Sustainable Manufacturing in China

Yesterday Spiegel.de wrote about the 2009 State of the future report which will be made available to the public soon. The report is published by the Millennium Project. People involved in this project try to name and describe the biggest challenges that humanity is facing in the upcoming decades.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations states that the report gives “Invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its Member States, and civil society.“

The CNN Video above introduces a racing car that is (supposed to be) green… a question could be ‘how can something that is fundamentally needless (such as a racing car) whilst using resources be green?’

I think this is not the point here, the video shows the great efforts that Warwick University puts into researching greener materials and their application (to make it clear, I think the team at Warwick is doing a great and extremely valuable job!). Applying these to such a complex system as a F3 racing car imposes additional difficulties that the research team has to deal with, by this means rigorously testing their research findings. In addition, their case is a great way in presenting the research to the general public but also in disseminating the results to OEMs world-wide (I think the publicity gained through e.g. CNN is a great reward for the Warwick-team).

The justification can be expanded by the educational aspects of such a project. It is for that reason that here at UNNC we are encouraging our Engineering students to develop a concept for the Shell Eco-Marathon 2010:

“The Eco-marathon is a fuel efficiency challenge programme encouraging technology and innovation among today’s youth. It serves as an excellent platform for students to showcase their creativity and innovativeness in meeting the energy challenge, and gain practical experience for the future” (http://www.shell.com/home/content/eco-marathon-en/asia/welcome_sem_asia.html).

PS: Although there is a link on the CNN webpage providing html code to embed the video, it did not work. It is for that reason that I linked their page to the picture above. Any advice would be appreciated.

Finally I can deliver the promised details on the remaining points listed in my post „Long time no see” (link to article):

1. A technological research proposal

We have submitted a research proposal called “Energy efficiency in the regional Ningbo automotive industry” to the University’s Inter Campus Research Development Fund, utilising the international nature of The University of Nottingham by involving the three campuses, Malaysia, China, UK, and associated partners.

The project’s overarching vision is to reduce cost, and energy consumption in manufacturing processes, whilst increasing the fabricated parts’ quality. To proof the concept from a technological point of view, this project focuses on the analysis of energy consumption in an extrusion blow moulding process. An initial industrial case has been selected here in Ningbo to assess the influence of different part design features, and process and equipment configurations on energy consumption.

2. A delegation of the Ningbo Municipal Government

On 05/12/2008 representatives of the municipal government visited UNNC to get an overview of the science and technology research of the University and to learn about the related future plans.  The delegation was led by the Vice-Mayor of Ningbo, who was accompanied by the director of the Science and Technology Bureau, the deputy director of the Personnel Office, the assistant director of the Education Bureau, and the director of the Industry and Science Department.

We prepared a short presentation of the Engineering Division outlining our teaching portfolio (2+2 programmes in Mechanical, Civil, and Environmental Engineering), our research theme “Sustainable Manufacturing” and our planned research activities. As a direct result of this meeting the Science and Technology Bureau supported our first research seminar, inviting local companies to take part. This brings me to my next point:

3. “Research in Green Manufacturing”

I admit the invitation to this workshop has been published (in this blog) on short notice , but then again, here in China things tend to happen/work on very short notice. A summary, containing details about how the workshop went, can be found in this article, which I have written for the University news.

4. Postgraduate open day, 7 Dec 2008

Kuan Yoong gave a presentation about the engineering division, informing potential students and their parents about the advantages of being an engineer. More information about the event can be found here.

5. China mission

The NIMRC research trip has already been described on 29/12/2008.

Following the article “Long time no see…” from December 13, 2008 I would like to give a brief overview of my trip to selected Chinese research institutions active in the area of green manufacturing.

The research trip was organised by Professor Nabil Gindy (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/school3m/staff-look-up/staff-by-role.php?id=NTM2NjEz&page_var=personal), director of the Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (NIMRC) and his researcher Dr Yan Wang to get an insight of the sustainable manufacturing related research carried out across China. Under consideration of the recent establishment of the “Centre for Sustainability in Global Manufacturing” as part of the NIMRC, the exploration of possible collaborations was a particular aspect of the visits.

At this point, I would like to outline the journey (the map gives an indication of the places visited): Read the rest of this entry »

…as they say in Britain. I am aware that there has not been a blog-post in a long time. The last weeks have been quite busy and I would like to give a very brief overview of the activities that kept me from regular blogging:

1. We have prepared and submitted a technological research proposal for the University of Nottingham’s “Inter Campus Research Development Fund” bringing together the three Nottingham campuses, Malaysia, UK and China.
2. A delegation of the Ningbo Municipal Government came to see UNNC. An overview of our activities had to be prepared and delivered to them.
3. We are currently preparing a seminar on “Research in Green Manufacturing” involving companies, local research institutions and government.
4. A postgraduate information day was held at UNNC on Sunday 08/12/2008.
5. On short notice I was invited to join Professor Nabil Gindy and Dr Yan Wang on their China mission, visiting research institutions across the country.

I have just returned from the above mentioned research journey. My initial idea of life blogging (which I got from here: http://www.cleanergreenerchina.com/2008/11/09/off-to-juccce-beijing-conference/ ), did not work because I couldn’t access this blog from any of the locations we visited…

To make up for the break in blogging I will write comprehensive articles on each of the above points as soon as possible.

This article is written for researchers who are interested in collaborative research between European and Chinese institutions. It introduces the CO-REACH -project, a network of European S&T policy and funding organisations involved in “promoting research co-operation with China in the natural sciences, medical and life science, engineering sciences, social sciences, and humanities.”  The project was started in May 2005. It’s website contains a directory of research funding mechanisms, including a brief synopsis of each of them. This directory is an excellent starting point for people with excellent ideas, looking for financial support. Read the rest of this entry »

This article features a fantastic video, introducing the Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (NIRMC), which carries out research in close collaboration with industrial companies and develops technologies, processes and systems for UK manufacturing businesses.

At Nottingham University, UK I have been involved with the NIMRC for quite some time, particularly in the areas of “Precision Manufacturing” and “Customised Assembly.” At UNNC in Ningbo I am also working part time for NIMRC on a new research area pioneering sustainable production methods.

The video gives an exciting overview about the NIRMC. It was created Brady Haran, a BBC journalist who is providing videos for TV, production blogs, and short clips on TestTube, an area in YouTube, aiming at promoting science and engineering (http://www.test-tube.org.uk).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef7cPkmIqX0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6]