IfM Services

Contact Details

Rob Halden-Pratt
Communications Officer
Institute for Manufacturing
17 Charles Babbage Road
Cambridge CB3 0FS , UK

Tel: +44 (0)1223 748266
Fax: +44 (0)1223 464217
Email: rwh26eng.cam.ac.uk

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IfM News

IfM lecturer delivers keynote address at cluster conference

February 4th 2010

A Cambridge University lecturer has given the keynote address at a major conference aimed at encouraging hi-tech and enterprise clusters in Japan.

The IfM's Dr Tim Minshall, was the only non-Japanese speaker at the recent 2010 Japan Cluster Conference in Tokyo.

The conference was designed to help improve the country’s international competiveness and to look at how industry, government and education can work together to foster innovation.

Dr Minshall’s talk, called 'Developing Internationally Competitive Clusters', looked at  ways in which open innovation can support cluster development and visa versa.

The talk drew on a number of international examples, such as Silicon Valley, Cambridge’s own ‘Silicon Fen’, Manchester’s creative industries cluster, Philips Eindhoven Campus and Unilever’s Colworth Park.

Structured around the resurgence of interest in clusters from policymakers, the talk also examined the role clusters can play in recovery from economic downturns, addressing global challenges, and the changing nature of innovation.

Download the full press release here

Links forged with India in drive towards green industrial revolution

February 2nd 2010

A seminar examining ways in which industry could go green could lead to high profile collaborations between Cambridge and India.

The IfM led a high-level seminar in India looking issues surrounding industrial sustainability.

The UK-India Industrial Sustainability Seminar took place in Mumbai and formed part of a ten-day visit to India by the University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard.

More than 15 million people live and work in India’s largest city and it is home to some of the world’s biggest firms such as steel and automotive giant Tata Group, Industrial conglomerate Mahindra Group and Sun Pharmaceutical.

The event brought together senior manufacturing and sustainability academics and industrialists to share experience, perspectives and challenges. The meeting also explored the potential for significant UK-India projects in this field.

The report, Towards a Sustainable Industrial System, published last year by the IfM, part of the University’s Department of Engineering, provided the basis of the discussion.

A group of leading manufacturing and environmental experts combined to produce the report which proposed a global effort to understand how essential elements of industrial systems – resources, processes and organisation – could be integrated to reduce environmental impacts while maintaining acceptable standards of living without damaging the planet.

The report’s co-authors Professor Mike Gregory, head of the IfM, and Professor Steve Evans from Cranfield University took part in the event.

Professor Mike Gregory, said “There is a long history of collaboration in manufacturing between India and the UK.

“The University as a whole is working energetically in building working, practical relationships in India and we think this is a real opportunity to explore potential collaborations in the evolution of the next generation of sustainable industrial systems.

“We hope that this will be part of an international effort to engage industrialists and academics to work with us on taking a system-level view of industrial sustainability.”

Helping Product Design, Development and Introduction in the North East

January 18th 2010

The IfM is providing tools and advice to help firms in the North East of England design and bring new products to market.

The IfM’s Education and Consultancy Services is working with Design Network North (DNN) to offer firms in the area assistance in creating and launching new products

The collaboration will assist manufacturing SME’s in overcoming some of the challenges they will face when designing and introducing new products. These can include being late to market, over-budget, high unit costs and disappointing sales.
Small firms also need to ensure their products meet customer aspirations and that they have a manageable product development process.

The IfM’s methodologies and tools, which are based on ten years’ research and experience at the IfM, are designed specifically for small and medium-size manufacturers (SMEs) and address the key issues they face.

Dr James Moultrie from the IfM’s Design Management Group who led the research underpinning many of the tools said: “Managing new product development (NPD) is difficult. It is one of the few business issues that demands that the whole firm works collaboratively. In many cases, the future of the business might rely on the success of the project.

Download the full press release here

IfM to stage Manufacturing Transformation Workshops

January 14th 2010

A series of workshops to help small and medium sized manufacturing businesses are to be held throughout the Eastern Region.

The events, organised by the IfM, focus on four key business themes, Delivery Performance, Quality, Supply Chain and Unique Value and Innovation.

The workshops are heavily subsidised by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and cost just £30 to attend.

Events are taking place in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and will run between January and April.

They will be run by Dr Alan Cousens, an industrial practioner at the IfM. Dr Cousens held a number of senior management roles in a hi-tech manufacturing companies, most recently as Managing Director
of Graseby plc, Smiths Industries plc and Oxford Instruments, manufacturers of medical devices.

For more information on the workshops, or to complete a booking form, please download the leaflet.

These workshops form part of the IfM's Manufacturing Transformation Programme.

Hi-tech firm praises business support programme

January 11th 2010

A firm which makes hi-tech monitoring equipment has saved thousands of pounds and seen a long-running business problem solved – thanks to a free business support scheme developed by the IfM.

Radio-Tech Ltd makes wireless electronic devices for everything from spotting the build-up of legionella, the bacteria which causes the potentially life-threatening Legionnaires ’ disease – to electronic smart meters.

The Harlow-based company has just taken part in the Manufacturing Transformation Programme (MTP), promoted as the the Essex Manufacturing Innovation and Growth programme by our partners Essex County Council.

It is designed to help small and medium-sized manufacturing companies deliver long-term improvements through an achievable action plan, while being mentored by an experienced practitioner.

Ade Asefeso, the firm’s Operations Director, said taking part in the scheme had saved his firm thousands of pounds and had a significant impact on the business.

“I think we are a fairly typical SME, it’s not that we don’t know what’s wrong with us, or how to fix it, but we don’t have the time to fix it.”

The firm’s mentor, IfM practitioner John McManus, suggested Radio-Tech might benefit from additional resource and introduced them to a well-qualified graduate with the specific remit of implementing the MTP action plan.

The 12-week subsidised placement was easily arranged under a Graduate Internship Scheme run by Anglia Ruskin University.

 “What really excited me was through the project we were able to bring in a Cambridge graduate to an SME of this size; normally it would cost you thousands and he was able to focus on a particular business issue...

"I was quite surprised that within three days he came back with a solution, not only that he thought of how to protect the device but with physical instructions of how to do it. Basically I think the graduate scheme is the best thing since sliced bread".

Download the full press release

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