Departmental news

The 2nd annual WMG Doctoral Research and Innovation Conference, entitled ‘Innovation through Collaboration’, is an excellent opportunity to showcase research from both academia and industry across themes in design, materials, manufacturing, systems and business transformation.

Organised by doctoral students, the conference will be held in the International Digital Laboratory on 30th June - 1st July, with an evening social event on the 30th.

Papers and poster presentations will take place across a wide variety of topics and awards will be presented in each theme.

Abstracts should be submitted online by 31st March.

Professor Jan Godsell, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at WMG, has contributed to a term paper produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG). The paper has been launched today at an APMG event, led by the APMG’s Co-Chair, Chris White MP.

The APMG’s latest term paper, ‘New World Supply Chains: Britain at the Heart of Global Manufacturing’, seeks to address certain issues experienced by manufacturers and investigates the UK’s efforts to reshore manufacturing. The APMG has identified growing evidence that production is increasingly being ‘reshored’ back to the UK and, as the government attempts to encourage this positive trend through ‘Reshore UK’ and other mechanisms, the importance of well-functioning supply chains is becoming ever-more apparent.

Professor Godsell attended the paper’s launch today to contribution to the discussion on the topic. Her contribution to the term paper focused on ‘Putting the UK back at the heart of the Global Supply Chain Network’.

WMG centre HVM Catapult is pleased to announce that a consortium led by London-based fuel cell company, Arcola Energy, has been awarded £1m R&D funding from the recent TSB call on Fuel Cell Manufacturing. Arcola Energy, the lead partner on the bid, is working within the UK to build up a strong fuel cell supply chain and manufacturing base. They are focussed on portable and small scale automotive applications. Other partners in the consortium are Imperial College and Lohmann Tapes.

Professor Robert Harrison’s team at WMG will focus on the application of manufacturing process modelling to fuel cells. The work will leverage WMG’s extensive in-house battery manufacturing and automation systems knowledge. It is anticipated that current fuel cell lifetime limitations and high unit costs that result from immature manufacturing processes will be addressed through this research by the application of automated processes and improved quality control.

The project will also work on developing a UK supply chain to support UK manufacturing of fuel cells. Professor Jan Godsell’s team at WMG will be involved in this activity.

Interest in fuel cell technology is increasing steadily from sectors such as automotive and stationary power. It is expected that growing demand will drive up production volumes by two orders of magnitude over the next five years, further reducing costs.

A recent report by the House of Lords European Union Committee has called for the development of a policy framework, within the EU, aimed at tackling the issue of food waste. One of the key recommendations picked up in the media, was the issue of incentives and promotions such as ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ (known as BOGOF) deals. The report suggested that actions such as BOGOFs can pass food waste on to the consumer and encourage them to buy in larger volumes than required, and has proposed that such tactics should end.

This recommendation has been supported by Professor Jan Godsell, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at WMG, who has told the Birmingham Post that BOGOF offers ultimately don’t benefit customers, even though they appear to be good value at the time.

WMG has continued to progress its ambitious expansion plans announcing the appointment of a number of new major academic posts in several key areas.

WMG continues to attract world class Professors with recent appointments in the areas of steels processing, cyber security, advanced propulsion and structural composites. This builds on the nine appointments made last year in the areas of E-Health Innovation, Nanocomposites, Supply Chain and Operations, Automation Systems, Vehicle Electrification and Energy Storage, Low Carbon Materials, Energy for Low Carbon Vehicles and Digital Manufacturing.

WMG has launched a new initiative, the Business Innovation Group (BIG), which will act as a channel to focus WMG’s business engagement activity and support organisations who are looking to transform for success in the digital economy.

The Business Innovation Group will engage and work with a wide range of business partners, from start-ups and SMEs, through WMG’s SME Team within IIPSI, to large organisations and policymakers. BIG is led by WMG's Business Transformation research group, but will draw on its access to cutting-edge research and expertise across all of WMG’s research areas to support organisational and economic transformation. Specifically, BIG will help organisations to adapt their products, services and operations to respond to the connected digital economy as well as assist organisations to evolve and implement new business and economic models as technology continues to transform society.

WMG at the University of Warwick has appointed two new Professors who will be taking up key roles and leading research in the fields of E-Health Innovation and Operations and Supply Chain Strategy.

Professor Jan Godsell, a specialist in supply chain management, will be Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy within WMG from the 1^st October and Professor Theo Arvanitis will be joining WMG in November to lead E-Health Innovation as part of the Institute of Digital Healthcare.