Made Smarter, the national digitalisation movement to drive productivity, growth and sustainability in manufacturing, has appointed Siemens’ Brian Holliday as its new co-chair.
The Managing Director of Siemens Digital Industries will head up the Made Smarter Commission alongside Lee Rowley MP, Minister for Industry for the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, replacing UK industrialist and former Siemens CEO Professor Juergen Maier.
Together they will shape the future of Made Smarter and oversee the successful delivery of its Adoption and Innovation programmes, which help UK manufacturers to capitalise on new digital technologies such as additive manufacturing, internet of things, and robotics and automation. The programmes have already received over £150 million in government funding.
Brian Holliday said: “I’m delighted to be co-chairing the Made Smarter Commission with Minister Rowley through its next steps.
“Since the original Made Smarter Review in 2017, I have been struck by the importance of this government and industry partnership in manufacturing to highlight how much the sector matters to address the productivity, innovation and skills challenges in the UK and increasingly, to find the right levers to help to invest in material, resource and energy efficiency too.”
Mr Holliday and Mr Rowley will steer a board of leading industrialists from large and SME manufacturers as well as technology providers and manufacturing organisations, including: Make UK, GSK, BAE Systems PLC, GE Digital, the Royal Academy of Engineering, ICW, Renishaw PLC, ATEC Solutions, Lambert Engineering, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), ABB Limited, Nestle UK & Ireland, TUC, Rolls Royce PLC, Jaguar Land Rover, Accenture and Airbus UK.
Minister for Industry Lee Rowley said: “I am delighted that Brian Holliday has become the new industry co-chair of the Made Smarter Commission.
“Brian has been involved since the start and brings deep manufacturing and tech expertise to our joint mission to improve productivity in manufacturing.”
A particular focus of the commission will be the roll out of the Adoption programme which is helping thousands of SME manufacturers in the North West, West Midlands, North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber regions take their first steps into digitalisation.
Donna Edwards, Director for Made Smarter’s North West adoption programme, said: “Brian is a fantastic replacement as co-chair of the Made Smarter Commission. I look forward to working with him and other board members in our continued efforts to drive-up productivity and slash carbon emissions through the adoption of new technologies.”
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