IfM Services
Contact Details
Jo Riches
PR and Communications
Institute for Manufacturing
17 Charles Babbage Road
Cambridge CB3 0FS , UK
Tel: +44 (0)7854 210837
Fax: +44 (0)1223 464217
Email: jr572 cam.ac.uk
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IfM News - 2004
Professor Sir David King
16 December 2004
Professor Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to HM Government, gave a presentation at the 16th December IfM London Breakfast briefing on the trajectory of manufacturing and services in the UK economy. This was one of the IfM's autumn 2004 breakfast briefing series entitled "Mapping the trends". The slides from his presentation can be downloaded from this site as a 2.6 Mb powerpoint presentation.
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Professor Sir David King |
Manufacturing Planning and Control Group hold first event
Friday 2 December 2004
The first event of the Manufacturing Planning and Control Group was held on Wednesday 24 November at Downing College in Cambridge. The evening was well attended and brought together 29 representatives from 24 companies from across the eastern region and beyond.
The presentations, given by Dr Derek Ford and Tom Ridgman of the IfM, highlighted some of the issues faced by companies using MRP and ERP. Key issues were also raised by the attendees and included real time orders, infinite/finite scheduling, Forrester Effect, sample tools, unplanned, vendor relationships, planning in different environments and forecasting.
Dates for events in 2005 are 15 February, 21 April and 17 May and details of the topics to be addressed will be circulated shortly.
The Manufacturing Planning and Control Group is one of the IfM's Industry Networks and provides its members with access to the latest research in this area, opportunities to network and share expertise in non-competitive areas, regular contact with the IfM team and opportunities to participate in education and training.
For further information on the Manufacturing Planning and Control group and its event programme, please contact Joanne Griffiths, Manager, Event and Membership Programmes on +44 (0)1223 766141 or by email at jg393cam.ac.uk
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EPSRC awards £2m for major university/industry collaboration in the ink jet sector
Friday 22 October 2004
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK Government's leading funding agency for research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, has awarded a new research grant of just under £2m to a major university/industry collaboration in the ink jet sector. The initiative's industry partners - Domino UK Ltd, Sericol Group Ltd, Linx Printing Technologies plc, Fujifilm Electronic Imaging Ltd, Xaar plc, Cambridge Display Technology Ltd (CDT), Inca Digital Printers Ltd, Plastic Logic Ltd and Sun Chemical Ltd - have provided a further £1m of match-funding. The university partners are the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds, Manchester and Aberystwyth, with the University of Cambridge being the administrator of the funds.
Press release (MSword doc)
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New Industry Network on Manufacturing Planning and Control
Wednesday 20th October 2004
The Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) is launching a new network called the Manufacturing Planning and Control Group. This group will provide a forum to share common problems in planning and control and hear about new approaches being developed in industry and academia. It will meet in and around Cambridge around four times a year, providing an opportunity for you to meet and question leading experts on manufacturing and planning control issues. Visits will also be arranged to organisations of key importance to member companies.
Ever since Eli Whitney pioneered methods of mass production 200 years ago, manufacturers have been looking for an effective method of planning and control that makes the best use of available resources to satisfy customer demands. The introduction of MRP and its variants has brought immense benefits to industry but these approaches have failed to deliver a sufficiently effective level of planning and control.
The IfM's work with companies has revealed a range of common problems concerned with manufacturing planning and control. Many manufacturers find it difficult to manage their resources effectively - whether material, labour, machines, time or money - while at the same time trying to satisfy customers' expectations in relation to product quality, delivery, lead-times and increased product variants.
To operate in this business environment, companies need an effective manufacturing planning and control system that is integrated with their other management information systems and is capable of fast scheduling and rescheduling. In an era where rapid response is critical, many of today's planning and control solutions are not flexible to achieve this. The Manufacturing Planning and Control Group will provide its members with access to the latest research in this area, opportunities to network and share expertise in non-competitive areas, regular contact with the IfM team and opportunities to participate in education and training.
The first meeting will be held on 24 November at Downing College, Cambridge. There will be two interactive sessions. Tom Ridgman will highlight the concepts and principles that underpin the functionality of MRP II systems. Dr Derek Ford will lead an open session offering solutions to some of the problems that compromise the operational effectiveness of MRP II and ERP systems. Please see our events page for further information or email ifm-enquiries@eng.cam.ac.uk.
