Digi Skills Agency

You are here: Home / Archives for Latest Industry News

Latest Industry News

Over 1000 New Shropshire Jobs to be created in £50 million project

by

Plans for a one million sq ft major warehousing and logistics development near the Shropshire border could bring 1,500 new Shropshire Jobs

1,500 New Shropshire Jobs could be generated should plans for a multi million pound warehousing and logistics development building be approved.

One unnamed component manufacturing company has already signed a deal with property investment company Tritax Big Box to take a 543,000 sq ft unit on the site before it is even built.

If the plan gets the green light from South Staffordshire Council, Tritax will then lend developer Bericote £56.3 million to build the logistics and headquarters building.

It is the first of four large warehousing facilities proposed for the site by Bericote, north of the M54 near Brewood.

Together they would cover 1.1 million sq ft and could provide Shropshire jobs for more than 1,500 people, says the developer.

Bericote has submitted a detailed planning application for the four buildings on 63 acres of land off Gravelly Way, in Four Ashes, part of which used to be a chemical works.

The proposals have had a cautious reception from Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy, who said: “We need to see the details on this but in principle I am in favour of anything creating this number of jobs.

“Brownfield sites are something I want to see developed and used for employment purposes.

“In South Staffordshire, we don’t want to see continuance between the West Midlands conurbation and Stafford. It is vital we have green land there.

“But I will always support development on brownfield land.”

Work has already been carried out on traffic controlled access and road widening for the site as part of the £82.2 million Staffordshire Growth Deal, which saw Government cash ploughed into developments across the county.

The work at Four Ashes saw access to the A449 upgraded with new traffic signals, the bridge over the Stafford and Worcestershire canal has been widened and priority control over the rail bridge will favour incoming traffic to the development.

A new road will link the Gravelly Way roundabout to the development site. Work on the first warehouse is due to start next month, if planning permission is secured, with work completed by next July.

The 50ft tall facility will have a gross internal area of 543,692 sq ft with expansion land to accommodate up to a further 101,139 sq ft.

Bericote says its plans could see up to £120 million invested in the area, once firms have taken the other three logistics units, which measure 270,300 sq ft, 176,400 sq ft and 37,070 sq ft.

Bericote has a track record for delivering large-scale logistics and warehousing projects.

It developed a £40m logistics warehouse for Rolls-Royce at Bognor Regis and this year is building a 563,000 sq ft internet delivery warehouse for online supermarket Ocado at Erith in London.

Colin Godfrey, a partner of Tritax, said: “We are very pleased to be investing in this new logistics facility and UK headquarters which will benefit from significant capital investment by the tenant with the capacity to expand the unit to accommodate future growth plans.

“This is our seventh pre-let forward funded development and the third with Bericote, one of the UK’s leading developers of Big Box assets, following the successful completion of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Ocado facilities,” he added.

– Shropshirestar

Be sure to check out our latest job opportunities by clicking here!

Enterprise: 4 Reasons why ERP is vital to Manufacturers

by

What is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and why is its use important within the Manufacturing industry?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an industry term for the broad set of activities that help an organisation manage its business.

An important goal of Enterprise Resource Planning is to facilitate the flow of information so business decisions can be data-driven. Enterprise Resource Planning software suites are built to collect and organise data from various levels of an organisation to provide management with insight into key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time.

ERP software modules can help an organisation’s administrators monitor and manage supply chain, procurement, inventory, finance, product lifecycle, projects, human resources and other mission-critical components of a business through a series of interconnected executive dashboards. In order for an ERP software deployment to be useful, however, it needs to be integrated with other software systems the organisation uses. For this reason, deployment of a new ERP system in-house can involve considerable business process reengineering, employee retraining and back-end information technology (IT) support for database integration, data analytics and ad hoc reporting.

Legacy ERP systems tend to be architected as large, complex homogeneous systems which do not lend themselves easily to a software-as-a-service (SaaS ERP) delivery model. As more companies begin to store data in the cloud, however, ERP vendors are responding with cloud-based services to perform some functions of ERP — particularly those relied upon by mobile users. An ERP implementation that uses both on-premises ERP software and cloud ERP services is called two-tiered ERP.

