3219: Orange Business on Empowering the Factory Floor with AI and AR

[00:00:04] Do you have a perception that the world of manufacturing is boring and outdated? Well, you're wrong. And this is just one of the many myths and misconceptions I'm hoping we can banish once and for all today. And here in the UK, we're at a critical crossroads and technology could be the game changer.

[00:00:24] So I've invited Simon Ranyard from Orange Business to join me on the podcast to talk about why automation isn't about replacing jobs. It's about creating better ones, plus how everything from AI and AR and 5G are helping to reshape the future of how things are built, who builds them and ultimately what this means for the economy. So if you thought manufacturing was all grease, gears and factories, think again.

[00:00:54] So come with me and take a peek behind the curtain of the world of manufacturing and the technology that is powering it. Yes, you guessed it. It's time for me to invite today's guest onto the podcast now. So a massive warm welcome to the show, Simon. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do? Hi, yes. So I'm Simon Ranyard. So I'm the managing director for Orange Business for the UK and Ireland and the Nordic countries.

[00:01:22] So Orange Business is the B2B business of Orange Group. Orange Group, you probably remember from the days when Orange was present in the UK. We're a global telecommunications business. As a telecommunications business, we have around 300 million customers, most of those being consumers across Europe, Africa and Middle East.

[00:01:42] But we have a large business to business part of our business as well, Orange Business, which turns over about 7.6 billion euros of revenue. And we deliver services to multinational companies around the world, also to SMEs within our core markets, places like France, Poland, etc.

[00:02:04] And yeah, we're a very international organization with people in 65 countries, 30,000 people within Orange Business in total. And we try to help our customers with their digital transformation journey. And as you said, you are an international business. We're both here in the UK. We'll have people listening all around the world.

[00:02:25] And one of the things that I was looking forward to talking with you about is having read that the UK manufacturing sector is continuously facing significant challenges with everything from declining productivity to labour shortages. From everything that you're seeing and conversations you're having with business leaders, what should the UK manufacturing sector, what should they be doing to maybe mitigate some of these challenges?

[00:02:48] I think it's really interesting because actually in some of the research I did prior to this podcast, you can kind of find statistics to support whatever narrative you want to give about the UK manufacturing sector. So there are areas where absolutely, as you say, UK manufacturing is lagging behind the rest of the world in areas of automisation, robotification.

[00:03:13] But then there are also areas where we are absolutely world leaders, particularly in some of the sectors like pharma, defence, aviation, advanced manufacturing. And so it's really a game of two halves that I see. We really are world leaders in some of these areas. But then trying to bring that to the whole manufacturing sector seems to be one of the areas where we struggle.

[00:03:37] I'm not sure exactly why that is. There are many cultural, economic reasons for that. But I think also the UK is quite interesting because we have a very broad and diverse manufacturing sector, 250,000 manufacturing companies in the UK, many of which are below 200 employees, many of which are below 50 employees. And of course, so bringing the kind of technology innovation to that entire sector is quite a challenge.

[00:04:06] But I always like to look on the bright side and I see a lot of positive green shoots for UK manufacturing. The actual increase in our productivity in certain areas has been actually outpaced some of our competitors globally. But again, as a sector as a whole, we still have that lag behind. So we need to look at ways that we can continue to improve manufacturing in the UK.

[00:04:31] And as this is a tech podcast, I'm going to be jumping straight into things like AI and automation. There's so much exciting advancements in this area. And just to rein myself in a little bit from what you're seeing, what does the current state of automation in the UK manufacturing sector look like? Where are they at now? Well, I think looking at some recent research, 70% of UK manufacturing companies are looking at how they can use AI within their business.

[00:05:00] Now, of course, there's a big difference between looking at it and actually doing it. But I think the thing that, again, looking at the positive is there is a level of interest within the manufacturing sector to see how they can use new technologies, particularly technologies like AI. The challenge as well is that we are still, or maybe we're just coming out of the end of the hype curve on AI. So everybody's still looking at AI as being this kind of panacea that's going to solve all these problems.

[00:05:28] And I think what's also what's good now is that we're starting to see some real use cases and we're starting to see some practical implementations of AI within the manufacturing sector, which means that UK manufacturing can start to look at practical implementations rather than being caught up in the hype. So I think areas like AI and using AI within the automation, I think looking at building the platforms upon which AI can be used really is really important.

