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Institute for Manufacturing |
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Events and courses for industrySeries and programmes
Email ifm-enquiries@eng.cam.ac.uk
Commercial transactions are handled via the following company, which is wholly owned by the University of Cambridge:
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Manufacturing Thursdays
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24 February 2011 |
Making a Management Buyout Work - Lessons from Coventry |
Jonathan Duck is CEO of the Coventry based flooring manufacturer, Amtico International. |
Jonathan's presentation looks at the challenges he faced joining a problematic management buyout, restarting growth so that the private equity investors (including the management team) made a good return, and then leading Amtico into a highly geared secondary management buyout, just ahead of the credit crunch. He will describe how Amtico has been able to post record results in the middle of the current recession, and how the company has made its West Midlands factory cost competitive with China. This has let Amtico repatriate manufacturing from the Far East to its UK and US factories, and play its own part in rebuilding the UK’s manufacturing base.
Jonathan has run a range of businesses over the past 20 years and will summarise some of the lessons learnt, particularly in private equity deals where value has to be created quickly and with finite resources.
Audio MP3 interview with Jonathan Duck - please follow this link
20 January 2011 |
What does the future hold for Britain’s biggest manufacturing sector? |
Julian Hunt, Director, Communications, Food & Drink Federation |
It's the UK's biggest manufacturing sector - employing 440,000 people across the country, generating turnover of some £73bn and exporting £10bn a year. But the food and drink industry is facing many challenges – such as climate change impacts, increasing volatility in raw materials prices and a poor skills base. A unique collaborative project between IfM and the Food and Drink Federation has indentified some of the ways in which the industry needs to adapt to prosper in the future – as well as the changes that must be made to the UK policy landscape.
Audio MP3 interview with Julian Hunt- please follow this link
24 June 2010 |
Collapse of the 'Funding Escalator' in the Greater Cambridge area |
David Gill, CEO St John's Innovation Centre |
In the Greater Cambridge area, there is a dearth of risk capital (particularly venture funding) required by the innovative, growth potential firms on which the cluster has relied for 30-40 years. To a limited extent, demand has been met by imaginative new schemes provided by the public sector, at both a national and a regional level. However, it is unrealistic to expect the public sector alone to meet the gap. The ‘funding escalator’ is a continuum – from family investors and grants at the outset right through to trade sales and IPOs – and prolonged congestion or gaps at any stage will ultimately affect the health of the entire system. Particularly given the fragile state of public finances, for the foreseeable future businesses need to access and use funds with enhanced professionalism rather than expect the supply of finance to revert to pre-2008 conditions
Audio MP3 interview with David Gill - please follow this link
13 May 2010 |
What does 'open innovation' mean for the Cambridge high tech cluster? |
'Open innovation' describes the ways in which companies can create value through innovating in partnership with other organisations. The topic is attracting high levels of interest from policymakers, consultants, multinational corporations and academics. It is being hailed as the 'new way' to improve companies' abilities to innovate, accelerate regional economic recovery, attract investment and link with the science base. But is it really anything new? Is there any evidence that it really works? What does it mean for start-ups, medium-sized firms and multinationals in and around Cambridge? This talk will cover the background, current practice, and implications for future of the Cambridge high tech cluster of the emerging (or perhaps very old) phenomenon of 'open innovation'.
If you have comments, please use http://cambridgetechnopole.blogspot.com/
Audio MP3 interview with Dr Minshall - please follow this link
4 March 2010 |
Emerging Clean Technology Industries in the United States |
Clean technology industries are emerging and attracting significant attention from policy-makers, entrepreneurs and investors. Dr Gregory Theyel will describe the location and firm strategy decisions of companies in the wind turbine, solar cell, and air and water purification industries. Questions about where these industries are emerging and why firms are choosing these locations are important for industrial policy, economic development and investment. This presentation will address these questions by locating firms in clean technology industries in the United States and explaining why these firms are in these locations based on demand, government mechanisms, regional resources and industrial organization.
Audio MP3 interview with Dr Theyel
25 February 2010 |
Shaping Research for industrial innovation |
Professor Mike Gregory, Head of the IfM |
Professor Gregory's talk focuses on the renewed interest in the role of manufacturing in the economy. Traditionally manufacturing research has tended to focus on individual elements of the activity such as production technology or operations research. Professor Gregory will argue that the modern integrated definition of manufacturing which includes the whole value chain from marketing to service requires a more integrated approach to research. Thinking about innovation and manufacturing in the broader sense can reveal the potential of manufacturing to enhance economic performance. Finally the presentation will demonstrate the importance of understanding the dynamics of emerging industries so that the UK's strengths in innovation can be more rapidly and fully exploited.
