While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused difficulties for many manufacturers, the emergence of smart and autonomous vehicles into the mainstream presents a new opportunity for the photonics market leader. Industry Forum has been helping its Automotive Applications team prepare for the road ahead.

Lumentum has been at the forefront of photonics technology for several decades. Its diode lasers, many of which have been optimized for 3D-sensing applications, are used globally in everything from consumer electronics to dentistry, and industrial automation to smart cities.

Little surprise then, that the company sees tremendous opportunity in the automotive sector, where the development of smart and autonomous vehicles is starting to drive demand for 3D-sensing and related technology.

“Over the past few years, applications like driver-monitoring systems, and, most recently, LiDAR (light detection and ranging), have rapidly emerged in the automotive space,” observes Matt Everett, Product Line Director for Automotive Applications in Lumentum’s 3D-Sensing Business Unit. “There’s also been a shift from incumbent technologies like edge-emitting lasers and LEDs into vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which means there’s a lot of synergy with our products and what we do. For fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles, a combination of multiple sensor technologies like cameras, RADAR, and LiDAR will be needed. As these technologies make it to high volume production vehicles, we expect to see exponential growth in the market across the globe.”

With a long history of optical innovation, and its laser illuminators for 3D sensing already shipping in volumes of millions to tens of millions of units per week, Lumentum feels it is well-positioned to take a leading international role in this emerging market.

“We began by developing products for shorter-range sensors used in in-cabin applications, which have a lot of similarities with the products we make for mobile devices,” Everett explains. These include gesture recognition to operate certain vehicle functions, and driver and occupancy monitoring systems–for example adjusting how an airbag deploys according to the height and weight of a passenger or monitoring facial expressions, eye movement, and position to determine levels of distraction or drowsiness.

Lumentum is now also developing more sophisticated products for LiDAR-based solutions for the exterior of vehicles, extending from 10-20 meters for nearby objects to over 250 meters for higher-speed operation. “This is still very new,” says Everett. “In 2020, only around a tenth of a percent of cars on the road had LiDAR technology, but it’s growing very rapidly with a wide range of customers. As a tier two manufacturer, we would supply either to the LiDAR integrator or the tier one directly.” Lumentum is currently developing many products, including both platform and bespoke items for its automotive customers.

Has business been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related and much publicised global shortage of semiconductors?

“The shortage relates to complementary devices to the ones we’re making, so it affects our customers and their customers as they ramp in these new markets, but not our production lines. I am proud to say that Lumentum has been successful at enabling business and our opportunities are growing. People are still innovating and driving the future. Customers are still working on their technologies.”

With a background in chemical engineering, Everett spent more than a decade at Lumileds, where he spent much of his tenure in the product management of automotive lighting products. “It was at Lumileds that I got my taste for the automotive industry,” he enthuses. “One of the satisfying things about working in this sector is that you can see your work. When you’ve spent the last two to three years working with a tier one and OEM to get your technology on a vehicle and then you see it on the road, that’s a great feeling.”

He also enjoys playing a part in the creation of a step-change in vehicle safety. “It’s already been shown that autonomous vehicles can be safer than those driven by humans. There’s lots that must happen to reach that point, with the identification and classification of objects and how the car reacts to them, the detection range, and speed of processing, but in the long term, it will be much safer. As someone who likes driving, it is a little ironic that I’m helping to eliminate an activity I enjoy, but it’s gratifying to help make people safer!”

Training to succeed

The scale of the demand for vehicle sensors and the speed of its escalation has prompted Lumentum to invest in this burgeoning branch of its business. This is demonstrated by Everett’s appointment to a leadership role in September 2020 and subsequent investment in a learning programme for 117 people in 11 countries across Europe, Asia, and North America, delivered in partnership with Industry Forum.

Training so far has focused on increasing knowledge and understanding of the automotive industry’s stringent manufacturing standards and quality assurance, bringing people up to speed on the latest developments and best practices. The learning has been structured to reflect a wide audience of existing as well as new staff. Says Everett, “Many people are involved in developing this portion of our business and bringing the products to market. Industry Forum has been training people worldwide, from R&D, operations, quality, marketing and through to management.” Courses have covered, among other things, IATF awareness, core tools, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and PPAP preparation.

Although some of the training is still in progress, the impact is already apparent. “It’s been fantastic really, especially considering we’ve had to do it all remotely,” Everett observes. “The attendees are engaged. The instructors are well versed in their topics and effective at getting their message across. Lumentum already had a strong focus on quality, but the industry-specific training has strengthened the action plans in place. For example, with the APQP training, we’ve seen more cross-functional discussion, and more advanced and proactive thinking about the development process and what we need to do for our products, years ahead of ramp time, to ensure success. That’s exactly the point of APQP in a nutshell.”

After around 15 years focused on manufacturing components for the automotive markets, Everett knows well how exacting and demanding it is for a tier two supplier; “I always say, if you can work in automotive, you can work in any industry.”

He has been impressed by the spirit and pace at which Lumentum is continuing to innovate and develop new technologies, despite many employees working from home much of the time during the pandemic. “Nothing has slowed down and the same is true of the training with Industry Forum. Even though it has all been virtual, it’s been effective in going beyond Industry Forum and Lumentum in reaching our customers and their customers. One of the positive stories of this whole pandemic is the human spirit and how we’ve adapted to overcome the circumstances and make the best of it.”