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Tom Ridgman
Dr Derek Ford
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World leaders in ring-rolling visit IfM
Tuesday 19th October 2004
The IfM recently welcomed three of the world's leading experts on ring-rolling as part of an ongoing collaboration to develop more flexible ring-rolling machines.
Ring-rolling is a process used to make seamless metal rings that form the basis of bearings, railway wheels, gears and many components in gas turbines. The visitors were Professor Kopp, director of the Institute fur Bildsame Formgebung at RWTH-University in Aachen, Professor Tekkaya from Middle Eastern Technical University, and Professor William Johnson - now retired, but previously professor of mechanical engineering at UMIST and Cambridge. Professors Kopp and Johnson are the two dominant figures in this area, and had not met prior to the meeting in Cambridge.
Incremental sheet forming
The visit included a demonstration of a test-rig for the incremental sheet forming process. Incremental sheet forming is an alternative to metal pressing or stamping. Pressing requires specialist tooling for each product, which is expensive and difficult to design, which in turn requires large batch volumes to offset tooling costs. In incremental sheet forming, an indentor tracks round the workpiece, incrementally developing any chosen shape. This leads to lower production rates, but no tooling costs, and potentially is an attractive solution for flexible low-volume manufacturing.
Incremental sheet forming was first explored in the Institute for Manufacturing in 1990 by Colin Andrew, and then taken up and developed in Japan during the 1990s. The new machine is the first dedicated rig built outside Japan, and a second international group comprising most of the existing research groups active in this area will be visiting the IfM on 22nd October to see it and continue an existing collaboration.
Most studies in incremental sheet forming to date have been with one indentor only, and based around modifications to existing CNC tools. The IfM is developing a specialist rig which will eventually have two indentors to explore the technical and commercial potential of this process.
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Professor Kopp and Professor Johnson
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CIM Symposium - Major multi-nationals explore global restructuring
Tuesday 5th October 2004
Senior executives from leading multi-nationals attended the first
day of the recent CIM Symposium at Jesus College to explore the
factors driving the restructuring of global networks and the strategies
that companies have developed to respond to these challenges. Companies
presenting included GSK, Cadbury Schweppes, Danfoss, APV and Caterpillar
and discussion covered the following key issues:
- strategies to meet global competition
- number and function of manufacturing sites
- co-ordination of manufacturing networks and supply chains
- outsourcing of non-core activities
- and focus on core competencies
- growth of manufacturing service companies
- emergence of inter-company collaborative networks
The second day of the Symposium was aimed at helping researchers
to:
- identify emerging industrial issues and research opportunities
in the arena of international manufacturing
- exchange research ideas, observations and theories across different
disciplines, sectors and countries
The CIM Symposium is an annual event that takes place in September.
Please email ifm-enquirieseng.cam.ac.uk if you would like to be sent information
about next year's event in due course. |
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CTM Symposium - UK Technology Strategy outlined
Tuesday 5th October 2004
The 10th Annual CTM Symposium at Downing College, which focused
on 'Emerging technologies: invention, innovation and implementation',
drew an impressive audience of senior technology and innovation
managers from leading companies. Over the course of the two days,
the delegates benefited from working alongside leading experts in
the field to explore the technological and business challenges of
responding to emerging technologies. Areas covered included nanotechnology,
biotechnology, genomics, molecular electronics and new energy technologies.
The keynote was given by Sir Keith O'Nions, Director General of
the Research Councils, Office of Science and Technology, who outlined
a 10 year strategy for UK science. He reviewed the UK's international
performance and examined the challenge of building upon this investment
and delivering a sustainable world-class science and innovation
base over the next decade.
Other presenters included senior representatives from the DTI,
BAE SYSTEMS, F1 McLaren and PolyTechnos Venture Partners.
Please email ifm-enquirieseng.cam.ac.uk if you would like to be sent information
about next year's event in due course. |
Professor Sir Keith O'Nions
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ESRC Chief Executive leads latest Breakfast Briefing Series
17 September 2004
Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),
Professor Ian Diamond, led the first in the IfM's latest Breakfast
Briefing series, themed on 'Mapping the trends', with a presentation
on 'The changing shape of advanced industrial society - some opportunities
and challenges'. Senior industrialists attended the briefing at
The Goring Hotel in London on 22 September which gave a fascinating
overview of key trends in demographics, their links with the changing
workforce and their corresponding impact on the economy.
