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Despite continual and growing concerns over the productivity and even the long‐term survival of the UK’s manufacturing industry, it is worth recognising that there still seems to be a strength when it comes to engineering innovation and excellence. A factor yet again highlighted by the broad scope of the finalists for the 2001 MacRobert Award. Initiated in 1969, the Award, Britain’s most prestigious annual prize for engineering, recognises projects that demonstrate the successful development of innovative and ground‐breaking ideas in engineering.

Supply chain visibility (SCV) is vital where supply chain (SC) partners must have access to information regarding materials within the SC. This is particularly important in regulated industries where government or industry regulators require additional SC‐related information. An argument is presented that in regulated industries there is a requisite level of visibility that should be assessed. The purpose of this paper is to identify and organise the components of requisite supply chain visibility (RSCV), producing simple concepts that could lay the foundation to assess the requisite level of visibility.

Drawing on previous research into, and definitions of SCV, this paper builds a definition for RSCV. A project where RSCV is applied as a concept is then presented as a case. The Swiss firm Jet Aviation, its logistics provider Fiege, its equipment suppliers, and involved logistics agents are the participants in the case.

Requisite SCV in regulated environments can be perceived as dependent upon a firm's strategic orientation, partner capabilities, the need for SC compliance to regulations, the desire for operational flexibility and issues within the environment in which the SC operates. The case suggests that a capabilities, rather than outcomes‐based, approach has merit.

Findings are limited by the context of the case, but are applicable using an analytical generalization to highly regulated industries. A specific method for measuring RSCV is needed, and further research is progressing in this area.

Using the RSCV concept to manage large‐scale SCV initiatives can help firms in highly regulated industries identify the critical factors that increase or limit their SCV. The case suggests that when implementing an IT solution for RSCV, networkability across the SC partners is a key limiting factor.

There is limited research into the role of regulation and compliance in SCV. This is one of the first pieces of research to consider requisite SCV. It proposes a SC specific configurable assessment concept, and presents a unique case in SCV.

Lastform, a three year EPSRC (IMI) programme, has investigated metallic laminating techniques to produce large‐scale production capable tooling. This work is intended as an overview of the research and development performed at the University of Warwick’s Warwick manufacturing Group. The programme was a collaboration between seven industrial partners and three universities with each university having a discreet area of research. The focus at Warwick was to establish robust methods of joining metal sheets to form tools for different production processes. Bonding mediums, test parts for process evaluation, sample tools and production tools are described. The advantages of metal laminating for different processes are evaluated. Results include reduced lead‐time and cost savings and enhanced processing capability by the use of conformable heating or cooling channels.