IfM News February 2013No 182

Focus on: the Support teamThe IfM wouldn’t be as successful if it didn’t have an efficient team of support staff taking care of the most essential functions, from welcoming visitors to keeping the building clean and tidy, to fixing things and making sure there is tea and coffee for everyone. Here are some of the teams:

ReceptionThe Reception team is composed of Sharn Gray, who works full-time, and Louise Rowland, who works part-time in the morning. Reception is open Monday to Friday from 08.30 to 17.30.

Sharn and Louise’s main role is welcoming visitors to the IfM, which includes issuing visitor badges,

making sure they have internet access and contacting the host to collect their visitors. This requires them to be friendly and highly professional. The team can also provide directional signs and welcome notices on the plasma screen. For new joiners, the Reception team will create a pigeonhole and add their name to the telephone list, which is circulated monthly. They also activate the University swipecard to allow access to the building.

Among other things, Sharn and Louise receive and sign for deliveries, distribute the post to pigeonholes and

email staff/students to collect their packages. They also provide passes to park at the allocated parking spaces for West Site staff at the Main site, to be collected beforehand.

The team manages the IfM Bike Scheme - four bikes are available to staff and students for daily use in and around the City Centre, between 09.00 and 17.15.

Sharn and Louise are also involved with updating the alumni database, so that the IfM can keep in touch with past students.

Louise prepares the Events Digest, which is circulated via email on a weekly basis. Please contact her on lr388@cam.ac.uk if you have an event to add.

WorkshopThe Workshop team includes Simon Sennitt, Electronics Workshop Technician, and Chris Jennings, Mechanical Workshop Technician. Their main role is to assist students

and researchers in their projects and creations.

In particular, the team provides assistance to MET IIA students with their ‘Long Projects’ – assisting with their practical exercise and giving them a basic level of knowledge in mechanical and electrical engineering – and their CADCAM module.

The team shares their Mechanical and Electrical skills with MET IIB

students and assists them with their ‘Robot Lab’ project, including fixture design, pneumatics assistance, sensing, robot programming, etc.

The ‘Robot Lab’ project involves the students being set the challenge of creating a start-to-finish process from raw material being automatically put in the CNC machining centre, then several components being

Sharn

Louise

Simon at work

February News

assembled together and tested, and finally packaged, all using the robots, conveyer track, plc programming (for all the various commands) and student-designed end-effectors to go on the robot arms. These are made by the technicians in a two-week window after the students spend a week learning about the equipment in the robot lab. After that, the students assemble everything and debug for a final week, again with the

technician’s help, to eventually, at the last possible minute, make it all work in front of an eager audience. The Workshop team provides essential support to students for their project to be successful.

Researchers can also enjoy the help of the Workshop team in fixture design and manufacture and in creating bespoke electrical devices.

CateringCarole Sweeney is the Catering Manager at the IfM. Her role involves setting up food and drinks in meeting rooms, and clearing the room later; serving coffee to students in the

morning; and keeping the common room tidy and fully equipped with tea, coffee and plenty of clean mugs.

Her role is essential for the day-to-day functioning of the IfM.

Carole also runs the Sandwich Servery where she sells sandwiches, wraps, crisps and cakes from 12.30 to 13.30. The Servery will soon start serving hot food as well, such as jacket potatoes, soups and paninis. Hot food facilities will hopefully be added around the Easter holidays, so that we will be able to enjoy a warm meal at the start of the new term.

Carole doesn’t work set hours and is available for catering assistance in the evening if the need arises. Building maintenanceStuart Hydzik, Facilities Manager, and his team composed of Mick Janes, Dennis Borley and Craig Smith, provide an incredibly important service, making sure that our IfM facilities are maintained in a clean and hygienic condition. This includes

collecting rubbish from people’s bins daily and then placing it in the correct areas in the bin store, to make sure recycling is carried out correctly.

