Smart Manufacturing Summit 2024

Rich Dale is CEO of Flowlens MRP software, specialising in user-friendly but powerful tools that save SME manufacturers time, and help them plan materials and work more effectively. Flowlens is a learning organisation whose mission is to helps it's customers be the best they can be. This is achieved through effective digital transformation and cultural change, as well as data-led insights that drive effective continuous improvement.

Andrew Sherlock is the Director of Data-Driven Manufacturing at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and Professor of Practice at the University of Strathclyde. His first degree was in Mechanical Engineering and his PhD focused on novel shape optimisation techniques for aerospace components. His subsequent career, both in academia and industry, has focused on the application of AI, data science and search techniques to design and manufacturing. In 2006 he founded ShapeSpace Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh, to commercialise 3D search-by-shape technology, initially developed as a 3D search engine for components and subsequently enhanced to allow analysis of assemblies. This technology has been deployed at a number of large manufacturers in automotive, aerospace and industrial equipment industries where the ability to undertake analytics on component portfolios and large numbers of bills of materials has uncovered significant cost savings within the supply chain. Between 2016 and 2019 he was the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Design for Product Profitability at the University of Edinburgh.