MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE

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1 MANUFACTURING ISSUE 3.0 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE Economic growth made in Britain

Manufacturing 948 Collaborations with 624 unique organisations contributing a further 136 million 17 million Investment by overseas companies into Manufacturing the Future s portfolio 16x Return on

2 MANUFACTURING THE FUTURE 1.5 billion EPSRC portfolio relevant to manufacturing 80 million EPSRC s annual commitment to Manufacturing the Future theme 230 research grants supported including 16 Centres for Innovative Manufacturing 948 Collaborations with 624 unique organisations contributing a further 136 million 17 million Investment by overseas companies into Manufacturing the Future s portfolio 16x Return on investment. Gross impact of EPSRC investment in Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres 5 Manufacturing is vital to the country s economic stability and our potential to achieve growth. Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and skills EPSRC s Manufacturing the Future initiative invests in the cutting-edge research and highly-skilled people that support the current manufacturing base in the UK and will provide opportunities for future development and growth. EPSRC has committed 80 million every year to manufacturing research in the UK. The primary aim for this delivery is through the Manufacturing the Future theme with a current portfolio of 230 projects representing an investment of 387 million. In addition there are 624 companies working with our researchers, adding a further 136 million. The training of research engineers is important and EPSRC is committed to support 1,000 in manufacturing research, many of whom are working on industry-related projects. High Value Manufacturing is Vital to many industrial sectors, including aerospace, automotive & transport, pharmaceuticals, electronics, bulk materials, food & drink, fastmoving consumer goods, and construction. More than production. High Value Manufacturing includes R&D, design, prototyping, production, distribution, service and support provision, and endof-life repair, recycle or reuse. Value can be extracted from each stage of the process. 1 Differentiated. High or low volumes, long or short life cycle, mass market or customised production. Highly skilled. It involves the interplay of novel technologies, in-line analysis, dual working of people and automated systems, and precision engineered products and systems. UK Manufacturing Manufacturing is a key component of the Government s Plan for Growth, 2 as outlined in the Growth Review Framework for Advanced Manufacturing. 3 Manufacturing comprises 10 per cent of the UK economy. The UK is the world s ninth-largest manufacturer, with manufacturing providing 46 per cent of the UK s exports. 4 The Government s recently announced Industrial Strategy has a strong focus on the advanced manufacturing sector, as well as an emphasis on developing key skills, supporting innovative technologies, improving access to finance and reassessing procurement processes. Drivers for Global Manufacturing The UK is not alone in placing increased emphasis on the importance of advanced manufacturing. Our international peers, including the US, Germany, Japan and China, are revitalising and focusing their research base on areas that enhance economic competitiveness such as flexible, intelligent production systems, materials and energy, security and sustainable manufacturing. EPSRC in the UK Innovation System EPSRC works in close partnership with other agencies within the UK innovation system to encourage innovative university-based research that is aligned to our strongest manufacturing industries including pharmaceuticals, automotive, electronics design and aerospace & defence. 1. The Ten Myths of Manufacturing; Advanced Institute of Management Research; Plan for Growth, UK Treasury, Growth Review Framework for Advanced Manufacturing; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; UK Manufacturing 2012, the facts; EEF Economic Impact of the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres: Final Report; DTZ, 2011.