Another key task undertaken by the team is the configuration of Meeting Rooms, Seminar Rooms and Lecture Rooms prior to events. They make sure that all the rooms are clean and ready for meetings, workshops and other events. The team’s work is essential in ensuring rooms are always set up correctly, presentable and ready on time.

An upcoming project for the team is to deep clean the carpets in the open office areas, restoring them to their former glory. This is to be carried out before the Easter break – a good start on the ‘Spring cleaning’ we should all carry out very soon.

Chris at work

Carole

Stuart Mick and Dennis in action

EventsSecond research seminar of the IfM Research Capability Development ProgrammeThe second research seminar of the IfM Research Capability Development Programme was held on 13 February 2013. The seminar,

presented by Julian Peck and Gillian Davis of Cambridge Enterprise, focused on the commercialisation of research results and the key issues that need to be considered for this to occur. The broad range of formats of intellectual property was discussed along with the role they play in bringing research outputs to market. The presentation is available to anyone interested and will be on the

IfM intranet soon. For further details or a copy of the presentation, please contact Ronan Daly rd439@cam.ac.uk. The Inkjet Research Centre sponsored the event.

Gillian and Julian

Craig

Switch Off WeekThe University Environment and Energy Roadshow descended on the IfM earlier this month, challenging the staff and students to switch stuff off when it’s not needed and thereby reduce their energy consumption, carbon emissions and also save money for the University. Centre-piece of the day was the opportunity to try and power some everyday electronic goods, such as an iPod, using nothing but an exercise bike and whatever energy your morning breakfast could provide. The exercise (in a literal sense) demonstrated how

much effort it takes to power even a simple MP3 player, LCD screen and a couple of light bulbs – something we all use almost constantly and on a daily basis – and how switching things off can make life a little easier for those providing (and paying for) the energy. This week last year, the University used around £200,000 worth of electricity so there are good financial reasons for reducing energy consumption. Reductions also contribute to the University’s stated aim of a 34% reduction in energy related emissions by 2020 (compared to 2005). At the end of Switch Off

Week, the IfM’s electricity usage was down by 2% compared to the previous week, saving 273 kWh. The Alan Reece building was specially selected to host the roadshow because of its unique design and status within the University as the first building with a BREEAM - the world’s foremost environmental

assessment method and rating system for buildings - excellent rating. Much of the final impact of a building depends on how it is used and so the team encouraged us all to consider the impact of our activities and do our bit to reduce energy usage. There are lots of opportunities to get involved in improving sustainability performance in the University with the Environmental Office, from research activities like the living lab project, which uses student-led projects to improve the sustainability of the University Estate, to supporting the new edible garden initiative at Murray Edwards. If you’re interested in finding out more you can follow the Environmental Team on twitter @CambridgeSust or contact them directly at Environment@admin.cam.ac.uk

To find out more about switch off week you can visit the website www.admin.cam.ac.uk/carbon/getting_involved/sow.html

Professor Richard Weston’s Buns Talk on modelling manufacturing architecturesThe aim of the Manufacturing Research Forum (aka Buns Talk) is to enhance our inter-Centre communication and research work by inviting external and internal speakers. In the Buns Talk held on 8 February, we were pleased to welcome Professor Richard Weston, Managing Director of Manufacturing Modelling Ltd and consultant professor at Cranfield University, who shared his thoughts on modelling manufacturing architectures. Professor Weston has acted as Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research at Loughborough University, where he also founded and has directed the Manufacturing System Integration (MSI) Research Institute for more than 20 years and the Centre of Excellence in Customised Assembly (CECA). In his talk, ‘Virtual testing

of manufacturing architectures’, Professor Weston described his latest ideas on modelling manufacturing architectures that have emerged both from supervising many PhD students and playing and supporting senior management roles in large and small businesses. He showed how key properties of manufacturing architectures were modelled in support of multiple levels of abstraction simulation modelling. By such means, virtual testing of the reachable behaviours of manufacturing architectures were facilitated so that sponsoring

manufacturing enterprises have already realised significant improvements to the design and operation of their people, IT and machine systems. Prof Weston is interested in future collaboration with like-minded

IfM researchers, especially those involved in system engineering, distributed control system architectures, big/fast IT system architectures and smart infrastructure related areas. Professor Weston also reflected on his life as an engineer during a formal dinner at Churchill College, hosted by Mike Gregory.

