b'Partner News Spring 2022 23EnterpriseThis strategy has become ALPHRs vision andbasis. As a result, ALPHR had no mass seeded a transformation largely played outbreakouts and work carried on. When staff against the backdrop of the global pandemic.did catch the virus, ALPHR was able to stop the spread and protect vulnerable staff. COVID-19 actually gave us some breathing space to look around at what the companyPerhaps our biggest challenge was was doing and then start to put newworking remotely, as normally our staff plans in place, says Managing Directorwork closely together, says Butler. Robert Butler, who joined the company just after the first lockdown in 2020. As a result, one of the key actions for the business was to learn how to We identified the IET as a worthy partner,use video calling and messaging. As a one sharing similar principles and values tobusiness, it wasnt in our tool box.usnamely to inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community. TheThis was accompanied by the realisation IET is continually working to educate andthat the available technology had moved on. support engineers, a role that we considerAs a result, the company is now looking to invaluable in order to support our staff gainimplement new technologies that will help knowledge and develop their careers withinthe information flow required to make really a structured environment. Happy, educatedgood decisions both for itself and its clients.staff are essential to a successful business.Exciting projectsPost COVID-19, we want to get ourCurrently ALPHR is working on a engineers out into schools, offer workseries of challenging engineering experience to university students andprojects involving working and testing apprenticeships. Its about giving back. enjoyed longstanding partnerships withto sub-millimetre tolerances. Desoutter, Keyence and Omron. ALPHRs USP Many of these products are new, yet to be From a company who mainly served theThe pandemic served to rewardlaunched and are covered by confidentiality automotive industry, ALPHR has taken itsglobal partnerships, especially whenagreements. However, I can say that there knowledge of proven technology, skillstravel was restricted, and the locationare a mix of projects on the shopfloorsome and best practice from this advancedand expertise of partners like ATSinvolve upgrading 10-15-year-old machines to manufacturing sector to broaden andTechnologies in India, and new partnerswork with modern technology, says Butler.develop its offer to its clients. BDZ Automation in Poland, proved invaluable in supporting ALPHR clients.As for the future, ALPHR plans to continue Our USP is understanding a clientsalong the path of transformation, but will also requirements; understanding the bestInnovation partnerships with new companieslook beyond its business to the wider world.of what is out there on the market;like AUCTA and Darwin AI mean that ALPHR and then bringing the two together tocan integrate cutting-edge technologyI think the world will now be categorised by deliver a resilient, repeatable, reliableinto its automation solutions and offer allvolatility and helping our clients to move to product onto a clients shopfloor.clients, including smaller SMEs, affordablemore efficient ways of producing products, access to this technology, supportedusing solutions that they had not considered, We act as an enabler, helping clientsby training and information sharing. is one of the most exciting things for us.with the strategy they need to get to Industry 4.0 and take advantage ofChallenges of the pandemicmodular build longevity, resilience andWhen it came to coping with the challenges of course, big data, says Butler. created by the pandemic, Butler says a considered response was essential. The repositioning of the business has seen it develop as a thought leader. ItHow do you lead the business and recently produced the ALPHR Roadmapput in place systems so that it can to Automation, designed to provide acontinue to operate? We had to makePost COVID-19, we want to practical guide to planning a route tosure that the business would survive.get our engineers out into automation and moving towards Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0. The aim is to shareALPHR looked first to government legislationschools, offer work experience ALPHRs knowledge of best practiceand applied this as best practice. It tookto university students and with client and supplier supply chains.the time to educate staff about COVID-19, the risks involved and how to protectapprenticeships. Its about Partnerships are invaluable themselves, installed all the necessarygiving back.Partnership is another means of sharingpersonal protection equipment on site and thats important to ALPHR, and it hasdealt with any staff concerns on an individual'