EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability

Completed

Not Energy Related
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Not Cross-cutting
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance)
Other (Energy technology information dissemination)

Professor S Evans
Engineering
University of Cambridge

Standard

EPSRC

01 July 2011

31 December 2016

66 months

£5,233,278

Manufacturing

East of England

Manufacturing : Manufacturing

Professor S Evans, Engineering, University of Cambridge

Dr PD Ball, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University
Professor Sir M Gregory, Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr M Jolly, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University
Professor S Rahimifard, Sch of Mechanical and Manufacturing Eng, Loughborough University
Dr PK Smart, School of Applied Sciences, Cranfield University
Dr M Tennant, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London

Project Contact, Trades Union Congress
Project Contact, Toyota Motor Europe, Belgium
Project Contact, The Carbon Trust
Project Contact, Unilever UK Central Resources Limited
Project Contact, Shearline Precision Engineering Ltd
Project Contact, EEF, formerly the Engineering Employers' Federation
Project Contact, General Motors (GM), USA
Project Contact, Riversimple Engineering Limited
Project Contact, Vitsoe
Project Contact, Marks and Spencer
Project Contact, Adnams
Project Contact, IBM United Kingdom Ltd

By 2050 the global industrial system is committed by international agreements and governments to double its output while only using 50% of current resources and generating no more than 20% of current CO2. Achieving this represents an exciting new industrial revolution, requiring new approaches and new thinking which we term collectively "Industrial Sustainability".The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability will work closely with leading companies of all sizes and from all sectors who are already actively preparing for this challenge.The Centre will work on two fronts: rapidly reducing the resource & energy-intensity in the production of existing goods while simultaneously investigating options for a radical redesign of the industrial system.We will build a foundation of projects in 'eco-efficiency' (creating more value using less resource by focussing on reducing use of energy, water and materials), in 'eco-factory' (for example using waste from one process as inputs to another wherever possible), and in 'sustainable industrial system' (conserving resources by for example using solar income, re-distributing what gets made where and re-assessing what and how value is delivered).As we better understand what works and what doesn't, we will develop and deliver tools and techniques, which will be used, by our collaborators to achieve their sustainability goals. Some of these tools will be commercialised and some will be made more freely available. Manufacturers of all types will use these tools to reduce the amount of energy, water and material they use to produce each product.We will work with producers of cars, food, furniture, detergents and many other products to make sure our tools are useful to as many manufacturers and sectors as possible.When we know that the tools do help to improve performance we will broadcast their existence to multiple manufacturers through our network and partners; we will measure how useful the tools are and publish that information on-line.During the 5-year initial life of the Centre we will train over 80 people to the highest standard, preparing them to be academics and practitioners with the leadership skills capable of helping industry rise to the challenge of sustainabilit

16/02/12