This forum was chaired by Tariq Masood. The Manufacturing Research Forum series is run by Yongjiang Shi.

For further information contact Tariq Masood: tm487@cam.ac.uk

Professor Weston during his talk

University Environment Team

First EPSRC CIMIS Members MeetingThe EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability has recently held its first meeting, at the Science Museum in London. The event was attended by Toyota, Unilever, ESKTN, EPSRC and Vitsoe as well as by senior academics and doctoral researchers from the core universities – Cambridge, Cranfield, Loughborough and Imperial. The rationale behind Member Meetings is to provide the latest information on Centre developments and an online webcast was set up to facilitate participation for those unable to make it in person.

Steve Evans and Dai Morgan led the programme, beginning the day with an update on past and present Centre activities. Various matters were brought up and debated amongst members with regard to future centre output and strategy. The group discussed how they could support informed conversations on doctoral research projects within Member Firms. Members were also introduced to the possibility of hosting student projects from the founding universities.

Another item on the agenda was an extensive networking session, which was set up at the request of industrial members to further conversations with academics and researchers. It also provided an opportunity for researchers new to the Centre to get to know other members and introduce themselves. This exchange of ideas was well received and fostered new contacts and the seeds of future collaborative research projects within Member Firms.

To wrap up the day, Steve Evans initiated an exciting tour of the first and only hydrogen fuelled cell vehicle at the Science Museum, built and piloted by Riversimple, one of the Centre’s Member Firms.

PublicationsNew paper for CIMJag Srai and Leila Alinaghian have had a paper published in Global Strategy Journal, ‘Value Chain Reconfiguration in Highly Disaggregated Industrial Systems: Examining the Emergence of Health Care Diagnostics’. Many industries have witnessed the progressive disaggregation of their value chains as firms focus on internal advantages and exploit evolving external capabilities. This study explores disaggregation in in vitro diagnostics, a sector which has a unique combination of multiple technology-intense platforms, distributed information and revenue models within a highly regulated environment. Results suggest disaggregation is driven by fragmented operating models supporting novel capabilities in addition to efficiency-driven capability redistribution.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-5805.2012.01047.x/abstract

A paper published and another one on the way for Inkjet Research Centre‘Simple criterion for jet break up in drop-on-demand inkjet printing’, authored by Steve Hoath, Sungjune Jung and Ian Hutchings, was published on 1 February in Physics of Fluids 25 pof.aip.org/resource/1/phfle6/v25/i2/p021701_s1

‘Drop speeds from drop-on-demand inkjet print-heads’ has also been accepted for publication by The Journal of Imaging Science and

Technology (authors: Steve Hoath, Wen-Kai Hsiao, Sungjune Jung, Graham Martin, Ian Hutchings, Neil Morrison and Oliver Harlen).

The Inkjet Research Centre (IRC) team aims to understand how changes in fluids or jetting arrangements affect inkjet printing. Projects include I4T, a consortium of local companies and university groups working towards innovation.

In particular, Steve Hoath studies the fluid jets from tiny nozzles before the ink reaches the printing target, such as paper, plastic or glass. Very high speed, high resolution imaging techniques are used to study the liquid jets and drops, followed by off-line image analysis.

Analysis techniques may involve simple process modelling (either in-group or from the literature) and also numerical simulations.

One experimental variable Steve uses is the print head drive voltage, to quantify how hard the fluid gets pushed inside the print head. He varies the fluid properties, such as viscosity and surface tension and concentration of additives (polymers, colloids, surfactants, etc.)