 

ERP Implementation into Manufacturing

ERP systems solve a number of challenges and provide invaluable benefits to manufacturers seeking to reduce costs, manage growth, streamline processes and gain a competitive advantage. ERP software integrates all areas of business (materials and inventory, production, operations and sales, accounting and finance, etc.) so that every business function relies on a single database. This “information hub” delivers accurate, real-time information crucial to the manufacturing industry.

Here are the top reasons today’s manufactures need a modern ERP system:

  1. Streamline Processes.As manufacturers grow, their operations become more and more complex. ERP manufacturing software automates all business operations, providing accurate, real-time information. ERP increases efficiency and productivity by helping users navigate complex processes, preventing data re-entry, and improving functions such as production, order completion and delivery.
  2. Cost Reductions.With one source of accurate, real-time information, ERP software reduces administrative and operations costs. It allows manufacturers to proactively manage operations, prevents disruptions and delays, breaks up information logjams and helps users make decisions more quickly.
  3. Flexibilty. Modern ERP software systems are robust, flexible and configurable. They are not a one-size-fits-all proposition, but can be tailored around the unique needs of a business. ERP systems also have the ability to adapt with the ever-changing needs of a growing business.
  4. Competition. ERP systems may require an investment, but there’s also a cost to do nothing. Manufacturers cannot afford to put off an ERP implementation while their competition invests in ERP and starts reaping the benefits.

 Sources:

 

  • Techtarget
  • Workwisellc

 

Are you already familiar with Enterprise Resource Planning? Our most recent job role may be just right for you! Check it out by clicking here!

Mobile Payment Applications: An effective Marketing Strategy?

by

Mobile payments are exploding. With the number of users forecast to grow by 62% to almost a fifth of smartphone users in the US this year, according to eMarketer, the value of proximity mobile transactions is expected to surge in 2016.

The mobile payment boom has been a long time coming. But now vendors are finally overcoming the technology hurdles to in-store deployment.

But the greatest potential of mobile payment will not be in, well, payment. There is little that is transformative about simply replicating a payment card in a smartphone app.

Whilst the bank and tech sectors have focused simply on launching transaction technologies, what retailers and brands are still waiting for is a mobile payment experience that provides solutions that address their concerns.

For many, that means marketing and its propensity for ‘spray and pray’. Fortunately, there is enough potential in mobile payment technology to enable consumer outreach that is more powerful than targeted ads through Google and Facebook, for example.

Think for a moment about the kinds of data collected at the moment of transaction. When you checkout using your smartphone, your mobile wallet benefits from intimacy with the vendor; it knows and collects detailed stock keeping unit (SKU) codes of the individual products you buy.

Whilst your bank may only know you spent £13.49 at your favourite cafe today, a retailer-connected payment app knows you bought one Coke, two espressos, one chicken sandwich and a Mars bar.

 

How do payment apps beat ad platforms?

This doesn’t just beat the banks – it also bests the ad platforms.

This general search intent has no real sight of eventual purchase and is not granular enough to glean product-level insights that could inform really powerful campaign messaging.

That is why marketing, traditionally thought of as the means with which to drive an end goal of product sales, is now becoming one of the key outputs of the sale itself.

The kinds of marketing powered by mobile transactions goes beyond the benefits bestowed by advertising on many counts:

Campaign insight: When you know the specific products consumer’s purchase, you effectively learn their pattern of consumption. This gives a window into the effectiveness of an ad campaign, in whatever medium. Did your ad buy move the needle for product X with consumer Y? If so, respond with additional messaging next up

Loyalty points: Although adoption of in-store mobile payments by consumers has been somewhat lagging, research by Opinion Matters for Kalixa showed consumers would make more payments if offered loyalty features or incentives on top. Integrating loyalty and rewards to a mobile wallet, for example, will drive wallet adoption, thereby producing the two wins of additional sales and new customer data for brands and retailers

Pre-buying products: Incentives come in many forms. Discounts offered for repeat purchases can be put to great effect, whilst beating the queues at high-traffic stores is another way to help consumers. The ability to reserve products in a mobile wallet is, therefore, something we are likely to see much more of

Mobile first interactions: Mobile payment takes the purchasing insights on consumers and through push notifications, in-app messages and emails, turns them into highly effective marketing drivers. It’s why push notifications are the most effective marketing channel on the market currently, and why, according to Urban Airship, targeted push notifications are three times more effective than the non-targeted.

