The Value Of R&D In Manufacturing - Featured In 'The Times'

With overseas competition and increasing pressure on profit margins, the value of R&D in the manufacturing sector is very much under the microscope. Speaking to Raconteur, published in today’s edition of The Times, BGB’s program director, Paul Holdsworth provided his thoughts on the issue. Challenges facing manufacturers In the article, Paul discussed the challenges facing manufacturers today as well as the launch of our own testing facility built to create the next generation of products in the wind energy sector. He said: "For many manufacturers, the journey to innovation begins with R&D. To succeed in the demanding global market however, manufacturers must recognise the importance of investing into this division to match increased price competition. The wind energy sector in particular, has faced competition from low-cost competitors in the Far East, driving prices down and consequently, reducing the quality of products used across the industry. Value of R&D teams "Inspired by the aerospace industry, our R&D teams worked to combat these challenges by investing in a hardware testing facility, which would enable our engineers to implement a high-level of prototype evaluation, testing and quality control. As well as this, it has the capabilities to recreate extreme environmental conditions in order to determine the quality and performance of the product. "When we planned the new facility, it was always designed as a package to combine both hardware and software. Although the overall aim is to test hardware prototypes, software remains a fundamental component to enable this process to be effective, and ultimately provide our engineers with accurate results before distributing our products to market.”

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