[00:05:56] We've seen lots of talk around how 5G can be used within the manufacturing sector. And again, we're starting to now see real use cases. So I think that overall, there is a positive momentum. The challenge now is to be able to make the business cases for the investment that's required in that development.

[00:06:18] And I was chatting to a guy in an interview recently, and he was talking about how for many years, decades, we've been training humans to be robots and do autonomous or do boring mundane tasks. But now we're allowing robots to do the robot jobs. And automation can free workers from those low skilled manual tasks and if done right, can open opportunities for higher skilled roles. So I'm curious, how do you see automation maybe reshaping career paths in UK manufacturing?

[00:06:45] And what steps should companies be taking to support that transition and ensure that nobody gets left behind? So I think it's a really good question because I think when we talked a few years ago about automation within the manufacturing sector, we really talked about how many robots can we put onto a production line replacing humans. I think now the conversation about digital transformation within the manufacturing sector is much broader.

[00:07:12] So there is still definitely an investment needed in robotification and bringing more automation into the manufacturing process. But also the thing that I'm particularly interested in is how we also augment the people within those environments.

[00:07:30] So rather than having a manual worker doing a laborious, mundane task, you actually augment the work that they can do to make them more efficient as an individual, to make their tasks more varied and more interesting. So it's about delivering higher value work to the workforce.

[00:07:51] One of the things that also I think is really interesting in this area about how it impacts the individuals and the people within the manufacturing environment is about how we actually really empower those individuals. One of the things that we really want to do is make the manufacturing sector an interesting place for people to go and work. We want people coming out of school to see manufacturing as something that's an interesting career path for them.

[00:08:16] And I think the democratization of data that people talk about, I think is a really important part in that. If we can use digital technologies to make manufacturing environments much more efficient, we can also gather more data from those environments and then deliver more value out of that data. So the workers working in those environments will be able to get access to that data to make better decisions about what they're doing.

[00:08:44] I think also we want to make sure that people are getting the ability to use AI in their day-to-day work so that they can become more valuable to the business. I always look at some of the examples that I've seen in my time working with manufacturing companies in the UK and elsewhere,

[00:09:03] where actually it's people working on the shop floor in the manufacturing environment that come up with the ideas that can have a transformational impact on the efficiency of the manufacturing environment. And by democratizing data, giving people the ability to analyze data and come up with ideas around that, we can also empower people more in those environments.

[00:09:28] In Orange, we've deployed our own AI tool. We've got 60,000 active users working within this tool. So it's an AI aggregator that uses ChatGPT and Mistral and other AI engines. But we've kind of said to people, look, use this, see what value you can derive from it. We're obviously doing it in a safe environment, so they're not just pushing loads of personal data into the cloud.

[00:09:56] But we're providing that safe environment where people can then use AI to come up with the solutions to the problems that they see on a day-to-day basis. And I think within the manufacturing environment, that's a really interesting opportunity and opens up a different kind of career path for people because they can go into that manufacturing environment knowing that they can bring value to the overall manufacturing process.

[00:10:20] And there are increasing concerns that many people are going to get left behind with the introduction of new technology. So how can we ensure we bring more people along and don't leave people behind that are in traditional roles? How can we bring further people forward? Yeah, it's a really good point. And I think even in technology businesses, we have a workforce that are used to traditional technologies, and now AI has flipped everything on its head.

[00:10:45] One thing that I'm, again, I don't want to make this political, but something that the UK government, I think, is doing very well is around the UK apprenticeship levy. I was unaware until recently that actually we could use the apprenticeship levy to retrain people within the workforce that are already there. So maybe these people that do have traditional skills that are not so relevant. So we've just started a programme.

[00:11:09] We've got 50 people starting a programme, 13-month training programme on AI and data analytics, most of whom are in the middle of their career or towards the end of their career even. So in a different kind of age bracket to what you would normally think of for apprenticeships. And I was really excited that this apprenticeship levy money was available to be used for training and retraining people already within the workforce.

[00:11:35] So that's 10% of our UK workforce are going through a formal training programme in AI and data analytics, all funded through the government apprenticeship levy, which I think is a great thing that everybody within the industry should look at as to how they can make use of that funding that's available. And if we were to look a little bit further ahead, what would you say are the biggest opportunities and equally some of the risks for UK manufacturing industry

[00:12:05] if they don't successfully adopt or fail to adopt automation technologies on a wider scale? Because it feels like the pace of technological change is going so fast at the moment, but there's also a danger. A lot of people say that it won't move this slow again. So what are you seeing here? Well, I think you're actually right. I mean, the pace of change is like nothing I've seen in my 25 years working in the technology sector.