The problem with mobile payments today is that there has been insufficient incentive driving repeat usage.

Using Apple Pay may seem like a novelty the first few times – but there is little benefit over using a contactless card, which is perhaps even more straightforward.

But, when mobile payment is thought of as the glue binding together customer marketing data, a retailer can go from the dark ages of knowing little about customers to making targeted offers based on a detailed and growing consumer profile that is based on actual purchase behavior, not just vague expressed intent.

 

– Alain Falys

If you found this interesting, make sure you check out our latest Marketing Executive role by clicking here!

Ofcom Report: The Change in UK Network Use

by

The Network use in the UK is increasing as Brits are spending more time online than ever before, according to Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report

British consumers are spending more time on the internet network than ever before, so much so that many are actively seeking a so-called “digital detox” from their online lives, according to communications market regulator Ofcom.

In its latest Communications Market Report – an annual survey of British communications and media usage and attitudes – Ofcom reported that 15 million people in the UK have sought time offline to do other things, such as spending time with friends and family, or holidaymaking.

Most of these people found taking a break from the digital world to be a rewarding experience, although some respondents to Ofcom’s survey reported feeling lost and cut-off, or worried that they were missing out.

“The internet has revolutionised our lives for the better, but our love affair with the web is not always plain surfing,” said Ofcom director of market intelligence, Jane Rumble. “Millions of us are taking a fresh look at the role of technology in our lives and going on a digital detox to get a better tech-life balance.”

The 2016 report highlighted the importance of connectivity to the increasingly digitised world. According to Ofcom, 9.2 million broadband connections are now superfast – in the regulator’s view this means capable of delivering speeds of over 30Mbp. This was up from 7.1 million two years ago.

As a result of this growth in superfast connections, total telecoms revenues grew for the first time since 2011, up 0.5% to £37.5bn between 2014 and 2015, as average household spend increased due to the higher costs associated with most superfast packages.

Superfast connections

Rumble said the regulator estimated that nine in 10 premises now had access to a superfast broadband connection, up from 83% last year, which tallies with other assessments of availability.

“We are aiming for 95% by the end of 2017, so availability is growing,” she said. “I think the core questions are now related to those people who aren’t able to get superfast broadband and that is absolutely a priority for Ofcom.”

Rumble also reaffirmed Ofcom’s commitment to the 10Mbps universal service obligation, currently on its way to becoming law. She said the regulator considered a 10Mbps connection adequate for activities such as streaming video on demand (VoD), an activity that has seen a boom in popularity in the UK in the past 12 months at the expense of live television.

Ofcom will release more concrete statistics on broadband take-up in September 2016.

4G popularity still soaring

Meanwhile, 4G connections accounted for 46% of all mobile connections, up from 28% in 2014. Ofcom said 98% of UK premises were now covered by at least one 4G network, and 71% were covered by all four.

Data use is also soaring, with 89% of 16 to 24-year-olds and 25 to 34-year-olds, 77% of 35 to 54-year-olds, 50% of 55 to 64-year-olds, and 21% of over-65s using web and data services on their devices.

The report said 71% of UK adults now owned a smartphone, up from 66% this time last year, which remains the most popular device for getting online.

Ofcom said the popularity of smartphones was giving rise to a number of new social impacts, such as an increase in people bumping into each other on the street because they were absorbed in their phone, and 40% of respondents said they had been “smart-snubbed” by a friend or relative.

The report also revealed a surge in the use of instant messaging, with the proportion of adults using over-the-top services such as WhatsApp at least once a week rising from 28% in 2014 to 43% in 2016, higher among the so-called millennial age group. Photo messaging services such as Snapchat are now used by 21% of adults weekly, up from 14% in 2014.

This growth came largely at the expense of email and, notably, text messaging, which presents a revenue stream problem for mobile operators.

