United Kingdom

Upcoming Meetings:

No upcoming meetings are currently posted.  Please check back for updates.

Past Meetings:

May 2010

Read the summary of the May 2010 meeting here.

November 2009

The MESA UK working group met for the first time on the 18th November 2009 in Leeds to discuss how to move things forward in the UK. The event was well attended by UK representatives of the major MES and automation suppliers and by several of the major UK based manufacturing companies.

The event started with an overview of the wider MESA organisation. Based on information provided by Jan Snoeij, Steve Diggines and Paul Ashmore gave an overview of the MESA organisation and activities.

There followed a group discussion on Manufacturing System Strategies. Rob Guest (Reckitt Benckiser) and Colin Sirman (CCE) kicked off the discussion with an overview of their respective strategies. The different approaches being taken and what worked well in the different companies led to an interesting discussion on different strategies and what is right in which situation.

Before breaking for drinks, the group finished the meeting by discussing how the UK working group should move forward. The group discussed what they wanted to get out of the UK working group and what they thought the key objectives of the working group should be. The group agreed 4 key objectives - to share experience, provide advice, promote manufacturing IT, and provide access to information. It was agreed that the key first step was information gathering and several of the attendees took specific actions to investigate different areas of MESA and other areas that the group may be potentially interested in.

Going forward, the group agreed that there should be quarterly face to face meetings and initially monthly conference calls to get things moving. A number of practical actions were identified for communication including a contact list and the set up of a group on "linked-in" for communication.

Overall, everybody was positive and enthusiastic and committed to making a success of the UK Working Group going forward.

Contact:

For more information on the MESA United Kingdom Working Group, please contact:

Steve Diggines, STICorp
United Kingdom Working Group Chair
t: +44 (0)7814 490699
sdiggines@sticorp.com