Brexit will never be known until it has happened, this hasn’t prevented a deluge of research being published in attempts to forecast what might be on the horizon.Here is a look at some of the sentiments coming out of the automotive and technology sectors.Automotive – damage limitation The automotive industry appears to be fairly united in its response to Brexit, the key message being the need to avoid a so called no deal scenario which would see the UK trade with the European Union on World Trade Organization terms (and the introduction of tariffs and possible border check delays).The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is a prominent trade association representing the interests of around 800 automotive companies.It has set out a series of priorities geared…
World Gold Council’s John Reade named keynote speaker at Mining Investment Europe
From mining to quarrying to construction materials, multiple industry experts will be in attendance including John Reade, the Chief Market Strategist and Managing Director of Research for the World Gold Energy Council.John Reade joined the World Gold Council in February 2017 and is responsible for producing strategy and developing insights on the gold market; leading its global dialogue by engaging with leading economists, academics, policy makers, fund managers and investors on gold; and leading its research team.John has over 30 years’ experience in the gold industry and related fields, most recently as a partner and gold strategist with Paulson & Co for the past seven years. Prior to that, John worked as a precious metals strategist at UBS for 10 years; a gold equity analyst in South Africa for five years; and over eight years held various positions in production and project evaluation in the gold division of Gencor, then a leading South African mining house. John has a degree in Mining Engineering from the Royal School of Mines, a constituent of Imperial College, London. John Reade will be the keynote speaker at Mining Investment Europe, joined by the likes of Marcel Goldenberg, Market & Methodology Development Specialist in Metals at S&P Global Platts, UK; Thao Dh Ngo, Group Executive Chairman of First IndoChino Group, Vietnam; and Clause Bejet, Journalist & Private Investor at Swiss Mining Club.To learn more about Mining Investment Europe and find out how to get involved, follow this link: https://www.mininginvestmenteurope.com
Munich Airport’s LabCampus: The New Anatomy of Innovation
Previously named Europe’s Best Airport 11 times when pitted against 550 others, Munich Airport is unsurprisingly the continent’s first and only five-star aviation centre.As you’d expect, these accolades have stemmed from multiple roots.Incipiently, Munich is redefining customer experience when it comes to air travel, removing the negative stigmas of stress and congestion that are readily associated with airports through the use of state-of-the-art systems such as automated passport control technologies and digital maps.In addition, however, alongside its aviation service excellence, the transit hub is pioneering a number of innovative non-aviation services, transforming Munich Airport from just a travel channel into an exciting and prosperous campus.On this front, Flughafen München GmbH (FMG), the operator of Munich Airport, has been providing consultancy, management and training services to numerous airports around the world, more recently inaugurating its very own Information Security Hub last year that brings together IT experts from both FMG itself and high-profile companies around the world to develop new combative solutions.Having seen the successes of the latter in particular during the past 16 months, the airport is now looking to expand this proven model in new ways and become an all-encompassing facilitator of collaboration in the pursuit of global companies, institutions and governments alike embracing collective innovation.This aforementioned emphasis is set to come in the form of LabCampus.Marc Wagener, CEO, explains: “Past ways of approaching innovation, generally driven by central research sites, are reaching maximised capacity. We now live in a world of distributed innovation; startup innovation; business model innovation; where nobody can really see where…
MULTI by thyssenkrupp Elevator: Uplifting Urban Mobility
The world’s first passenger elevator didn’t look like much compared to the finished articles that can be found in today’s buildings.Launched at the Haughwout Department Store in central New York back in 1857, it was viewed as more of a tourist attraction, propelled by a steam engine and travelling at highly inefficient speeds of just 40 feet per minute.The need for elevators has somewhat changed since this time, no longer considered a luxury or novelty, but rather an essential function of towering structures.However, while it is true that elevators have progressed in keeping with the upward curve of urbanisation, their operational concept has remained largely unchanged, leading to architectural headaches in recent years.“The elevator industry has been around for 160 years, but it hasn’t deviated much. Most elevators only move in vertical shafts, but the world – and cities specifically – have adapted. Traditional elevators are fast becoming a bottleneck for the building industry. They have limited capacity for moving people, and they occupy excessively inefficient floor space.”For Michael Cesarz, an established architect by trade, the question of mobility issues in cities was growing with a lack of the innovative thinking required to address such challenges. This was his motivation behind joining thyssenkrupp Elevator.“Our first attempt to pioneer new thinking in this space came in 2002, with the TWIN system,” he recalls. “With two cabins per shaft and a 30 percent increase in transport capacity, combined with a 30 percent reduction in the elevator footprint in buildings, it was an achievement in its own right. But…
Competition and Collaboration in the Financial Sector
Igor Pejic, Head of Marketing at BNP Barnabas PF AT, talks to us about the relationship between competition and collaboration in the financial sector.