Please click
here for a copy of the slides. [2.6Mb MS powerpoint document]
Please click here for further
information on the remainder of the Breakfast Briefings in this
series. |
Ian Diamond
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CUEA Annual Conference - products
plus services
Tuesday 28 September 2004
Alumni, current students and industrialists attended the CUEA's
(Cambridge University's Engineering Association) Annual Conference
on 'Products and services - the changing balance of global industries'
in September.
The aim of the conference was to share the experience of leading
businesses in changing the balance of their operations towards a
greater proportion of services and to review the implications for
the economy as a whole. The DTI's Chief Economist, Vicky Pryce,
opened the day with a presentation on the changing national and
international context in which companies are operating, including
a review of the implications for the UK economy for the trend towards
services.
Other speakers included:
- David Kynaston, Chairman, Electronics, Innovation & Growth
Team, DTI (formerly Philips and Solectron) on Production capability
as a service - the rise of electronic manufacturing service providers
- Dr Steven Cook, Head of Services Strategy, Civil Aerospace,
Rolls Royce plc on Delivering service through engineering and
product expertise
- John Edwards, Director, Overseas Operations, Jaguar & Land
Rover on Changing the perception - from product performance to
customer experience
- Peter Featherstone, Vice President, Business Development, Alstom
Power on Spare parts to global service excellence
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poster display at the CUEA conference
Download powerpoint slides
Dr Steven Cook [4.1 Mb]
John Edwards [6.9 Mb]
Professor Nigel Slack [188 Kb]
Vicky Pryce [1.2 Mb]
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Malaysian Minister of Higher Education visits the Institute for
Manufacturing
Monday 2 August 2004
The Minister, Dato' Dr Hj Shafie B. Hj Mohd. Salleh, accompanied
by the Director of Higher Education and nine other delegates visited
the IfM on 29th July 2004. They heard about our research, teaching,
and industry collaboration activities. The delegation was particularly
interested in our executive teaching programmes and asked about
the possibility of Malaysian executives taking part. As part of
the tour, they later visited the St John's Innovation Centre and
the Institute of Biotechnology. |
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Senior Industrial Fellow appointed Fellow of the Institute of
Physics
Monday 19 July 2004
Senior Industrial Fellow at the IfM, Andy Shaw, has just been appointed Fellow of the Institute
of Physics. This senior class of membership indicates a very high
level of achievement in physics and an outstanding contribution
to the profession. Andy teaches on the IfM's Advanced Course in
Design, Manufacture and Management and is involved in developing
sections of the course on process automation in association with
Omron plc. In his previous work with Lancaster University Engineering
Department he developed, wrote and delivered under-graduate and
post-graduate courses in management, computer-aided drawing, computer-aided
manufacturing, total quality management and transferable skills.
Andy's academic interests include the responsiveness of manufacturing
organisations and their supply chains and the use of advanced polymer
engineering in medical analysis equipment. |
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IfM cited in the DTI's Review of the
Government's Manufacturing Strategy
Monday 19 July 2004
The Institute for Manufacturing is cited as a positive example
of intermediaries working for manufacturing in the DTI's recently
published Review of the Government's Manufacturing Strategy. In
the opening summary of stakeholder views on the manufacturing strategy
by leading industrialist Nick Brayshaw, innovation is highlighted
as crucial to the future of UK manufacturing industry. Brayshaw
says his research suggests that, while larger companies are capable
of forming productive links with the science base without outside
intervention, SMEs and middle market manufacturers need the help
of brokers or intermediaries to do this. He acknowledges the role
of MAS in meeting this need in certain regions but also singles
out individual organisations that are successfully acting as intermediaries,
including the IfM. Executive summary and full text of the Manufacturing
Strategy and of The Manufacturing Strategy Two Years On can be found
at www.dti.gov.uk/manufacturing. |
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Students and teachers visit IfM
6 July 2004
Over 20 year nine students from Chelmer Valley High School spent
the day with the IfM on 6 July. They were accompanied by some of
their teachers, including the school's Head Teacher. The day's programme
was divided between time in Cambridge AutoID Labs, learning about
its RFID technology, and developing an understanding about manufacturing
through a series of games.
Business Development Manager for the IfM's Centre for Distributed
Automation and Control, who inputted on the day, said: "This visit
was a wonderful opportunity for these students to gain some positive
insights into the world of manufacturing. The feedback from them
was certainly very enthusiastic. We hope that this kind of interaction
with schools will encourage more young people to go on to train
in science and engineering and, ultimately, to move into careers
in the manufacturing sector." |
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The IfM takes part in the Hunts Post
Business Awards
28 June 2004
The IfM is sponsoring a 'Manufacturer of the Year' award in this
year's Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards.
