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mAnUfACTUring ThE fUTUrEEconomic growth made in Britain

mAnUfACTUring ThE fUTUrE

“And now think of where we need to go; an economy based not on consumption and debt but on savings and investment; not on government spending but on entrepreneurial dynamism; not on one industry in one corner of the country, but on all our businesses in all our regions, with a new emphasis on manufacturing, exports and trade.” — David Cameron, Prime Minister

EPSRC invests in the cutting-edge manufacturing research, and the highly-skilled people that will ensure that growth.

We have a portfolio of 350 live projects an investment of £380 million. 1100 companies work with our researchers adding a further £162 million. We support over 2000 doctoral students many of whom work on industrially related projects.

Modern Manufacturing

Manufacturing is:

• Vital to many industrial sectors, including aerospace, automotive & transport, pharmaceuticals, electronics, bulk materials, food & drink, fast-moving consumer goods, and construction.

• Morethanproduction. It is R&D, design, prototyping, production, distribution, service and support provision, and end-of-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 customized production.

• Highly-skilled. It involves the inter-play 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 Manufacturing.3 Manufacturing comprises 13% of the UK economy. The UK is the world’s seventh-largest manufacturer, with manufacturing providing just over 50% of the UK’s exports.4

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.

The drivers include:

• Technological Change – high-value manufacturing processes are increasingly moving towards flexible, intelligent production systems that use advanced materials, incorporate modern ICT, require skilled technical knowledge, and co-located human and automated systems.

• Material and Energy Security – availability or scarcity of key material or energy resources is a competitive issue, driving investigation into alternative production routes for new and established products and processes.

£1.2 billion EPSRC portfolio relevant to manufacturing research

£381 million investment by EPSRC’s Manufacturing the Future theme

344 research grants supported

1,104 collaborating organisations contributing a further £162 million

£3.4 billion overseas funding for R&D in the UK in 2009

2000 doctoral students

£400 million investment planned to 2015

INNovATIvE MANUFACTURING RESEARCh CENTRES

Evolving from the EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing Initiative of the 1990s, the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) portfolio comprised eighteen separate centres, largely based at single universities, each addressing a series of manufacturing challenges. A total EPSRC investment of £192 million was supplemented by £207 million of industrial support from over 700 collaborators. The IMRC programme has created over 1,300 doctoral level manufacturing engineers to support UK industry. An investigation of the economic impact of 10% of the IMRC programme (32 separate case studies) showed that this IMRC work had generated;

• £70 million of additional sales for industrial partners

• Cost-savings of at least £17 million to the public sector, and £10 million to the private sector

• 20 new technologies and products brought to market

PRODUCTION & FABRICATION

SIMULATION& DESIGN

SYSTEMS& ENABLERS

“EPSRCbuildsanintellectualpowerhouseformanufacturingwealth” —The Manufacturer, May 2011

• Sustainable Industrial Systems – an integrated approach towards sustainable manufacturing is emerging that incorporates policy and behaviours alongside technological developments.

• Emerging Economies – are rapidly expanding their high-value industries, and large global companies based in such countries are acquiring strategically important companies from western nations.

• Servitisation – organisations in developed economies now create significant proportions of their revenues from service-support of their manufactured products.

EPSRC in the UK Innovation System

EPSRC works in partnership with agencies within the UK innovation system; the Technology Strategy Board, the growing network of Technology & Innovation Centres, and the Knowledge Transfer Networks.

EPSRC-sponsored researchers work with, our strongest manufacturing industries, providing the advanced materials, technologies, processes and skills for sectors such as pharmaceuticals, automotive, aerospace and electronics design. Co-working with business is at the heart of EPSRC’s manufacturing strategy – the InnovativeManufacturingResearch

Centre portfolio (2001-2013) attracted £207 million of industrial contributions alongside £192 million of EPSRC investment.

EPSRC is unique in the UK – we sponsor a national portfolio of university-based research that is innovative, and pre-competitive, including research underpinning:

• Industrial biotechnology, incorporating synthetic biology

• Advanced informatics for manufacturing

• Nano- and micro-scale engineering

• Self-assembly and hierarchical materials

• Regenerative medicine and therapeutics

Manufacturing Leaders for the Future

The technological sophistication of UK manufacturing requires the development of a new generation of leaders in academia and industry that can balance business requirements, technical knowledge, creativity, and the importance of cross-disciplinary working.