Event preview: MINEX Europe Mining & Exploration Forum
The fourth MINEX Europe Mining & Exploration Forum will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 25-27, 2019 under central theme ‘The Future of Sustainable Mining in the Balkans and Beyond’.The Forum is organised with the support from SRK Consulting, ERM, Geotechmin, Ellatzite-med, The Department for International Trade (DIT), Dundee Precious Metals and Bulgaria Alpha (Mundoro Capital). To successfully develop mining projects in the Western Tethys region, companies need to focus on sustainability, responsibility and innovation.Economic, political and social environment is shifting across the region. Many countries are embracing opportunities for sustaining economic growth while reducing environmental footprint. As mining is historically associated with environmental risks, low tech and labour-intensive workplaces, its role in further economic development agendas is often questioned.Environmental impacts of mining, labour conditions and relations continue to be a gating issue for miners. Disputes and accidents instantly get media attention and governments are under increased pressure to adopt progressive policies.In the foreseeable future metals and raw materials will be essential for securing long term economic growth and advancement of material intensive industries such as car manufacturing, electronics, constructions, energy. Across the region, jurisdictions continue to find ways to work with communities while securing supply of valuable commodities. There is an urgent need for having an open discussion between miners, investors, politicians, academics and NGOs to address the contributions of the mining industry to economy, environment and society to the Western Tethys countries.To address these issues and discuss emerging investment and cross-border cooperation opportunities MINEX Europe Forum will bring together delegates from the countries of…
Award winning software company ESS Engineering Software Steyr poised to make its mark at Mining Investment London Conference
https://www.mininginvestmentlondon.com, part of the global Mining Investment Conference Series, will be returning to London for a third time from September 19-20, 2019 and ESS Engineering Software Steyr, an award-winning global software company based in Austria, will be making its debut at the event. What makes ESS unique ESS (https://www.essteyr.com) is a producer of cutting-edge hybrid CFD/CSD software and a specialist in automating the pre-processing step of meshing. Besides industries such as automotive and energy, the focus of ESS lies in the mining and mineral processing industry. Its software solutions are technology leaders in their respective disciplines: MERGE – The world’s only software for autonomous data preparation of geometrics PAINT SHOP – To help optimise painting processes in the automotive industry SENSE – A novel flow and solid-state simulation specially developed for non-experts as users From its base in Austria, ESS employs more than 50 people across 15 countries and has offices in Europe, China and India with distributors worldwide. Its innovative approach has been recognised through various awards, including the prestigious Gold Pegasus award in the category of ‘Promising Future Innovators’ in Linz, Austria in June 2019. The Mining Investment London Conference team is honoured to have ESS onboard as a sponsor for this event to showcase the innovative application of its technology in the mining space. Global profile of sponsors, exhibitors and attendees across commodities and expertise Joining ESS at Mining Investment London Conference and Exhibition so far include first time sponsors and exhibitors: MachineMax (https://www.machinemax.com) Central Asia Capital Investment Company (https://www.investor.kg) Eusimex Mining (http://www.eusimex.com)…
How IBM and Wimbledon harness technology to bring tennis to the masses
The All England Lawn Tennis Club. Spiritual home of tennis and abound with tradition, it may not appear the most obvious candidate for trailblazing the use of technology in sport.It is a venue steeped in legend and storytelling. From the inaugural Wimbledon Championships held in 1877 to the longest ever professional tennis match timed at 11 hours and five minutes in 2015, SW19 continues to produce moments of sporting history.Meanwhile, traditions such as strawberries and cream and an all-white dress code have remained stoutly the same.But the past three decades have also seen Wimbledon move with the times – and emphatically so.When Martina Navratilova and Stefan Edberg converted match points to win their titles in 1990, they may not have contemplated the idea of reliving the moment within two minutes via an AI-generated highlights video.Fast-forward 30 years and this is exactly what every participant and fan is able to access.As an avid version of the latter, it was with enthused intrigue that I and Deputy Editor Jonathan Dyble set foot into what has been dubbed the bunker, hub of all things intelligent operated by IBM.Awash with monitors and engineers in their element, it is the job of Digital Architect Simon Boyden to ensure these highly technical operations run smoothly.“We use the analogy that this is like organising a two-week wedding,” he says, following a brief introduction to how IBM Cloud is the foundation of its Wimbledon activities, providing flexibility and scalability to enable real-time insights.“We’ve got 20 million looking at the website and streaming data –…
Industry 0.0: Heineken on the rise of low-alcohol beer and its Formula E partnership
Written by: Tom WadlowBeer, it is safe to say, has stood the test of time. It is the oldest recorded recipe in the world, the Egyptian’s documenting brews with ingredients such as dates, pomegranates and indigenous herbs around 5,000 BC. Harsh sounding by today’s standards, these ancient beer recipes have evolved into what is now a metropolis of variety accentuated by the rise of craft. From porters and pilsners to wheat and rye, it is arguably the most diverse beverage category of modern times. The most recent beer phenomenon, however, has involved lowering or entirely removing a key ingredient – alcohol. According to a recent MarketWatch report, the global non-alcoholic beer segment will grow at an annual rate of 7.7 percent between 2019 and 2024, activity which will see its value rise from $4.5 billion to just over $7 billion a year during this time. For Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer, this is a serious market. “Another report published by Global Data has shown that one of the main driving factors behind this comes from a noticeable behavioral change in Heineken’s target audience,” says Gianluca Di Tondo, Senior Director, Global Heineken Brand. “Today, 34 percent of 19-34-year-olds say they are often and, in some cases, always influenced by how a product affects their health and wellbeing when purchasing an alcoholic drink.” Di Tondo and company have spent significant time and resources on marketing its non-alcoholic brand, Heineken 0.0, notably through its Now You Can series of TV adverts, one of which showing a driver ironically caught out by police for illegal parking. “We…