4th annual digital manufacturing summit uk

James Brougham is a Senior Economist within Make UK’s advocacy division. In this role, James drives the creation of economic insight, analysis of government & corporate policy, and maintains an economic outlook for the UK’s manufacturing sector. By overseeing the organisation’s quantitative fieldwork and with almost daily engagements with British manufacturers, James has a close and current knowledge of the industry’s pressure points across the policy spectrum

Verity is the Director of Policy at Make UK, representing and championing manufacturing in the UK and supporting businesses around the country. She leads in directing the organisation’s policy work, raising the profile of manufacturing and ensuring that the views of Make UK’s members are heard by the Government and wider policy makers. She regularly represents Make UK in the media and in Parliament, appearing before Select Committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups, as well as sitting on Government led boards and advisory groups. Verity works closely with Make UK’s membership team and leads Make UK’s National Membership Board ensuring all policy work is mandated and representative. She also oversees Make UK’s information and research work, including its annual survey programme and accompanying reports.

Andrew has spent over 30 years in manufacturing and supply chain principally in the production and supply of process aids for the oil and gas industry. Latterly he ran the supply chain through Asia Pacific and Caspian for an international chemical and service provider to the energy sector. 

During this time has led several projects in manufacturing automation, process monitoring and analytics, global data communication and ERP roll outs. He believes that when traditional cannot delivery, “It is what it is” thinking should be challenged and novel solutions sought. 

Andrew is currently helping other organisations find a way to break obstacles and drive engagement and continual improvement. He is a passionate advocate for STEM awareness and education, working with several organisations and charities as a STEM Mentor. 

Nikesh Mistry is Sector head of Industrial Automation at GAMBICA, the Trade Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation and Laboratory Technology in the UK.

While relatively new to the trade association world, Nikesh is a highly motivated individual who has developed an extensive understanding of both technical and commercial areas of manufacturing and automation industry. His previous role as Technical Sales Engineer for Keyence UK allowed him to gain on-site industry experience and working as an account manager for OEM, Alphr technology enabled him to work with colleagues and customers of varying skill sets worldwise. The abootyu to build sustained client relationships has been thoroughly refined in different industries including automotive, food and pharmaceutical, raw materials, chemical testing, defence and aerospace and even financial services.

He has an honours degree in Electronic Engineering from The University of Birmingham and believed with the right mind-set and maximum use of innovation in the UK will excel throughout the fourth industrial revolution.

Martyn Loukes is a Change and Communications Consultant working in the Automotive Industry, and is also a Diversity and Inclusion speaker.  He is best known for work in London creating the world’s first LGBT+ transport related public awareness campaign ‘Ride with Pride’.

His Change Management career started in 2007 while at Transport for London. There he spent most of his focus on improving the overall communications within the organisation, and to customers while working as a Change and Communications Business Manager for the Managing Director of Communications, Marketing and Technology.

After leaving TfL in 2017 he worked as an independent consultant in several different industries before ending up at the largest Automotive Safety Industry based in Stockholm, Sweden. He works remotely from his home in Brighton, East Sussex.

His creative approach to communications has seen many innovations, including using AI to replace lengthy FAQs, digitalisation queries and error code resolution. This saw a huge drop in simple support queries and increased productivity for a multi-million Euro Finance Transformation Project. This was the first use of AI in this company’s 80-year history working collaboratively with the Innovations Team and Information Technology Teams.

He regularly speaks at conferences and to companies about the importance of Mainstreaming LGBT+ Diversity, and received a medal for his work from the late Queen in her 2015 Birthday Honours.

This year has seen him continuing his far-reaching influence on mainstreaming LGBT+ inclusion by contributing to Waltham Forest’s Material Witness exhibition, speaking at Auckland’s Women in STEM conference in Auckland (ICESW19) and to New Zealand’s Diversity Agenda organization.

Among his well-known campaigns are the 48 LGBT+ Traffic Lights in Trafalgar Square, the world’s first rainbow bus, train and taxi and delivered in one joined up outwardly focused communications campaign. This changed the diversity landscape for many other cities that followed London’s example.

Michael Larner, Research Director, is part of ABI Research’s End Markets team tracking the development and adoption of emerging technologies within the context of smart manufacturing and industrial solutions. Michael’s research focuses on manufacturing technologies, such as product life cycle management and simulation software, plus the adoption of data analytics, robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and connectivity technologies on the factory floor and by industrial firms. 

Prior to joining ABI Research, Michael was an independent market analyst and delivered reports and consulting projects on behalf of GlobalData, IDC, IHS Markit, Informa, Juniper Research, Machina Research, and Ovum, among others. During this time, he led various research projects providing custom and omnibus online surveys, working alongside management teams to deliver quantifiable insights into adoption rates, addressable markets, and sales enablement 

Michael has covered numerous vertical markets, including automotive, healthcare, media, public sector, smart cities, and technologies, such as Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), chatbots, cybersecurity, Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), mobile app development platforms, and robotics. 

