Digital Manufacturing Webinar 2023

Paul McHard is a Senior Robotics Software Engineer at HAL Robotics. HAL Robotics provides software solutions to automate complex and highly variable industrial processes. As part of the HAL Robotics team, Paul specializes in robotics software and applications development, as well as industrial communications protocols and robotic sensor technology. Paul has a background in Systems Engineering and Industrial Automation, with specific expertise in Machine Learning and AI, having previously led the Computer Vision technical theme at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland. Paul is also undertaking a PhD with the University of Glasgow and HAL Robotics, investigating AI-based Robotic Auto-correction.

Mr Gridley has over 20 years' experience in lead positions within the aerospace industry having spent 11years at BAE Systems heading the manufacturing IT unit for the military aircraft division and latterly as the director of the Boeing Aviation Services Research Center for Southeast Asia. During his time at BAE Systems, he oversaw a complete overhaul of the manufacturing data structure and architecture and was a key stakeholder in the £0.5 billion JSF empennage investment. He then moved to Asia to create the 7thBoeing global research centre, the ASRC in Hong Kong. During his time as director of the ASRC he oversaw some HK$ 200m worth of research projects ranging from remote scanning of fuselages to the auto-refurbishment of engine compressor blades.

Katerina is the Innovation Lead in ATS Global and has over 10 years of experience in R&D and innovation of new products, manufacturing processes and Industry 4.0 technologies. She joined ATS in 2019 where her role involves managing the global innovation portfolio aiming to develop and commercialise smart IoT solutions for the manufacturing industry. Katerina is applying her ‘customer perspective’ on the IoT solution developments from her previous experience working in highly regulated sectors such as medical devices and pharmaceutical industries. 

Simon has over 20 years experience in developing and managing innovative project solutions, across a range of manufacturing technologies. Developing next-generation production solution is Simon’s task as Open Innovation Lead - working with a range of suppliers, customers and stakeholders to drive the development of Authentise's digital software solutions. His approach is to apply best-practice in rapid, agile software development, to provide digital tools to enable manufacturing organisations to improve their competitiveness - “i4.0 at the coalface”.

Michael is the collaboration and innovation leader for Ford Powertrain Manufacturing Engineering Europe, leveraging his extensive experience in various manufacturing roles across Ford and his passion for digital innovation. Bringing together key collaborators, Ford's experts, and world-class facilities across Europe, Michael guides his team through the generation and development of novel ideas, through to delivery. His focus is to continually develop and institutionalise new technologies such that they are replicated at scale across Ford's global operations. Michael holds an MBA in Leadership Practice (2023), a Master of Philosophy (2014), and a BSc in Mathematics and Physics (2011).

Chris Warhurst is an internationally recognised expert on job quality, skills and aesthetic labour. He is motivated by wanting to see better scientific and policymaker understanding of work and employment. He uses mixed methods in his research, which ranges over small-scale qualitative case studies to national surveys. He has secured more than 90 research awards from national research councils, government, employers, trade unions and charities etc. Published 18 books including the Oxford Handbook of Job Quality (Oxford University Press), Aesthetic Labour (Sage), The Skills That Matter (Palgrave), Are bad jobs inevitable? (Palgrave) and the Oxford Handbook of Skills and Training (Oxford University Press). Also published over 60 academic journal articles, over 70 book chapters and over 70 reports for government and practitioners.

With over twenty years of experience in Discrete and Process Automation Daniel currently manages the Digitalisation Software portfolio for the Factory Automation business and is program manager for Siemens Xcelerator in the UK&I.

Daniel has held several roles covering technical, project, product and business management within Siemens in the UK and Australia covering a diverse range of Industries from Water, Automotive, Mining, Paper, Chemical, F&B, OEM, O&G, Pharma, etc.

Most of Daniel’s time these days is taken up focusing on Digital Transformation within ecosystems and trying to understand the technical, skills and cultural barriers to adoption of the next generation of industrial technologies.

Tim Stephenson has an extensive background in supply chain management and digital innovation in the European steel industry. Having joined Digital Catapult earlier this year, Tim is working in the Digital Supply Chain Hub, leading the development of a portfolio of innovative digital solutions to meet industry challenges. Collaborating with industry, technology developers and academics, Tim is part of a team working to transform manufacturing through digitally empowered supply chains that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable.

Ujjwal leads a team of experts that brings about innovation in engineering. This is by interacting with stakeholders, analysing situations that need resolving or improving, and developing business propositions to gain funding to develop solutions.

Ujjwal has worked on a variety of proposals and delivered complex projects such as those developing approaches to enable asset operators make optimum decisions based on a multiple criteria, particularly those leading to measurements of risk and life cycle sustainability of processes and asset systems. His experience affords him the ability to work in a variety of industry sectors and a range of technology readiness levels.

Ujjwal has been with TWI since 2005. He is a Fellow of The Welding Institute (FWeldI), a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a PRINCE2 certified practitioner. He obtained his Doctor of Engineering (EngD) degree from Loughborough University based on his work on approaches to risk-based life management of offshore structures and equipment. He read for an MSc in Risk Management from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering from Mangalore University, India.

Longjie Wang is a Chartered Engineer and a NAFEMS-certified Finite Element Analyst at TWI Ltd. He joined TWI in 2017 after completing his Ph.D. in structural integrity at the National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC) and Brunel University. Longjie's work involves numerical modelling for structural integrity assessment, design optimisation, manufacturing process simulation, and data analysis. He is currently pursuing a Level 7 apprenticeship in data science and machine learning with Cambridge Spark to further enhance his skills and experience in data analytics.