Sustainable Manufacturing in China

Today the world´s leading automotive fair, the IAA, opens in Frankfurt, Germany. I am going to review a couple of interesting studies and concepts that deal with the environmentally friendlier cars as presented at the world’s biggest car fair. I will also try to present  one or two news articles that examine the IAA from the ‘green perspective’.

I have been at the IAA before and I spent an amazing time there. Unfortunately it is a bit too far to go for me now. Anyway, the picture below gives a little impression…though perhaps not the greenest solution to get from A to B.

This link leads you to a great film produced by the University of Nottingham, introducing the campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The film describes “world class teaching and learning, cutting edge research and vibrant student life on its two award winning overseas campuses” (http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/news.php?n=305).

In that context, the engineering division at UNNC is also featured, which is the result of the camera team’s visit last year.

What might be even more interesting, is that the video shows you where and how I work and live. The people who know  me might in fact recognise me in one of the shots…

As of 01 February Professor  Roger Woods is the new Provost and CEO of UNNC.

The Professor of German said: “The concept behind the University – matching Nottingham’s expertise in teaching and research to China’s needs – has turned out to be exactly right. I’m very much looking forward to the challenge of leading The University of Nottingham Ningbo into its next phase of development, and of working with colleagues here to ensure the campus goes from strength to strength in the years to come.” (http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/news.php?n=267)

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.

Sustainable manufacturing: Risk or Chance? -可持续制造：机遇与挑战？

Workshop Invitation

The Division of Engineering at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China and the Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (NIMRC), UK are co-organising a workshop on research in the area of green manufacturing.

Interested parties should contact me by email or telephone (see contacts link above). Read the rest of this entry »

The day before yesterday I attended a reception at the Robin Hood Hotel on campus where the Vice-Chancellor of the overall University of Nottingham, Professor David Greenaway, addressed all Ningbo staff, academic and administrative, during a reception. He briefly outlined his motivation of taking on the job, underlining his personal commitment to the University of Nottingham. He highlighted the achievements reached over the past years here in Ningbo and pointed out that he will further emphasise the “Internationalisation Strategy” of the University, whilst also putting efforts on the integration of the three existing campuses.

More information on the new Vice-Chancellor can be found here:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/economics/staff/details/david_greenaway.html