On the human-machine sweet spot in British manufacturing
The results are out.
UK labour productivity has suffered its worst drop in five years.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), labour productivity in the April to June quarter fell by 0.5% from same quarter a year ago, following two consecutive quarters of zero growth. What’s more depressing is the manufacturing situation — output per hour in manufacturing has fallen by 1.9%. Looming large over these figures is a familiar story of stagnation. The country’s output has been on a declining trend since the financial crisis of 2008, producing a most interesting “productivity puzzle.” It is the observation…
Brexit and Trumpian politics in the context of manufacturing geography
The year: 2015. Japanese car maker Nissan spawning out thousands of cars from its plant in Sunderland, north-east England. Sunderland made up around 75% of the production volume for Nissan in Europe. At the time, it was the only European site that produced the high-end Infiniti brand models Q30 and QX30 — this in addition to Nissan’s top-seller Qashqai, the sports utility vehicle Juke, and the electric car LEAF. The site employed almost 7,000 people, while its supply chain employed a further 20,000. By creating such popular and recognisable automotive models, people in Sunderland were upgrading both their skills and…
A tale of two battery startups
Cobalt.
A lustrous, silvery-blue metal which most of us never gave a damn about just a few years ago. Fast forward to today, and this metal has not only captured the imaginations of large battery makers and automotive firms all over the world, but has also led to a wealth of opportunities for innovative startups.
Yes, cobalt is now the premier battery raw material.
A hot, yet troubled commodity
The story of cobalt’s ascendence in the battery universe is so intriguing as to be nearly impossible to ignore. …
Can asteroid mining be the answer to cobalt supply risks facing electric vehicle makers?
On February 6, after watching Elon Musk launch his red Tesla Roadster into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, social media went into a tizzy, producing almost half a million mentions of the hashtag #FalconHeavy. Such was the hoopla surrounding the launch that some observers also started to draw up parallels between these two cult-like companies. Sure, they both shared the same boss and some technical synergies.
One unique connection, however, remained largely hidden from public scrutiny. This is a connection which, despite its ‘Tesla car-on-a-SpaceX rocket’ undertone, stretches far beyond the companies themselves, and evangelizes an outlandish vision: the…
How cobalt threatens to revive the horrors of Congo’s imperial past
Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a Welshman of many talents, one of which was exploring unknown lands. In 1877, he hacked and shot his way through central Africa, opening up Congo, and setting the scene for the unabashed exploitation of its vast natural resources. Surprisingly, the scramble for Congo’s wealth was not spearheaded by France or Britain — the two foremost imperialistic powers of the time — but a Belgian named King Leopold II. Playing his diplomacy cards shrewdly, Leopold had gained control of a large swathe of the Congo basin, which he christened the ‘Congo Free State’. …
Is the end of cobalt in electric vehicle batteries near?
At Tesla’s recent First Quarter 2018 update, CEO Elon Musk provided a glimpse into the proportion of raw materials used in the Model 3’s latest 2170 lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, and signalled Tesla’s intent to reduce its dependency on cobalt — an element that has, until now, played a central role in the growth of the Li-ion battery industry. Why is a ‘low cobalt content’ so important for Tesla and other auto makers? Is a total escape from cobalt possible? …
Tausif Bordoloi
Discerning storyteller. Ex-Monsanto, ex-Nissan. PhD candidate. On a mission to unravel the impacts of digital manufacturing on people, places and processes.