Sometimes there are noticeable systematic changes in the empirical behaviour with fluid composition or with print head drive. These effects may be recognised in industry but they have not really been explored nor has their potential for helping future applications been properly understood.

IRC’s recent papers report on (a) how the fluid break-up into unwanted satellites can be predicted for inkjet printing sized jets and (b) how the speeds of the printed drop vary with the drive and other fluid properties. Both topics inform inkjet industry applications.

New Executive Briefing The Cambridge Service Alliance has issued a new Executive Briefing titled ‘Engineering Asset Management: Steve Hoath’s award-winning jetting image

Issues and Challenges’. It summarises the barriers and enablers to efficient asset management over the next five to ten years, as identified by leading

industry practitioners. It goes on to discuss the challenges that must be overcome to make better use of scarce and expensive assets, identifying four key areas for improved asset management practice. Download the paper here: www.cambridgeservicealliance.org

KT Box final report and case studyThe final report from the Knowledge-Transfer Box (KT-Box) programme is now available to download. The programme was developed by six university partners, working on 10 major EPRSC research projects aimed at enhancing the impact of academic research to create and improve complex services. It has resulted in the development of 30 stand-alone tools, which have been applied 77 times in 46 different organisations. A web-based tool to help organisations assess their ability to provide services has also been completed and is now live, and can be accessed via the AIM Practice website www.aimpractice.com/our-products/toolkit?id=28

A report has also recently been published: ‘KT-Box: demonstrating the impact of university research on

complex services’. It describes how university researchers have used KT-Box to benefit the UK economy

and society - from helping the MoD to manage obsolescence across the defence industry to improving operations in the NHS and social housing providers. www.cambridgeservicealliance.org

AchievementsIBM Phd Fellowship Award Congratulations to Claire Weiller, a PhD student at the Cambridge Service Alliance, who has received an IBM PhD Fellowship Award for 2013-2014 for her research on

innovative business models in the electric vehicle sector. Her thesis explores how ICT enhances the

value proposition of electric vehicles for drivers and creates strategic opportunities within an intelligent energy infrastructure. The award will strengthen collaborative research on grid integration of EVs between the University and across electricity, transport, and ICT industries.

PhD awarded to Taija Turunen - Organizing Service Operations in ManufacturingAlliance researcher, Taija Turnen, has recently defended her PhD dissertation at Aalto University. Her dissertation explored the industrial transformation towards services and solutions. Taija’s research clarified the journey from product-centric business to total solutions in a

manufacturing context, taking into account transformative processes, as well as structural requirements for this change

to take place.

Tim wins ExxonMobil Excellence in Teaching AwardTim Minshall has won an ExxonMobil Excellence in Teaching Award. These awards are for Centres of Excellence in Engineering Teaching in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and are given to people who have ‘distinguished themselves within their peer group by showing a strong and continuing commitment to teaching, professional activities, promoting engineering as a rewarding and creative career, establishing industrial-academic links and other activities which ultimately ensure the output of top-quality graduate engineers.’ Details of the scheme are at: www.raeng.org.uk/research/univ/exxonmobil

Tim is planning to use the £5k award to help develop resources to support the IfM and Department of Engineering’s outreach activities with schools. In particular, he would like to: develop a community of practice to support engineering PhD students develop their teaching skills; supplement outreach activities by supporting students in Cambridge and elsewhere who want to share the excitement of the more innovative and creative aspects of engineering with schools; produce a collection of short videos and animations (such as those from ASAPScience), developed in collaboration with undergraduate students and industrial partners, to highlight the diverse activities of engineers. Tim is seeking additional funding to be able to develop these projects.

Education Research Group to attempt charity run for Cancer Research UKJudith Shawcross, Tom Ridgman and Tim Minshall will be attempting to complete the Cambridge Half Marathon on March 10th to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. Given the combined number of injuries that all three runners have developed during training (or by falling off bicycles due to ice ...), completing the 13-mile course will be no minor feat.