Audio MP3 interview with Professor Gregory
16 February 2010 |
The Natural Step: a unifying framework for sustainable development
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Karl-Henrik Robèrt , Professor of Sustainable Development, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. |
Professor Robèrt, is the founder of the internationally renowned NGO The Natural Step. Originally a cancer scientist, he decided 20 years ago to launch a movement in Sweden for sustainability. His group worked closely with other scientists, business, and public sector bodies worldwide to develop a unifying framework for sustainable development and help
in its implementation. In 2000 he was awarded the Blue Planet Prize, a prestigious award in recognition of his work. He will talk about his journey, the framework for sustainable development, and how it has been implemented in industries all over the world.
Audio MP3 interview with Professor Robèrt
11 February 2010 |
Cut waste, boost revenue: Practical examples from industry |
Dr Claire Barlow, Senior Lecturer in Materials Processing |
Waste is produced whenever more power, water or materials are used than is absolutely necessary. In this presentation, Dr Claire Barlow will take a broad definition of waste in manufacturing industry to include anything that does not directly contribute to making the desired product.
Not only does waste fail to add any value – it actually costs money in terms of the materials, energy and water used to produce it, and the landfill charges to dispose of it. It follows that any steps taken to reduce waste should be financially beneficial for an enterprise.
Many waste reduction measures are no more than common sense and may involve little or no expenditure. This presentation will look at examples from large and small companies engaged in a range of operations: What are the barriers to starting, and then rolling out, a waste reduction programme? Lack of time or expertise? Scepticism within the company?
More far-reaching measures may require substantial capital outlay; decisions about their merits may involve calculating pay-back periods, or may depend other influences such as establishing 'green credentials'. Examples of these will be discussed.
Audio MP3 interview with Claire Barlow
4 February 2010 |
Configuring international supply chains: an integrated operations perspective - findings from research and practice |
Dr Jag Srai Head of the IfM's Centre for International Manufacturing |
Businesses have long recognized the importance of an effective supply chain, one that integrates suppliers, enables efficient production and is able to service customers in a timely cost effective manner. The design of the supply network, linking suppliers, producers, distributors with their customers has evolved over the last 25 years from a basic process integration activity, to one of a complex network design task. Globalization, new routes to market and rapid technology change have resulted in changing industry structures, often involving a fragmentation of the traditional supply chain. In his talk, Dr Jag Srai reviews some of the exemplar models identified in our recent research projects within the Centre for International Manufacturing, and how the 'configuration perspective' applied across different aspects of the manufacturing value chain can support firms to design radical alternatives to innovation and market supply.
Audio MP3 interview with Jag Srai
28 January 2010 |
Roadmapping for agile strategy - linking technology to business objectives |
Dr Rob Phaal Senior Research Associate, Centre for Technology Management |
The technology roadmapping approach was originally developed by Motorola more than 30 years ago, as a means for aligning technology programmes with product developments. Since then the method has been adopted widely, at firm and sector levels, adapted to address a range of strategic challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of history and application of the roadmapping approach, including examples. 'Fast-start' workshop approaches will be described, which emphasise cross-functional strategic dialogue, decision making and action, providing a light-touch iterative approach for developing strategy.
