Why an optimistic approach to automation can spark innovation

Brian Palmer, CEO of Tharsus Group shares how entrepreneurs can use culture to foster a positive approach to innovation.

Three questions to ask:

• How can business owners break from tradition to envision new and creative ways of working?
• Why should entrepreneurs foster a ‘challenge or be challenged’ culture?
• How can businesses overcome challenges to innovate and make a real and sustainable impact?

As part of our Entrepreneur Insights series, Brian Palmer, CEO of Tharsus Group, was invited to share how his approach to innovation has brought success for Tharsus and its clients. One of EY’s 2018 Entrepreneur Of The Year™ UK finalists in the Northern region, today Brian and the team at Tharsus help companies solve tough business problems using strategic automation.

Can you tell me about yourself, your business and your leadership role?

My background is in mechanical engineering. Before joining Tharsus in the late 1990s, I worked as an Engineer at Nissan and a Programme Manager at Ford. 

Today, I am the CEO of Tharsus Group, the parent company of Tharsus Limited, a maker of Strategic Machines, which helps companies apply technologies to solve their strategic automation challenges, and Universal Wolf, a disruptor in the complex sheet metal fabrication industry.

Tharsus develops software, advanced machines and robots that tackle steep automation challenges, and drive real strategic impact for customers, helping them to gain a competitive advantage in the automation age. 

We are one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of commercial robots and have delivered robust and progressive automation solutions for many businesses around the world, including DHL, Ocado, BMW and Small Robot Co.

What sparked the idea for Tharsus?

Tharsus can trace its roots back to 1964, when it was founded by three work mates in Tyneside who used some money that they had won in the football pools to create a small sheet metal business. 

I bought the company in 1997 and expanded the firm’s focus into designing and building bespoke advanced robotics solutions for progressive businesses looking to innovate. 

The team and I are constantly looking to evolve Tharsus. We’re recognised as one of the UK’s leading robotics players, but we’re rapidly enhancing our capabilities in the digital space.

I believe there needs to be a fundamental shift in how businesses address industry problems — a creative, more optimistic approach to automation can create significant opportunity. The most progressive firms understand that they need to develop their own disruptive innovation models, embedding the strategic thinking that delivers competitive and commercial advantage.

What markets are witnessing the greatest innovation initiatives?

The nature of our work gives us a birds-eye view across a host of industries that are going through a period of significant disruption. 

Many of the projects we’re currently working on focus on the fundamental issues that affect us all — how we feed ourselves, how we move things and how we build.

From an agricultural perspective, this means helping clients to build solutions that re-think how we produce food in a way that is as environmentally friendly as possible, whether through new advances in vertical farming, precision agriculture or lab-based alternatives.

All of our customers in the logistics space are looking to reduce the environmental impact of moving goods from one location to another — whether that’s from a last-mile perspective or sharpening how they manage inventories to avoid waste.

In most cases, these are new ways of working that diverge considerably from traditional approaches. It’s our job to ensure that efficiency gains don’t compromise on performance or resilience. And we always work to reduce carbon footprints when creating new automation solutions. 

Tharsus has recently been singled out for its innovation in pioneering Bump, to help workplaces navigate COVID-19 distancing measures. Could you tell us a little bit more about this technology and its aims?

Bump was developed in just 12 weeks at the height of the pandemic in anticipation of its impact on businesses being able to operate safely. The aim was to create a way to inform effective social-distancing behaviour and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. 

Bump comprises of wearable and static devices, which use sophisticated Radio Frequency (RF) technology to alert wearers when they are getting too close to another person.

It creates a Personal Motion System for wearers, emitting a beeping sound to alert those within two metres of one another and turning a vibrant shade of red until enough space has been created. 

Bump devices also compile wearer data, which allow organisations to identify which wearers have interacted with each other in the event of a positive case and take rapid action to prevent further transmission and local outbreaks.

Bump has since received a President’s Special Award for Pandemic Service from the Royal Academy of Engineering* and played a key role in enabling the Virgin Money London Marathon to take place in 2020. 

What do you think makes a company innovative and, can you provide any examples of innovation initiatives that Tharsus has taken in recent years, aside from Bump?

For me, innovation is about the quest for better. It requires constant questioning and challenging of traditional approaches. No two customers are the same. To deliver, it’s important to understand their world and the challenges that they face.  

We’re always looking for ways that machines can turn challenges into opportunities by enabling our customers to do more — whether that’s increasing output, and supporting business growth, or helping them become more resilient in the face of external challenges.

Our data team is at the heart of this, working with the wider busiess to assess challenges and solve customer problems. This ability to combine data science, modelling and software development is what allows us to build truly intelligent technology solutions at scale. It means we think wider, aim higher and create the technology that is transformative for our customers. 

Innovation is central to what we do at Tharsus. Strategic Machines are focussed on tackling automation challenges, business problems and strategic hurdles for customers so that they continue to innovate and make a real impact across their industries. 

Whether it’s the weed zapping bots that we’ve developed alongside Small Robot Co. or the bots leading production at Ocado warehouses, all of our collaborations focus on employing existing and emerging technology to create game-changing solutions that allow our customers to innovate at scale.