To help inspire and motivate them, any donations to Cancer Research UK would be very gratefully received. These donations can be made in person to Judith, Tom or Tim, online (via www.justgiving.com/MIERG), or using the Cancer Research UK collection pot at reception.

Doctoral student reaches new heightsSamuel Short was recently part of an expedition to climb Aconcagua in Argentina. At 6,962m, Aconcagua is the highest peak in the American continent and in the whole of the southern hemisphere. As such, it is one of the ‘seven summits’, the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Samuel has now successfully climbed four of the seven. This expedition consisted of five climbers of English and Polish origin (four men and one woman). Of the group, only two of them summited (including him). It was a tough climb due to the altitude, and the temperature dropped to about -19C at one point. Luckily there were no injuries or illnesses on the trip other than sunburn, but the brave participants did lose one of their expensive expedition tents in a bad storm!

PhD student helps Government body research the future of manufacturing

CTM PhD student, Elliott More, has been seconded to the Government Office for Science at the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) department working on the Future of Manufacturing project.

The project aims to examine the role of manufacturing in the UK and global economies over the next 40 years. The project has links to the IfM with Mike Gregory, Steve Evans and Eoin O’Suliivan contributing.

The project will deliver recommendations to the UK Government in August 2013, providing a timely look at the long-term picture for the manufacturing sector out to 2050, investigating global trends and drivers of change. This work aligns closely with Elliott’s research into the influence of macro sustainability trends on corporate strategy in the manufacturing sector.

Notice boardJoin i-Teams for the Easter Term – apply by 11th MarchInterested in how new inventions are commercialised? Looking for some hands-on business skills and experience? By joining an i-Team, you will work for a term with students from across the University and a dedicated industry mentor. You will investigate the commercial potential of a real Cambridge invention, gaining hands-on skills and experience.

Next term’s projects:

1. Using magnetic fields to heat up localised parts of the body;

2. Creating the hydrogen economy using small-scale hydrogen generation;

3. Inclusive user modelling – a new system for user interface designers.

The programme lasts for a term and includes regular group sessions, team meetings and individual work. i-Teams present their final recommendations at the end of term to a business and academic audience, and at the annual CUTEC

Technology Venture Conference. There is a first session on March 18th and then projects run from April 22nd until the final presentations on June 20th.

To apply, send your CV and a covering letter explaining which projects you want to do and why to Amy Mokady (am678@cam.ac.uk) no later than MONDAY March 11th. Applications are welcomed from postgraduates, postdocs and 4th year undergraduates and all members of CUTEC and CUE.

www.iteamsonline.org

OutreachNew Science Centre in Cambridge

For those interested in science/technology outreach activities, the new Cambridge Science Centre, sited at 18 Jesus Lane, opens on 8 February. The Cambridge Science Centre is an educational charity which hosts hands-on exhibitions, workshops, shows and talks to get the public excited about science and technology. Now the home of science has a home for science!

www.cambridgesciencecentre.org/

General newsPearson joins the Cambridge Service AllianceLearning company Pearson has joined the Cambridge Service Alliance with the aim of developing new models that will help universities empower their educators to improve student success. The company stated: “We believe working with the members of the Cambridge Service Alliance will help us to accelerate the transition to services at scale and across our organization. As we make this shift, Pearson will need to directly address challenges around organizational culture, organizational structure and capabilities, and new models for market and customer development.”