Rumble acknowledged this trend and said Ofcom had seen mobile revenues remain flat over the past year, which suggested operators were responding to this to some degree.

“I think with any business, as behaviors change and shift, we would expect to see different businesses adapt to those shifts in behavior,” she said.

– Alex Scroxton

Incredible House-Building Robot

by

A new robot builder can construct an entire house in two days – and never needs a tea break.

Hadrian X is a giant truck-mounted robot that can lay up to 1,000 bricks an hour using a 30-metre arm, meaning it can stay in a single position throughout.

Bricks are fed on to a conveyor belt which sends them along the robot’s long arm – otherwise known as a telescopic boom.

At the end of the boom is a hand which grabs and arranges the bricks, securing them with construction glue instead of cement.

It is smart enough to leave spaces in the brickwork for wiring and plumbing, and can even cut and shape bricks to size.

The robot was created by Australian firm Fastbrick Robotics, and founder Mark Pivac told Perth Now: “People have been laying bricks for about 6,000 years and ever since the industrial revolution, they have tried to automate the bricklaying process.

“We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it’s now possible to do it, and that’s what we’ve done.”

The robot took 10 years to create, and has cost about £4.5m in research and development so far.

Mr Pivac insists he has “nothing against bricklayers”, but says he just wants to streamline the construction process.

The prototype needs no human intervention once the process begins.

Fastbrick Robotics says it will take about a year before the robot is ready to hit the market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Q0j3UwjnQ

– SkyNews

Virtual Reality to be used in 2016 Olympics

by

Rio 2016 set to be a ‘laboratory’ for new virtual reality technology that will shape the future of sports broadcasting

Key moments of sporting drama from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be shown in full and true 360-degree high-definition virtual reality (VR), offering an unprecedented and immersive view of the action.

Using a compatible headset and their mobile phones, viewers will be transported right to the heart of the Olympic action , with coverage slated to include the opening and closing ceremonies, and one event per day. The live broadcasts will be offered via video-on-demand services provided by the various international rights holders, including NBC in the US. So far, 12 rights holders have taken up the Virtual Reality offerings, with others still to confirm.

Karen Mullins, Production Manager for the host operator OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services), says that after successfully testing 180-degree cameras at the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, true 360-degree Virtual Reality tech will be deployed for the first time at Rio 2016.

“VR is not about viewing in a traditional sense,” says Mullins. “It’s about an ‘experience’ and we always tend to describe it as that, rather than as coverage. In each venue, each sport, we try to take the viewer to a place that they couldn’t buy a ticket for.”

Inside the action

The OBS is planning 85 hours of VR programming, including the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s basketball – including the semi-finals and final – gymnastics, track and field, beach volleyball, diving, boxing and fencing. Short highlights of all these sports will be available the next day.

These VR offerings will complement more than 7,000 hours of content scheduled, with many events broadcast in 4K High Definition Resolution, and some in the latest 8K Ultra High Definition/Super High Vision.

Blending in

The cameras used for VR production have been developed especially for Rio 2016. They are unusual looking, about the size of a bowling ball, with many lenses, and sit on top of a stand-pole. Some have been customised, depending on the sport environment, to make sure they don’t interfere with the events.

The development of viewing devices like Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift, means it’s possible to experience VR at home and at an affordable price. These immersive experiences will only improve, says Mullins.

“VR mimics the in-venue experience of being in the stadium without the broadcast commentary or editorial cuts: the things we take for granted. We do have the ability to offer replays with VR, which is a first, and unsual, but the tech is still developing, so it’s a learning curve, seeing what kind of content viewers enjoy, and want more of.

The future is now

“Nobody doubts that VR will grow and become key. It’s virtually being there, rather than being a passive viewer. It’s going to be big.”

In addition, OBS will provide broadcasters with live coverage of select Olympic events using cutting-edge 8K UHD Super High Vision. OBS Chief Executive Yiannis Exarchos says the operator will use the Rio Games as an “accelerated laboratory for exploring some of these new technologies that will shape the future of sports broadcasting.”

– Jonathan Powell

© 2025 Digi Skills Agency Ltd. All rights reserved. Sitemap

Website Design by Yellow Marshmallow.