3 Working closely with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and alongside the growing capability of the Catapults and the Knowledge Transfer Networks, in areas underpinning: Industrial biotechnology, incorporating synthetic biology Advanced informatics for manufacturing Robotics and autonomous manufacturing Graphene and nano-scale engineering Development and deployment of advanced materials Additive layer manufacturing Science into Production Manufacturing the Future is prominent in engaging with scientific, academic and industrial research, transforming science into products and processes. There are four research strategies within Manufacturing the Future, drawing upon our disciplinary strengths in Physical Sciences, Computing, Mathematics and Engineering: Manufacturing Informatics - Novel ICT and computer science applied to manufacturing processes and systems Frontier Manufacturing - Translation of new scientific insights into potential future manufacturing processes and systems Innovative Production Processes - Transformative processes and technologies for advanced and emergent manufacturing industries Sustainable Industrial Systems - Technologies and operations to reduce material, water and energy resources in manufacturing. Manufacturing Leaders Our strategy to develop the next generation of research leaders in manufacturing research is multi-faceted: Early Career Fellowships - We are looking to identify and fund the future leaders in manufacturing research, focusing our support on those who have the most potential to deliver the highest quality research which meets UK and global priorities. EPSRC Fellows in Manufacturing - We aim to identify and fund those who have the potential to be future leaders in their field within manufacturing research, supporting either academics who have recently moved from industry, or people in industry involved in innovation, looking to move into academia. EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing bring together internationallyrecognised academic groups from around the UK, focused around key future capabilities for UK manufacturing. The 89 million portfolio of EPSRC Centres is supported by over 200 separate companies, including Airbus, Renishaw, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, SPI Lasers, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, GE Healthcare, Carl Zeiss, Delcam, Unilever and Ford. The EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing carry out cutting-edge research in: Additive Manufacturing Composites Emergent Macromolecular Therapies Industrial Sustainability Large Area Electronics Liquid Metal Engineering Photonics Through-life Engineering Services Advanced Metrology Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation Food Intelligent Automation Laser-based Production Processes Medical Devices Regenerative Medicine Ultra Precision EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing address long-term manufacturing research challenges, and advance emerging areas in manufacturing. EPSRC Centres will link with relevant Technology & Innovation Centres, to enable business access to state-of-the-art facilities, expertise and skills. Innovation and Knowledge Centres EPSRC and TSB Innovation and Knowledge Centres aim to support the development of emerging technologies through international quality research and access to companion technologies needed to commercialise research. Current centres are: Synthetic biology (SynbiCITE) Fuctional industrial coatings (SPECIFIC) and Smart infrastructure (SIC). Early Careers Forum (ECF) in Manufacturing Research - We have established a constituted forum of early career researchers with a strong focus on advancing the UK s international reputation in manufacturing research, developing interdisciplinary research agendas, and participating in research policy development. Members of the Early Career Forum have the opportunity to interact with other members, forming new professional networks that may generate future innovative research programmes. Forum members will also have targeted opportunities to participate in EPSRC strategic advisory activities, interact with the EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing, and will receive insight into UK funding body policy and practice. Centres for Doctoral Training - In 2010, we funded five new Engineering Doctorate (EngD) Centres, to support research students in manufacturing technologies in collaboration with industrial partners. In 2013, we are looking to fund a number of new Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) as part of the 2013 EPSRC CDT Call. Future Manufacturing We aim to continue to develop a challenge-led research agenda which builds links between the best researchers and manufacturing industries, focusing on: Material substitution Manufacturing with light Redistributed manufacturing Flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing Future manufacturing informatics Healthcare manufacturing Sustainable chemical feedstocks