The judges, who will include representatives from the IfM, will
be looking for a manufacturer that can demonstrate how it is leveraging
the links between production and its other activities to create
unique value and innovation.
These awards are open to all businesses in Huntingdonshire. You
can either enter yourself, your business or a colleague for one
of the Awards, or alternatively you can nominate a customer, supplier
or someone you feel deserves recognition.
The deadline for receipt of entries is Monday 13 September 2004.
Please email info@englandmarketing.co.uk
for an application form. |
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The IfM relaunches its
NPI club
27 May 2004
The IfM is relaunching its New Product Introduction
(NPI) club with a meeting on 3rd June at the IfM's premises
in Mill Lane.
The meeting will focus on 'Rapid new product introduction aided
by innovation service providers'. Karl Drage, co-founder and COO
of Exertris, will describe how an idea to make exercise more fun
led to the design and development of a revolutionary exercise bike.
The bike, which featured on Tomorrow's World, incorporates a video
game device such that progress through the game depends on the amount
of energy expended. Two product design consultancies provided prototyping,
ethnographic research, ergonomics and product engineering. The design
of key mechanical and electronic modules was sub-contracted to specialist
providers, the application software was developed in-house, and
the final product was produced by a number of contract manufacturing
service providers.
The meeting is free and all with an interest in new product introduction
are welcome.
The meeting starts at 17.30 and continues until 20.00, with a break
for a buffet supper.
To book please contact Peter Fraser. |
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KTP Associate Joins the IfM
27 May 2004
Karan Kumar has joined
the IfM as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate. He will be working
with Adande in Lowestoft,
UK, to develop a new manufacturing process.
Karan graduated with an Electronics Engineering
degree from Leeds University, and gained an MPhil in Photonics (Engineering)
from Cambridge University before joining the IfM. |
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Cambridge University's Institute
for Manufacturing (IfM) Helps Thomas Swan to Make a £1m Cash
Flow Saving
20 April 2004
Press release MS Word.doc
Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) has helped
Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Ltd (TSSE), a leading global supplier
to the compound semiconductor industry, to make a £1m cash
flow saving |
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Chevening
Technology Enterprise Scholar at Cambridge University's Institute
for Manufacturing to Commercialise Strategy and Performance Tool
4 February 2004
Press
release MS Word.doc
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Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing
(IfM) has recently welcomed a Chevening Technology Enterprise Scholar,
Sirirat Sae-Lim, to commercialise a managerial tool for visualising
strategy and performance. |
Software
Sourcing Problems? - Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing
Trials Tools for Embedded Software Sourcing Decisions
27 January 2004
Press release
MS Word.doc |
Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) is ready
to trial its tools for supporting embedded software sourcing decisions.
The tools are the result of an ongoing research project run in collaboration
with Philips Digital Systems Lab, Pi Research, AND Technology Research
and Biochrom. |
Cambridge
University's Institute for Manufacturing Helps Sofa & Co to
Meet Growth Challenges
22 January 2004
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Cambridge
University's Institute for Manufacturing is working with Sofa &
Co, a manufacturer of high quality bespoke furniture, to help them
meet the challenges of a 50% increase in demand following the opening
of its new retail outlets in Chelmsford and High Wycombe. This sudden
growth was threatening to cause late delivery, rising inventory
and increased labour costs.
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Richard Lambert
to Kick Off Next Breakfast Briefings for Cambridge University's
Institute for Manufacturing
20 January 2004
Press release
MS Word.doc |
Cambridge
University's Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) launches its next
series of Breakfast Briefings in London tomorrow. 'Bridging Science
and Industry' starts with a presentation from Richard Lambert, author
of The Lambert Review of business-university collaboration.
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Institute
for Manufacturing Celebrates Five Years of Growth
14 January 2004
Press
release MS Word.doc
Cambridge University's
Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) welcomed over sixty guests to
an evening reception to celebrate five years of growth, at its premises
in Cambridge last week.
[For a higher resolution image (52k),
click on the picture opposite] |
Dr Derek Ford, Industrial
Fellow, IfM, Charles Russell, Director of Finance & Administration,
Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Ltd, and Prof Mike Gregory, Head
of IfM.
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