Looking ahead, does he see an eventual levelling out of the current near-vertical growth curve for vehicle sensors? “One of the nice things about automotive is that it’s quite stable and predictable once you reach a steady state. That said, there is tremendous growth still expected to come in this space, and this ramp is just at the beginning. Lumentum is excited to be a technology leader and innovation partner enabling this growth for the needs of today and tomorrow!”

Supporting the company’s vision to be the premier manufacturer of polythene packaging, Industry Forum has been brought on board to help replace outgrown systems with robust, standardised manufacturing processes.

Siva Group has become a stand-out success in the exceptionally competitive world of flexible polythene-packaging manufacturing. It operates the a very modern blown film extrusion printing facility, and most of the nation’s toilet paper is wrapped in Siva packaging – as well as a large proportion of our frozen foods, animal feeds and horticultural products.

Siva was founded by husband-and-wife team Gurjinder and Neelu Mehta in Southampton in 1979. Now, with three generations of the Mehta family working in the business, 360 employees spread over four different sites and a turnover of £110m, its international client base includes major supermarkets and other global household brands.

The company’s identity as a family-run enterprise is central to its success. “The owners care so much about the business. People can see how much it means to them and that makes us feel proud to be part of it,” observes Operations Manager Mark Parslow, who has been with the company for 13 years, working his way up through the ranks of shift manager and print manager to reach his current role at the start of 2021. “The employees feel like they’re part of the family.”
This sense of belonging helps to engender a powerful team spirit that manifests itself in a can-do attitude and ambitious appetite to grow and innovate. “If we have any issues, we overcome them as a team,” says Parslow. “When we’re dealing with new technologies and materials, we find our way through together. We’re always adapting and learning. It’s exciting.”

And it seems they’re often dealing with new technologies and materials, as they extend their ever-growing product range and develop new approaches. Another benefit of being owner-run is that decisions can be made fast. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, for example, Siva was quick to adapt. As a critical link in the food supply chain, it has been able to operate its factories throughout. It made sure its sites were COVID-safe very early on, with testing for staff at the start of every shift. Then it rapidly began manufacturing PPE and clinical waste bags. To date it has shipped hundreds of millions of units.

Siva takes its commitment to the environment very seriously. Zero pellet loss through their process is an example of the proactive attitude to wastage and with the packaging tax in April 2022, it is well positioned to offer PCR (post consumer recyclate) in many of its product offerings to offset the tax for its customers.

They are also continuously evolving their manufacturing processes and incorporating more end of line automation. This agility, combined with strong relationships with machinery manufacturers, mean it’s not unusual for Siva to be the first in the world to deploy leading-edge equipment.

“We’ve invested tens of millions of pounds in technology in the past few years,” Parslow continues. “We have the best machinery on the market, and we can do everything in house, including recycling. That means we can offer very short lead times compared to our competitors, while still providing the best quality products. We can print in a week what takes others several weeks to do. We always deliver good quality, on time. That’s our recipe for success.” Eighty per cent of Siva’s printing output is for major supermarkets, who are notoriously particular about quality.

Replicating a winning formula

It’s this impressive combination of quality, speed, agility and passion that has propelled Siva to become the success it is today. It’s crucial, then, that the company can replicate its winning formula as it continues to grow. Recognising this, the management team reached out to Industry Forum for help in January 2020.

“We’d been growing so fast that we had some work to do to catch up with ourselves and make sure we had all the necessary systems in place to standardise our processes,” explains Parslow. “When you’re a family business, everyone does a bit of everything to help out, with direction coming from the top down to the shopfloor. But we’ve grown beyond that now, and we need the optimum structures in place to support our future growth. We wanted to clearly define what we call ‘the Siva Way’, to implement it consistently across all our sites and activities and then transfer it to new areas. A lot of it was already there, but we needed to go through it again to streamline it and optimise the process flows. That’s the work we’ve been doing with Industry Forum.”
The Siva Way covers everything to do with people and process and draws on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), lean management and 5S. Industry Forum has also helped the organisation to clearly define people’s roles and develop leadership skills, particularly within the lower management tiers, where rapid organic growth had led to some idiosyncrasies and ambiguities.
It didn’t take long for the transformation to be implemented across the enterprise. Says Parslow, “We piloted 5S in certain areas, but it very rapidly spilled out into other activities. It happened almost automatically. We’ve taken on what we learned from Industry Forum and now we’re running with it ourselves. It’s part of my new role as Operations Manager to see what improvements we can carry on making. We still check in with Industry Forum on a weekly basis, but they’ve basically handed over to us now to do the work.”
The impacts of the changes are already apparent. “The workplace organisation is a lot better in the factory now so we’re seeing even better rates of on-time delivery,” Parslow reports. “And our reporting has improved a lot too, with the implementation of daily visual management on each machine. Because of that, and because we now have the right management layers in place, it means direction doesn’t need to be from the very top to the very bottom anymore. We take information up as needed.” All of this makes the factory more responsive and effective, while also freeing up senior management time to focus on the longer-term strategy and growing the business.
So, is Siva now ready for the challenges that might lie ahead?
“We’re definitely in a good place,” reflects Parslow. “But we’re not complacent. There are always issues to overcome, always something new to learn. It’s busy and rewarding. For example, we planned well ahead for Brexit, so it hasn’t affected our exports, but we are starting to see an impact on recruitment. We’re struggling to find the people we need. But we know we will find a solution as a team. We always do! It’s the Siva team that makes this such a strong place to be.