Audio MP3 interview with Robert Phaal
21 January 2010 |
International design scoreboard: where the UK ranks and why it matters |
Dr James Moultrie, Head of IfM's Design Management Group |
Britain is currently recognised as a world leader in design and the sector is regarded as integral to the country's future competitiveness and economic prosperity. However, the design services sector has reduced in size over the past 10 years while East Asian countries such as Korea and Singapore are emerging as new design 'powerhouses' posing a potential threat to the UK and other Western countries. This presentation will summarise the findings of a recent study led by the IfM, exploring international design capabilities. It provides the first attempt at ranking 12 countries in terms of their national design capability. |
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Audio MP3 interview with James Moultrie
14 January 2010
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50 years of lasers: working at the speed of light |
Dr Bill O'Neill, Head of IfM's Centre for Industrial Photonics |
2010 will celebrate 50 years of breath taking advances in laser technology and applications. From the minds of a few ingenious physicists, a Nobel prize or two, and the frenzied efforts of research laboratories across the world, the past 50 years has seen laser technology evolve from curious and mesmerising laboratory instruments, to one of the most enabling and engaging scientific inventions of all time. The pinpoint precision and steadfast direction of its beam is a wonder to behold. The purity of light emitted by the laser is easy to see, its magic beguiles the observer and holds their attention like no other scientific instrument. The impressive light output is easily matched by the incredible applications that have been developed to apply the uniqueness of spatial and temporal coherence, unmatched by natural sources of light. This manmade wonder has grown so widespread in application that it touches every part of our lives, from the production of magazines to the cooling of atoms, and the welding of automobiles to the destruction of missiles. This talk will present a galloping review of past achievements in laser manufacturing and a glimpse into the future research opportunities and manufacturing applications of the next generation of high power laser technology. |
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Audio MP3 interview with Bill O'Neill
10 December 2009 |
The future of supply chain data management |
Dr Alexandra Brintrup and Kenneth Owens, Supply Chain Management Technology Team, Boeing Research & Technology |
Introducing the latest developments in supply chain technology research at aerospace giant Boeing. Themes include Rapid Materials Response, the Hybrid Intelligent Supply Chain and Self-serving Assets. The self-serving assets project, developed in collaboration with the IfM's Distributed Information and Automation Lab, will be presented in detail. This exciting project uses auto-ID technologies, sensors and Artificial Intelligence software, to enable aircraft components to assess and manage their own maintenance needs. This aims to maximise the components life in service through contacting, selecting, procuring and monitoring service providers. The project aims to provide a flexible architecture that will ensure decision optimality, be customizable, and scalable as we are potentially looking into a technology that could see thousands of autonomous assets in the supply chain. The project raises various interesting research questions such as how do we ensure truthfulness in automated systems? How do we balance stakeholder goals in an asset's lifecycle? These questions help us shape the self-serving asset, which brings about a powerful technology and an operational shift in service and maintenance. |
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Audio MP3 interview with Alexandra Brintrup and Kenneth Owens
3 December 2009 |
Implementing open innovation: lessons from multi-national companies |
Letizia Mortara , Research Associate, Centre for Technology Management |
Manufacturers are increasingly turning toward Open Innovation (OI) as a means of enhancing their innovation capability. As manufacturing processes and technology become increasingly complex and global markets are far more competitive, few companies can rely on in-house research departments alone . Open innovation is a process designed to accelerate innovation through collaboration. Under this approach a company works with external partners on new ideas in a bid to generate new business opportunities OI was defined by Henry Chesbrough (2003) in his framework of Open Innovation (OI). However, among practitioners there is still confusion over how companies can best implement OI. This talk will present the results of a two-year IfM study that reviewed how large multinational corporations approached it's implementation. The study revealed despite different motivations and different drivers for its adoption, there were several common themes which researchers observed across a range of industries. This talk focuses on the challenges of implementing OI in terms of culture, skills , procedure and motivation. |
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Audio MP3 interview with Letizia Mortara
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26 November 2009 |
Contrasting attitudes to innovation support across industry and government |
Finbarr Livesey, Director, Centre for Industry and Government, IfM |
The provision of innovation support faces a number of challenges: from the rapidly changing nature of innovation; to what support needs are required by individual sectors of the economy. We are developing a survey of companies across the UK to discover which points in the innovation process require which types of policy support. By highlighting similarities and differences amongst the responses we should be able to help improve government targeting of innovation support in the UK. | ||
Audio MP3 interview with Finbarr Livesey
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12 November 2009 |
Servitization strategy of manufacturing firms: evidence from practice |
Ivanka Visnjic, IfM |