EPSRC provides these leaders through our investments in doctoral level education creating a network of thousands of high-trained researchers in industry and academia that benefit the UK economy.

1. The Ten Myths of Manufacturing; Advanced

Institute of Management Research; 2010.2. Plan for Growth, UK Treasury, 2010.3. Growth Review Framework for Advanced

Manufacturing; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; 2010.

4. The Sustainability of the UK Economy in an Era of Declining Productive Capability, 5th Report; The ERA Foundation; 2011.

Priorities for the future

• A challenge-led research agenda – EPSRC will challenge the academic community to consider potential impact on the industries of the future, as well as the industries of today.

• A business-inspired portfolio – we will co-create, co-deliver and co-sponor manufacturing research with business.

• Strategic capability of the UK – we will link the very best researchers with manufacturing industries, in aligning excellent science and engineering with future market potential.

Our five IndustrialDoctorateCentresin manufacturing engineering – a £7 million EPSRC investment supported by major manufacturing businesses such as Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Steel, SABMiller, TIMET, Rolls-Royce and Airbus – are the leading edge of a much wider network of business-inspired training across the UK.

The provision of EPSRC ManufacturingFellowshipsprovides a mechanism for linking the academic research base with UK manufacturing industry. The scheme places industrial researchers into the best UK universities, helping to create new, industrially-relevant programmes of research, and ensuring the networking of business and academia is strengthened for future UK prosperity.

EPSRC CENTRES FoR INNovATIvE MANUFACTURING

EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing bring together internationally-recognised academic groups from around the UK, focussed around key future capabilities for UK manufacturing. The £55 million portfolio of EPSRC Centres is supported by 165 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

• Advanced metrology

• Composites

• Continuous manufacturing and crystallisation

• Emergent macromolecular therapies

• Industrial sustainability

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 current state-of-the-art technologies.

• Intelligent automation

• Liquid metal engineering

• Photonics

• Regenerative medicine

• Through-life engineering services

• Ultra precision

“Aswepickoureconomyoutoftheashesofthefinancialcrisis,weneedtoaskourselves:whatdowewanttheneweconomytolooklike?Howcanwemakeitbetter,greener,stronger?Whatareourtruestrengths?Manufacturingisabsolutelycentraltotheanswer” —Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister

CASE STUDY 01 mAnUfACTUring novEL rEmEDiES Regenerative Medicine is the process of creating living tissues to replace tissue or organ function lost through damage or congenital defects. These therapies have the potential to transform medicine, but only if appropriate manufacturing techniques can be developed. In recognition EPSRC have invested in collaborative research involving Loughborough University, and the Universities of Nottingham and Keele as well as large companies, SMEs and key users, including the NHS.

These investments which include the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing and Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine, provide a unique national capability at the life science/engineering interface. Manufacturing research enables the translation of products from the science base, assists in the generation of an industry and the infrastructure, people and tools that it needs. Ways of working in the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing include core research in themed areas, industry and science “pilot projects”, leveraged projects and work directly with industry. Key research themes being addressed by the EPSRC Centre are the manufacturing process and its automation, product quality and characterisation, and the delivery and manufacture of three-dimensional living structures.

CASE STUDY 02BEnEfiTS in ThE pipELinEBuilding the huge pipelines that are needed to transport oil and gas from production facilities to distribution centres is complex and costly process, especially when construction has to be done under arctic conditions. A particular problem is joining together the various sections of pipeline with strength and integrity.

In a £1.5 million collaborative project with BP, Cranfield University has developed a revolutionary hybrid welding process combining “traditional” arc welding with laser technology with the potential to transform many of fabrication processes undertaken by manufacturing companies. The new process has cut the process time for joining large gauge pipes used in the oil and gas transportation by 75% making huge savings of around £1 billion per annum.

The new process is effective on large-scale pipelines. The research is continuing with the aim of applying the process to smaller pipes and also to allow the joining of different types of steel.

