Sumitomo (SHI) Demag recently hosted its annual getActive day, with former captain of the New Zealand All Blacks international rugby team – Sean Fitzpatrick – providing guests with an important message on how to create and sustain high performance in sport and in business and set the benchmark for excellence.
This year’s informative event was held at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in Sheffield. The facility was intentionally selected by UK managing director Nigel Flowers as it is “a world class technology centre and has done extensive research into the connections between human and machine collaboration and the growing need for high variation and mass customisation manufacturing,” explains Nigel.
More than 50 guests attended enjoyed a tour of the AMRC facility, which comprises numerous research hubs. The advanced connected manufacturing technologies on display at the 6,730 square metre landmark AMRC Factory 2050 provided the visitors with a fascinating insight into reconfigurable digitally assisted assembly, component manufacturing and machining technologies.
Michael Curtis, director at MCPC commented: “The AMRC is a fantastic facility. It is conducting some very interesting collaborative research and work. The guest speaker was simply fantastic giving some great inside stories of a sport I love. More importantly, Sean Fitzpatrick revealed the thoughts, ideas, tactics, mind set and philosophy that it takes to be a successful and sustainable team for the long term.”
Presenting each guest with a personalised signed copy of his new book ‘Winning Matters’, the inspirational All Blacks captain touched upon the everyday values, beliefs and principles that have driven him, both on and off the pitch. Emphasising that while winning is fun, it’s important to remember your losses. “There’s more to be learned from losses, you should never forget how that felt so you don’t want to have that feeling again,” he said.
“My most memorable game was in 1993 against the Lions. We lost. I personally had a terrible game. The team played badly. I said to the team – make a mental note of way you feel now and make sure you never feel that way again. Celebrate success, but park it quickly.”
Applying this philosophy to business, Fitzpatrick, who played in 92 internationals, 51 of those as skipper, emphasised: “Remember the accounts you lost, the customers you lost. Losing that game in 1993 changed my life,”
Wrapping up the sixth getActive event, Nigel commented: “Another fascinating and insightful day spent with likeminded professionals from our plastics community. The biggest personal takeaway for me was in order to sustain high performance we cannot afford to get complacent about technology or our team culture.”
Sponsor partners for getActive 2019 included Mouldshop, Plastribution, Piovan, Sierra 57 Consult and Sepro Group.
http://uk.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu/