This seminar explores the experience of a large industrial manufacturer that has successfully moved into services. This seminar builds on the presentation on servitization, a diversification strategy of manufacturers in services, made by Professor Andy Neely on 22 October. While Professor Neely discussed the performance effects of servitization on the large sample of manufacturing firms, this seminar explores the experience of a large European equipment manufacturer that has successfully moved into services. Contrary to the expected economic and strategic benefits of servitization, some of the more recent case studies indicate that firms face serious problems in implementation. Presuming that this lack of clarity on the benefits of servitization is caused by separate conceptual treatment of external/marketing and organizational/operational dimensions of the strategy, we propose an integrated framework to evaluate the overall impact of servitization on the performance. Quantitative assessment of this framework based on internal, subsidiary-level data of firm under study shows that servitization has a positive impact on both, growth and profitability. After in-depth case studies are conducted in order to reveal managerial practices that underpin subsidiary performance, it becomes clear that the balance of incentives and thus, the organizational design of product and service activities are the precursors of the successful implementation. “Partnership of equals” emerges to be the best organizational arrangement for products and services- subsidiaries that give more focus and organizational autonomy to services, while maintaining the close relationship with products, seem to be more successful. As the previous research seems to suggest, the consequences of misunderstanding or failing to "strike the balance"- either by prioritizing products or isolating product and service strategies- can be far reaching. Good managerial practices, as well as potential pitfalls will be discussed. |
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Audio MP3 interview with Ivanka Visnjic
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5 November 2009 |
The Emergence of New Industries |
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In an increasingly global economy, with rapidly increasing rates of technological innovation, it is ever more important to build industries based on innovative science and engineering. The ongoing Emerging Industries Programme at the Institute for Manufacturing is concerned with understanding the translation of scientific ideas into products and services. | ||
Audio MP3 interview with Paul Heffernan and Robert Phaal
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29 October 2009 |
Ink-jet printing in micro-manufacturing: opportunities and limitations |
Professor Ian Hutchings, GKN Professor of Manufacturing Engineering, IfM |
Ink-jet printing provides a family of mask-less digital processes for the controlled deposition of materials in liquid form. A wide range of materials, including metals, ceramics and polymers, can be deposited, and several process routes apart from direct additive deposition can be used. | ||
Audio MP3 interview with Ian Hutchings
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22 October 2009 |
The Servitization of Manufacturing: A New Opportunity or a Poisoned Chalice |
Professor Andy Neely, Cranfield and IfM |
We know that UK manufacturers cannot compete on the basis of cost. They have to innovate to add value and survive. For many manufacturing firms this includes service innovation, identifying and offering services that complement and supplement their products. Enabled by technology, a particularly important form of service innovation is service and support, where manufacturers seek to offer extended lifetime support for their products in service. Other services might include financial services, consulting services, design and development services or installation services. In theory adding services offers manufacturers a new way of generating additional revenues and profits. In practice, however, the transition to services is rarely straightforward and recent research points to a services paradox - adding services should result in higher margins, yet it appears difficult to achieve these higher margins. In this presentation Andy Neely, Director of the Cambridge Service Alliance, will discuss global trends in the servitization of manufacturing, the services paradox and the reasons why servitizing might be difficult for manufacturers, as well as offering advice on how to overcome the challenges of servitization. | ||
Audio MP3 interview with Andy Neely
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15 October 2009 |
Through-life management of industrial assets |
Dr Ajith Parlikad, Deputy Director of the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory, IfM |
In today's world, industries are under increasing pressure to reduce costs, cut emissions, meet tougher performance and production targets, comply with regulatory requirements, and maximize return on investment. Effective management (selection, maintenance, inspection and renewal) of physical assets such as equipment and infrastructure plays a key role in determining the operational performance and profitability of companies that operate assets as part of their core business. Companies with vision are looking for opportunities to reduce the cost of maintaining their assets, improve the performance and extend the life of those assets, speed up information and decision making, and gain competitive advantage. Dr Ajith Parlikad will discuss the key challenges in asset management and the role of emerging information technologies in improving the way in which assets are tracked and managed throughout their lifecycle. | ||
Audio MP3 interview with Ajith Parlikad
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8 October 2009 |
The Cambridge Technology Cluster - a blueprint for the future? |
Dr Elizabeth Garnsey, Reader in Innovation Studies, IfM |
Could the Cambridge hi-tech cluster offer a blueprint for the future of the UK economy? Cambridge firms have a much higher success rate than average and were more resilient to the technology downturn than Silicon Valley firms - but is a recent fall in the number of start-ups cause for concern? Dr Elizabeth Garnsey, Reader in Innovation Studies at Cambridge University, has been tracking the progress of Cambridge technology firms since the 1980s. She will describe some of the innovative business models followed by Cambridge companies and invite discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the Cambridge model.
Audio MP3 interview with Elizabeth Garnsey | ||
FREE
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To book a place, please email, phone or write to Jo Griffiths, at the address below:
Institute for Manufacturing 17 Charles Babbage Road Cambridge CB3 0FS, UKTel: +44 (0)1223 748260
Fax: +44 (0)1223 464217
Email: jg393@cam.ac.uk
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The University of Cambridge's IfM is a leading centre for the research and understanding of all issues surrounding industrial innovation and manufacturing. With extensive knowledge of the needs of smaller firms, the IfM has developed a range of approaches designed to assist the development and growth of small and medium-sized businesses.
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