Universities, HR Wallingford, the British Geological Survey, and TRL Limited as well as stakeholder groups including Network Rail, Highways Agency, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and WSP.

CASE STUDY 03 LighTwEighT mATEriALS for ThE fUTUrEInternationally, composite materials are recognised as a key enabling technology for the development of a low energy economy. They can be used both directly, through light-weighting in a range of transport applications, and indirectly through their use in renewable energy machinery, for example in wind and tidal power generation.

EPSRC sponsors a broad suite of activities that support composites engineering. Our £4.8 million investment in the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites will help to develop the next generation of composites manufacturing processes for UK industry. The EPSRC Centre is a consortium from the universities of Nottingham, Cranfield, Bristol and Manchester, and is strongly supported by the automotive, energy and aerospace sectors. Our portfolio also includes highly innovative approaches towards overcoming fundamental deficiencies in traditional composite materials, such the £6.4 million programme led by University of Bristol and Imperial College London, focused upon high-performance ductile composites.

EPSRC also trains the next generation of engineers with experience in composites engineering and manufacture via the £7.1 million University of Bristol Centre for Doctoral Training in Composites. Both the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing and Centre for Doctoral Training are closely aligned to the High Vale Manufacturing Technology & Innovation Centre, via the National Composites Centre.

CASE STUDY 04 Shining A LighT on nEw TEChnoLogiESIn its first year of operation, the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Photonics at the University of Southampton won a six-figure research contract from an SME, Fianium, to develop advanced optical fibres for its business. The UK company, competing in the high-tech industrial laser sector, has previously had to source abroad for many of its fibres. A fibre delivered six months into the project was deemed so successful that it was incorporated into one of the company’s products. The EPSRC Centre is continuing to work with the company developing additional fibres, to return the manufacturing of these key components back to the UK.

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 £850 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering.

www.epsrc.ac.uk

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PIONEERING A LOW CARBON FUTUREThe Research Councils UK Energy Programme

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PIONEERING A DIGITAL FUTUREResearch Councils UK Digital Economy Programme

Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council

MANUFACTURING THE FUTURECreating new industries and new jobs

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caSe Study 04CeMeNt set to reDuCe CArBoN eMissioNsEPSRC funding has played a key role in developing both a new, carbon-negative cement and its manufacturing process. The development is spearheaded by Novacem, a spin-out company from Imperial College London and is also supported by the Technology Strategy Board and the London Development Agency.

Global production of cement is set to double to over fi ve billion tonnes/year by 2050. But the type most commonly used today has a heavy environmental price accounting for fi ve percent of manmade CO2 emissions. Novacem’s cement is carbon-negative absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere during manufacture. This is because it isn’t limestone based, requires low process temperatures and contains carbon-negative additives. The company has received additional venture funding through the Royal Society Enterprise Fund and is seeking further commercial sponsorship to take the process through to manufacture.

caSe Study 03tuNABLe stArCh for GreeN CheMistrY10 years ago PhD research in the University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence led to the discovery of new high surface area forms of starch. These are useful in applications from chromatography to catalysis. These new materials have remarkable properties which can be ‘tuned’ from starch-like to carbon-like. Named “Starbons” (registered trade name), they are the subject of several patent applications and are sold commercially for laboratory use worldwide. Continued EPSRC support is allowing their use in a number of processes including effl uent treatment in the pharmaceutical industry as well as studies on process optimisation, scale-up trials and further applications with the chemical industry. Brian Trenbirth, Technical Director of Contract Chemicals a user of the Starbon technology says that they “will be delighted to transfer Starbon technology from laboratory through pilot to full scale production. This innovative technology will enable us to diversify our business portfolio thus helping the company to expand”.

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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.www.epsrc.ac.uk

TECHNOLOGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

engineering and Physical Sciencesresearch council

August 2010

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PIONEERING SKILLS TO BUILD BRITAIN’S FUTURE

Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council

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Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council

INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING THE FUTURE

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RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR A MORE SECURE BRITAIN

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Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council

DELIVERING WITH BUSINESS Harnessing world-class knowledge for growth and prosperity