Sivanathan is the Head of Digital Technologies at the AMRC and leads advanced industrial connectivity research. He holds an MSc in Mechatronics Engineering from King’s College London and a PhD from Heriot-Watt University. He has secured prestigious research grants from DSIT, DCMS, HVMC, Innovate UK, and EPSRC, and has conducted commercial R&D for major industrial players such as BAE Systems Air, BAE Systems Weapons & Munitions, Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing, AWE, and several SMEs.

In 2023, Sivanathan was appointed Chair of the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN) Manufacturing Working Group.

His research interests include advanced connectivity solutions for manufacturing, 5G/6G, ultra-low latency closed-loop control, real-time systems, manufacturing informatics, cybersecurity, knowledge capture, supply chain network analytics, and Industry 4.0.

William Sachiti is the founder and CEO of Academy of Robotics, an autonomous technology company that is primarily known for developing street-legal self-driving vehicles and solutions for road maintenance.

London born, Suffolk and Oxford educated, now living in the South East, Emma is currently a Vice President in DHL Supply Chain leading a team of 60 Solutions Design Engineers. DHL Supply Chain is part of the DHL Group which operates in more than 220 countries and with nearly 400,000 employees. DHL Supply Chain provides specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing & energy, auto-mobility and retail. The Solutions Design function which Emma leads, creates and costs concept designs for new build warehouses and existing facilities from fully automated to robotic assisted and manual operations.

Emma has strong logistics and supply chain credentials having held leadership positions in IT, Strategy design, Operations and Planning across both Third Party Logistics providers and Retailers in-house operations. In addition to her main role, Emma is also a Director for DHL Trustees Ltd.

Halil Bedevi is the UK Head of Advanced Manufacturing Sectors at Santander UK plc. He is responsible for leading and directing Santander’s manufacturing sector strategy and proposition in driving growth across eight key manufacturing sub-sectors. Halil engages with Santander’s external sector ecosystem, including solution providers, helping manufacturers to grow and prosper. He also works with front line relationship colleagues to add value to customers by identifying and facilitating opportunities, both domestic and international. Halil is a Chartered Engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the manufacturing industry ranging from engineering and consulting to board level senior management roles. He is also a Visiting Fellow and Advisory Board Member at Cranfield University and a Fellow of the IET. 

Halil is a manufacturing activist and campaigner, a LinkedIn creator, thought leader and a super-connector. He is a regular speaker and panellist at industry events and sits on several trade body groups, driving the mission to help manufacturers succeed and trade internationally. He is also a volunteer to support young people skills & careers and helps to improve the profile and image of engineering and manufacturing. Halil has contributed to several consultations including The Bank of England, the Government, and Industry. He is part of the team who has created a unique digital international trade facilitation platform and won the ‘Best International Solutions Provider’ award in 2023 and 2024. 

With 36 years of experience in Industrial Distribution, working with some of the most well know companies in the UK Europe and the US. An innovative business Director who achieves results with objectively constructed strategies across a multi-site business, A builder and leader of teams who achieves results by motivating and inspiring staff with a ‘Make something happen’ approach to business. 

Jon, Director at Ryan has 25 years of senior commercial and financial management experience, including eight years in senior commercial roles at prominent UK biotechnology, medtech and advanced manufacturing. He has helped several hundred innovative businesses, from a variety of sectors, identify and secure substantive funding awards. 

Vikki has 28 years’ experience in process automation and during that time has worked for leading edge, global software organisations. Vikki has maintained senior and executive positions and has utilised her experience to be part of three successful IPO’s. Vikki has supported many large-scale digital transformation programmes enabling customers to significantly reduce operational costs, increase efficiency, bridge the integration gaps, whilst remaining agile in what is a forever changing world.

Lachlan Mason is an accomplished technology leader with extensive experience in simulation technology and data-centric engineering. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Quaisr.

Before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, he was a Group Leader in Data-Centric Engineering at The Alan Turing Institute, focusing on the enablers of simulation technology, including IoT sensors, networking, and machine learning. His academic background includes a postdoctoral research position at Imperial College London, where he specialised in high-fidelity simulation of industrial processes, including the application of digital twins in modelling and optimisation. He has presented his research internationally at prestigious conferences.

He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where he also lectured in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering. His research and leadership have significantly contributed to advancements in engineering and technology.

Kris is currently the Digital Transformation Lead, Global R&D at ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel manufacturer. In this role Kris is actively contributing to his organisation’s transformation to maximize technology contribution to its operations and innovation.

In the last 25 years Kris held various roles in international corporations like EDS (Electronic Data Systems), Hewlett-Packard and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise from Systems Engineer, Business Analyst, Project and Programme Manager, Regional Manager and Account Executive mainly in Automotive and Manufacturing sectors. He also contributed to non-profit organisations as a Non-Executive Director and a Board Member.

In the past Kris also was a member of The Institute of Directors in the UK and was a member of its Welsh leadership council.

Kris is passionate about technology and its role in transforming organisations and people lives. He created and led multinational teams and is always on the lookout for new ideas and creative collaboration.

He is committed to lifelong learning and is currently conducting PhD research related to Digital Transformation and Digital Maturity with the University of Oviedo in Spain.