[00:12:29] And I think there is a risk of not capitalising on some of the opportunities that brings. I actually think, and I'm very careful not to be political in these kind of conversations, but I do think the UK government is making some of the right noises with regards to its adoption of AI and the support that it wants to give to AI. But I think that if we don't adopt these things, then clearly productivity will continue to suffer. And we know that within the UK, we have a general productivity challenge,

[00:12:58] and that's not just specific to the manufacturing sector. But I think that new technologies can help us address that productivity challenge. The other challenge, I think, is that it's impossible to talk about anything without talking about cybersecurity as well. And I think if we don't adopt new technologies, we also open up our manufacturing sector to a lot of risk within the cybersecurity sphere.

[00:13:22] We know that some of the operational technology environments are essentially a kind of weak link within the cybersecurity attack space. And I think we need to make sure that we adopt the right technologies in the manufacturing environment to make sure that we close off those risks. Again, there's also conversations around using 5G slicing, for example, is a great way of putting in place segmentation within your manufacturing environment,

[00:13:51] which reduces risk. But if you don't do it right, then you're also increasing your attack plane and opening yourself up to additional cybersecurity risks. So I think there is a challenge from the cybersecurity side if we don't get the development of technology in the manufacturing sector correct. I think there's also an increasing focus now on the ROI, the measurable impact of every tech project.

[00:14:19] So in what ways can the smart industry technologies not only improve productivity and also maybe reduce operational costs, prove that ROI, prove that measurable impact for UK manufacturers? Are there any particular technologies that you think should be prioritized that can really deliver on these things? Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that's interesting in the ROI discussion is obviously

[00:14:44] for any manufacturing environment, downtime is the biggest challenge, right? Any downtime has a direct impact on the return on investment of your manufacturing investment. And so obviously anything that we can use technology to reduce downtime in the manufacturing environment is a winner. And we see that with the adoption of predictive maintenance,

[00:15:10] with the adoption of some of the health and safety solutions that we can put in place to make sure that that doesn't create downtime within the environment. But we also see that there's opportunities to just improve productivity through the adoption of technology. And that's reducing some of the wasted time that you get within the environment. We worked with a company in the aerospace field to just track items,

[00:15:38] to track equipment within the manufacturing environment. And just by tracking stuff in a live environment using 5G technology, we were able to improve productivity in certain areas by 7%. We reduced it wasted time in other areas by 15%, just time wasted looking for the right components, looking for the right tools, the right things. Obviously, that's great for the bottom line. It's also good for the worker as well, because it's good for the individual that they're not wasting their time

[00:16:07] doing mundane things, going around looking for things. The other thing that I think is interesting, and I know it's kind of sometimes a challenge to keep this at the top of the agenda in the current geopolitical situation, but when we look at the CO2 impact that we're having within the manufacturing environment, increasing efficiency has a direct impact on reducing CO2 emissions.

[00:16:34] But also increasing efficiency has a direct impact on power consumption, which has a direct impact on the bottom line. I was talking to one of my manufacturing customers the other day about the change in the geopolitical situation and what impact that's going to have on their ESG drivers. And actually, they said, do you know what? The numbers work on their own.

[00:16:59] So it's not just about the political pressure for emission reduction. There's also the direct cost implication of reducing power consumption. And so actually, you get the ROI increase, plus you get to deliver against some of our climate crisis kind of challenges. And you raise so many good points there. I think anyone going up and down their news feeds can often feel overwhelmed with the geopolitical situation.

[00:17:28] Talk of sustainability, impacts on the environment, the impact of AI. But as you said at the very beginning of our conversation today, you are an optimistic person by default. And if we look at the future of the manufacturing industry, the impacts of technology, what excites you about that road ahead? What makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning? Anything that particularly excites you? I think there's a few things that I think are really interesting. I mean, I think that the impact of augmented reality in the manufacturing environment

[00:17:57] is super exciting because that's going to give us the ability to improve health and safety, which is the key thing, because obviously, the safer we can make workplaces for everybody, the better. It's going to improve support and maintenance of the manufacturing environment, because by using augmented reality, we can make our field service technicians and people that are maintaining equipment much more efficient. So that's really good. It also helps with training.