4 CASE STUDY 01 PROFESSOR PETER FOOTE MANUFACTURING FELLOW, CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY Professor Foote says: I moved from BAE Systems to Cranfield University in 2012 as one of the first EPSRC Manufacturing Fellows. While in industry, for many years I was at the interface of commercial and academic research. The fellowship gave me the opportunity to help narrow the gap between the sometimes abstract requirements of big industry and tangible academic research. My topic is structural health monitoring technologies and their validation, especially in safety-critical applications such as aerospace and defence. I realise from industry that the development of technology is just one of many challenges on the path to commercial exploitation. Top level constraints on implementation such as regulation can create needs that propagate right down to the fundamental research often resulting in the frustrating invention looking for an application syndrome. With a clearer sight of this exploitation pipeline everyone benefits. Applied researchers can avoid blind alleys, and the pickings from curiosity-led research, when better informed, become much richer. CASE STUDY 02 DR ROBERT THOMAS EPSRC EARLY CAREER FELLOWSHIP AND FORUM, LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY Dr Thomas says: Within five years there will be substantial advances in treatments using cell-based therapies. My research is developing tools to manufacture large quantities of medically valuable cells from umbilical cord blood. Its aim is to provide manufacturing tools for clinicians to develop new treatments for serious diseases, and produce stocks of manufactured blood or platelets for transfusions while supporting an important new economic activity in the UK. The work has evolved from projects in the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine; a national collaboration led from Loughborough University, and will continue to have many synergies with Centre projects. Umbilical cord blood contains immature cells with powerful properties to repair the human body and is increasingly used instead of bone marrow to treat childhood blood cancers such as leukaemia as there are fewer rejection problems. It is effective, or being trialled, to treat other serious conditions such as organ failure, childhood brain damage or diabetes. Cord blood cells could also potentially generate large numbers of high value red blood cells or platelets for transfusion, or immune system cells for immunotherapies. The project takes an engineering-based approach in a controlled environment to test how physical conditions and chemical additives affect cell growth and determine how tolerant the manufacturing process is for the repeated production of safe and effective cells.

5 CASE STUDY 03 THE NEXT GENERATION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is the direct fabrication of products and components employing technologies that deposit material layer-by-layer. AM enables the manufacture of geometrically complex, low to medium volume components in a range of materials, with little, if any, fixed tooling or manual intervention. This innovative approach to manufacturing is being embraced globally across industry sectors from high-value aerospace manufacture to the creative and digital industries. The 6 million EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing, led from the University of Nottingham in partnership with Loughborough University, is a nucleus of research activity focused on nextgeneration multifunctional AM technology. It focuses on moving basic research away from established single material passive Additive Manufacturing processes towards next generation, multi-material active processes and design systems. The aim is to combine multiple materials and functions for complex electrical, optical and structural properties in a single manufacturing process. By combining dissimilar materials, multifunctional AM will enable production of truly novel, high-value, multifunctional products and entire working systems. This will lead to 3D structures not only optimised to withstand mechanical stresses but will also provide maximum functional utility to the user in a wide range of applications. CASE STUDY 04 BRINGING METROLOGY TO HIGH-VALUE MANUFACTURING The specifications for modern high-value manufactured items are becoming ever more stringent for example, thin film coatings for flexible photovoltaics. Such items can only be made if they can be measured accurately. In short, measurement must become more assimilated into the process, enabling hightech products to be brought to market through cost reduction and in some cases making manufacture feasible in the first place. In recognition of the demand for improved industrial measurement, the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology at the University of Huddersfield was set up in 2011 to develop tools and technologies using metrology loosely defined as the science of measurement and application. Professor Xiangqian (Jane) Jiang, Director of the Centre reflects on the importance of advanced metrology to solve future manufacturing challenges: It is only through metrology that future manufacturing challenges can be quantified and controlled for example, by making something as efficiently as possible, with the least amount of waste, and to exacting tolerances. The EPSRC Centre has developed new measurement principles that help streamline production processes, enhance quality control and shorten the time and processes required to ensure that components meet specification. Crucially, these optical measurement technologies can be directly applied onto production line platforms. A new prototype instrument will soon be implemented at the Catapult centre for Process Innovation, the National Physical Laboratory and the surface structuring laboratory at St Asaph in North Wales.

6 For other High Level Position Statements please visit: EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding high-quality basic, strategic and applied research and related postgraduate training in engineering and the physical sciences, to help the nation exploit the next generation of technological change. It invests more than 800 million a year in a broad range of subjects from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering.

A Science & Innovation Audit for the West Midlands

A Science & Innovation Audit for the West Midlands June 2017 Summary Report Key Findings and Moving Forward 1. Key findings and moving forward 1.1 As the single largest functional economic area in England