ANNUAL REPORT 2010 - Loughborough University

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8 ‘ The Advanced Manufacturing Areas SUSTAiNABLE MANUfACTURiNg real challenge in Sustainable Manufacturing is to come up with the tools, methods and technologies that make a real difference ’ PRoF. ShAhIN RAhIMIFARD AnnuAl RepoRt <strong>2010</strong> Sustainable manufacturing is now recognised as a goal that has to be embraced by all governments and all companies across all business sectors. < From left to Right: Dr Mike Lee; Ms Yingying Seow; Mr James Colwill; Dr Helen Wagner; Dr Elliot Woolley; Prof. Shahin Rahimifard; Dr Sue Morton
Background Modern manufacturing is under everincreasing pressure to develop solutions for highly complex tasks. The next generation of factories will have to be adaptable not only to the needs of the market but also the growing requirements for economic and ecological efficiency. Such a factory will have to take into consideration social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Whilst seeking to reduce landfill, increase recycling, and produce more sustainable products across all manufacturing sectors, there is a clear need for the development and validation of new industrial models and strategies. The term commonly used is Competitive Sustainable Manufacturing (CSM). CSM has the potential to be the basis for UK and European industrial transformation. CSM models and strategies will have to aim at achieving long term economic sustainability through the increase in added value and improved production capability, responsiveness, and quality as well as environmental sustainability through the decrease in consumption of raw materials and energy. The group The Sustainable Manufacturing Research Group (www.lboro.ac.uk/smart) within the IMCRC is led by Prof. Shahin Rahimifard. The group also includes a number of leading academics whose skills and expertise provide it with the ability to realise cutting-edge research in this field. The knowledge of these individuals covers technologies, processes and management within the context of sustainable manufacturing. The group has an established track record of industrial collaboration with a number of leading manufacturing companies and retailers that include: Jaguar, Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems, Clarks, Nike, Next plc, and TESCO. Impact Less than 3.5% of the 20 billion pairs of shoes produced world-wide every year are currently recycled or reused. This creates a large waste stream of worn or discarded shoes which are sent to landfill sites for disposal. A major IMCRC project is looking at minimising the end-of-life waste in the footwear industry by: developing a ‘design for recycling’ approach to footwear products to facilitate economical recovery of material content; investigating novel disassembly and separation processes tailored to a wide range of materials used in footwear; and specifying a number of business scenarios for the realisation of a sustainable footwear recycling chain. The project, enthusiastically supported by a group of collaborators which include leading footwear retailers, has also initiated wider interest through a Footwear recycling Action Group established to share best practices with industry. Another current project is seeking to reduce the carbon and ecological footprint of packaging by investigating the environmental benefits of reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources and their disposal to landfill. This research has included a comparison of the materials and manufacturing routes for non-renewable and renewable polymer products using lifecycle assessment to quantify the expected ecological benefits of a change in renewable products, and the evaluation of new materials in the design of packaging to minimise resource use. The project has received significant industrial interest and has already provided an evaluation of: the waste arising from polymer packaging; current and future sources of packaging waste and endof-life processing strategies available to deal with them; current bio-material development and manufacture; UK legislative framework regarding disposal polymers made from renewable and non-renewable sources; and recommendations for evaluating packaging materials that will be used for LCA and case studies. Future Research Directions Research by the Sustainable Manufacturing Group will focus on industry requirements for “doing more with significantly less resource” (so called ‘Factor X’ improvement in resource efficiency), which will be an integral part of future manufacturing applications. It is therefore envisaged that the future manufacturing paradigm will be oriented towards the optimization and value creation of products along their whole life cycle. In a modern global market, there is an increasing demand towards customised products, which have a short delivery time together with the development of innovative systems of ‘products and services’ which are capable of fulfilling specific user demands. Under this service-oriented perspective, the analysis of the product life cycle, to identify best potentials for both the new business opportunities and the reported environmental benefits related to ‘dematerialisation’ of manufacturing activities, is crucial for the development of successful industrial applications. To effectively face these challenges, the production processes need to be analysed and optimised, considering the total product life cycle. Sustainable manufacturing must become the accepted norm for all products. The Sustainable Manufacturing Research Group is facilitating this change. AnnuAl RepoRt <strong>2010</strong> 9
Page 1 and 2: ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Innovative Manuf
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Executive Summary 4 Advanc
Page 5 and 6: ESTABLiShEd iN 2001, the iMCRC has
Page 7 and 8: Highlights Prof. David Williams of
Page 9: Background The Additive Manufacturi
Page 13 and 14: Background Construction, like other
Page 15 and 16: Background The sporting goods marke
Page 17 and 18: Background Current automation syste
Page 19 and 20: Research councils have played an im
Page 21 and 22: 185 219 214 223 263 298 AnnuAl Repo
Page 23 and 24: IMCRC Current RESEARCh ThEMES high
Page 25 and 26: 201 253 256 260 250 202 AnnuAl Annu
Page 27 and 28: IMCRC Current RESEARCh ThEMES Trans
Page 29 and 30: Steering group Membership external
Page 31 and 32: Project Title Start Date End Date T
Page 33 and 34: Name Start Date PhD Title Hannah Ed
Page 35 and 36: COLLABORATORS Industrial Collaborat

ANNUAL REPORT 2010 - Loughborough University

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