[00:18:26] So it means that people working in a manufacturing environment can be trained to do new jobs in a much quicker and more efficient way. So I think that augmented reality really helps in those areas. I think also kind of linked to augmented reality is remote operations and how we can use particularly things like AI, things like 5G to support remote operations

[00:18:54] in some of those more challenging manufacturing environments. I've got customers that work in the steel industry and the metals industry. These are not friendly environments for human beings to be interacting in. So the more that we can use technology to augment the individuals and make it safer for them, but also to deliver remote operations into those environments, I think is really, really, really exciting.

[00:19:21] And I think at the core of that is some of the connectivity solutions like 5G to make sure that that can be done, A, in a robust and reliable way, but also with the kind of real-time interaction that you need in those environments. So that's one of the things that really gets me excited, augmented reality, because I love technology, but the reason I love technology is the impact that it has on humans.

[00:19:50] And I think the way that we interact between humans and technology is a really interesting area. And augmented reality, I think, is we're only scratching the surface of what we'll be able to do with augmented reality. Oh, exciting times ahead. And thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me, share your insights with me today. But before I let you go, I want to ask you to leave one final gift for everybody listening. We have an Amazon wishlist where guests can leave books that have inspired them or mean something to them,

[00:20:18] or they would just strongly recommend. So before I let you go, what book would you like to add to our Amazon wishlist and why? Well, this is the most difficult question. Because when I looked at the list of books that you already have on your list, it basically contained all of my favourite books. So I was a bit like, oh, great. So I think because things like The Coming Wave, I think is a book that everybody needs to read. But no, and then I thought with the current environment and the current kind of geopolitical situation,

[00:20:46] there's a book called Prisoners of Geography, which I think is a really great insight into some of the ways that geography impacts economics, impacts geopolitics. But also there's a follow-up book called Future of Geography, which is all about how space is going to change the geopolitical situation. And so it's very technology focused because it's around the growth of space technology

[00:21:16] and how that's going to change things. So I think that's what I'd leave. Really interesting books. I'm not a big reader. I'm a listener. So I always listen to all my books and enjoy listening to podcasts. So that's what I would recommend people download on whichever platform they use and listen to. Awesome. I'm a big audible guy as well. So maybe that will be taking one of my credits up, but I will get it added to the wishlist so everybody listening can check that out. And for people listening,

[00:21:45] wanting to dig a little bit deeper on anything we talked about today, maybe just find out more information about the work you're doing at Orange. Where would you like to point everyone listening? Well, we're present in, as I said, we're present in 65 countries. There are teams of people in those countries that are there ready to talk to people. We have a Orange Business LinkedIn page, which has huge amount of information and also links you to all of our executives and the people that are bringing thought leadership from Orange.

[00:22:15] I think that's a great place to go and to find information. It's very active. Last week, I think during Mobile World Congress, it was kind of a LinkedIn frenzy. So there's plenty of information there that people can find and then obviously look at our other online presence as well. But, and again, and also I'm always here. Anybody that has any questions, they're more than welcome to contact me and I'm happy to talk to them. Awesome. I'll get that link added to the show notes so people can find you nice and easily.

[00:22:45] And at a time where there's so much doom and gloom at the Marrow, one of the big takeaways from our conversation today is the importance of creating high value careers. The adoption of automation technologies by manufacturers around the world could indeed be the gateway to significantly boosting worker productivity as well as reducing operational costs and increasing output levels. There's a lot of things we should be celebrating here. So thank you so much for just starting the conversation and letting us all take a peek

[00:23:13] behind the curtain of the manufacturing industry and the impacts of technology. Thanks for joining me today. Thank you very much. Thank you. Tech is undoubtedly moving at unprecedented speed right now and manufacturing cannot afford to get left behind. So AI, automation, augmented reality. These are just a few examples that are creating new opportunities. But will the industry in your region embrace them or risk falling behind?

[00:23:42] Big thank you to Simon Ranjord from Orange Business for breaking it all down, putting it in a language that everyone can understand. But over the year, I mean, what do you think? Will automation save manufacturing or push more jobs away? It doesn't sound that way, especially with that fantastic point that Simon made around apprenticeships. But please DM me, tag me, drop your thoughts in the comments, whatever it is. You can get me on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, just at Neil C. Hughes. Let's keep this conversation going.

[00:24:12] So I hope you enjoyed this alternative look at the world of manufacturing, how technology is revolutionizing the industry at the moment. There's a lot of cool things happening. And tomorrow, we're going to tackle a completely different industry. And you're all coldly invited to do it all again. So hopefully, I'll speak with you all then. Bye for now.