Bits & bobsBus real-time infoWaiting for the bus in the cold/rain/snow is never fun. But of course, there’s a website and an app that can help you. For those who don’t have it already, My Bus Trip is an app which provides passengers with direct access to real-time bus information including location, route map and nearby stops and services (location detected by GPS or selected on the map with a Drop Pin).Go to this website for links to download the app on your IPhone or Android phone: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/around/buses/realtime.htm

Bus times can also be viewed online from any computer at this link: www.cambridgeshirebus.info/

Jo Griffiths shares the secrets of running a successful eventEvents Manager Jo Griffiths, drew upon her two decades of events experience to share her tips and insights on how to run a good event with an audience of about 25 people from across the School of Technology. This was part

of a continuing series of informal talks sharing pragmatic good practice in getting research understood and adopted as soon and as widely as possible. Jo described the key considerations in designing the event – choosing a venue that supports the audience’s expectations, providing the all-important service element as well as the right facilities. She showed some outline

planning templates and described key decision points, described how to manage publicity and invitations, and emphasised the importance of quality and consistency to support the University’s brand image (and that of the organiser). Jo also described some of the ways in which you might make your event that little bit different to give it a freshness and liveliness for participants. Jo and the ECS team can provide advice and guidance, or they can manage the whole event for you, covering design, marketing and publicity, invitations and management on the day. If interested, get in touch with Jo: jg393@cam.ac.uk

ECS Director presents service offerings to Engineering DepartmentPeter Templeton, who heads up ECS, presented to the first workshop of 2013 within the Engineering Department’s theme on ‘Inspiring Research through Industrial Collaboration‘. ECS is now broadening its remit across the whole Engineering Department and Peter described some of the ways in which ECS may be able to help.

ECS news

New people & rolesDr Amer Dheedan recently joined DIAL as a research associate. His

research interests include software engineering, safety assessment, computer-based online monitoring

of safety critical systems, artificial intelligence and distributed and collaborative reasoning. He is currently working on a research project related to fault diagnosis and maintenance of the modern locomotive systems.

Dr Sara Holmes joined the Centre for Industrial Sustainability as a Research Associate in January.

Sara is working on a short-term project examining the concept of Open Science and its application to, and implications for, academic research practices. Sara is also a Visiting Fellow of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield School of Management, where she completed her doctorate in 2010 into how firms innovate

through working with charities. In addition to her current project, Sara’s other research interests include how

firms work with the third sector and the impact of a firm’s corporate responsibility activity on business operations.

Imoh Ilevbare recently joined ECS as a Business Tool Developer for the ongoing PrISMS – Practical & Innovative Solutions for

Manufacturing Sustainability – project. In this new role, he will be helping in the development of business tools to support the

growth of SMEs and ESVs. Initially, he will be working part-time in ECS while he finishes his PhD in CTM, where he is investigating the treatment of uncertainty and risk in roadmapping. Imoh’s interests revolve around strategic technology and innovation management and the creative dimension of innovation.

IfM in the newsThis month’s top press coverage:

Servival: The servitisation of manufacturing The Manufacturer www.themanufacturer.com/articles/servival-the-servitisation-of-manufacturing/

Open Innovation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Enterra Insights enterpriseresilienceblog.typepad.com/enterprise_resilience_man/2013/02/open-innovation-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly.html

Food giants seek Cambridge Innovation Business Weekly www.businessweekly.co.uk/food-and-beverage/15058-food-giants-seek-cambridge-innovation

Promoting Business Excellence at Siemens Mechanical Drives Process and Control Today www.w.w.w.pandct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID=35817

BSI publishes PM-related standards Metalpowder.net www.metal-powder.net/view/30837/bsi-publishes-pm-related-standards/

Cambridge at heart of £45m manufacturing push Business Weekly www.businessweekly.co.uk/manufacturing/15104-cambridge-at-heart-of-p45m-manufacturing-push

Startup Scene: “Can Learn Much from Britain” Futurezone.at futurezone.at/english/13671-startup-scene-can-learn-much-from-britain.php?rss=fuzo

Business schools should embrace big data (by Andy Neely)Financial Times (FT)www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6b69c074-6ef3-11e2-9ded-00144feab49a.html#axzz2KaElUzDc