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InterAct expands global programme with India research mission

At the end of October 2024, the InterAct team continued their series of InterAct Global research missions with a visit to Pune, India. InterAct Global is an expansion of the project, designed to bring insights from international manufacturing and technological innovation in the UK sector. The visit enabled the team to engage with those in the electric vehicle (EV) sector that are working towards making Pune the EV manufacturing hub of the future.

InterAct is hoping to create both local and global impact by exchanging knowledge with international players in the worldwide manufacturing ecosystem. These missions will help to better understand the competitive advantages of other countries, learn from them, and exchange best practices and processes. Providing these insights to UK businesses and policymakers, the project aims to tackle the future challenges of digital transformation across three key areas: ecosystems, economies, and workplaces.

India represents an interesting case study for innovation, with clearly defined priorities in upskilling the future workforce and improving diversity and inclusion in manufacturing. The team had the chance to explore this in more depth through visits to various organisations and companies including:

  • Spark Minda
  • Bajaj Auto
  • ARAI (The Automotive Research Association of India)
  • Tata Motors
  • Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune

InterAct had the chance to expand upon these visits and discussions with a round table session and two workshops, hosted in collaboration with Symbiosis International University (SIU). These events brogh together a range of high calibre attendees, including those from automotive and EV manufacturing, artificial intelligence and academia, to collaborate on ‘the need of the hour’ (Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro Chancellor, Symbiosis International University).

These engaging sessions offered participants a chance to hear from the InterAct team, SIU academics and industry stakeholders as they discussed:

  • How to make the Pune region the hub of electric vehicle production by 2050: allowing key industry stakeholders to share their expertise and views for the direction of the sector.
  • The role of Pune in the 2040 electric vehicle global value chain: encouraging participants to envision the stages of development needed to succeed in their share regional vision.
  • The future of work in the Pune electric vehicle industry: highlighting the importance of upskilling and education, as well as looking at how to make manufacturing more appealing to gen Z.

Attendees also contributed to an extended shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the manufacturing sector through the workshops built around the approaches of the InterAct Future of Work and Future of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems teams, led by Professor Janet Godsell, Dr. Robert Stewart, Dr. Carolina Marin-Cadavid and Millie Rodgers.

We want to thank all of our generous hosts and partners for the success of this mission, and look forward to bringing more insights from our further global engagement activities.

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News

InterAct Storytelling Fellow wins  Science and Research Award from International Digital Storytelling Festival

VIK / AdobeStock

From 27 – 29 September 2024, leaders from the InterAct Storytelling Fellowship programme joined fellow experts at the first International Digital Storytelling Festival in Zakynthos, Greece.

This event brought together practitioners of digital storytelling from across the globe to share and screen visual stories from a wide range of academic disciplines. The festival saw over 60 selected for screening over three days and six categories including:

  • Culture
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Science and Research
  • Society

InterAct submitted several stories from across the Storytelling Fellowship programme for consideration, from which fellow Susan Lattanzio’s story ‘Digital Dinosaurs’ was selected as winner of the ‘Science and Research Award’.

Dr Susan Lattanzio is the Research and Industry Engagement Manager for the Made Smarter Innovation: Centre for People-Led Digitalisation. The Centre specifically focuses on the role of people and culture, and how these both influence and are influenced by the adoption of digital technologies.

Discussing the success of this story Professor Michael Wilson, Head of the Loughborough University Storytelling Academy, said: “This has been a unique adventure in using storytelling, particularly digital storytelling, in collaboration with the manufacturing industry to tell impactful stories relating to the onset of technological development. It’s not something that I, or others at the festival had encountered before, and I think it lends credence to the idea that storytelling is a valuable tool to apply across contexts to generate meaningful insights.”

Professor Michael Wilson, Pip Hardy and Tony Sumner collect the ‘Science and Research Award’ on behalf of Susan Lattanzio.

Speaking afterwards, Susan added: “I’m delighted to have won this award. I want to thank InterAct for providing funding for this programme and the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University for running such great teaching sessions. Their support and guidance inspired so much creativity and a range of different approaches among our cohort of fellows.

“I think sometimes it can be too easy to focus just on KPIs when considering manufacturing challenges and miss the bigger picture. This was a very exciting opportunity to take a new approach to communicating that we wouldn’t normally use in engineering and offer up insights in a compelling, narrative format.”

“The concept of ‘Digital Dinosaurs’ came from my personal experience, but it was a subject that I found almost everyone I spoke to could relate to with someone in their life. I think it aligns really well with our aims at the Centre for People-Led Digitalisation, where we’re committed to putting considerations of the impact of change and new technology on people at the heart of our research.”

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Productivity Resilience Resources Sustainability

Remanufacturing in the aerospace industry: Perceptions and practices of circular economy business models in aerospace small to medium-sized enterprises

Research overview

Global aviation currently contributes approximately 2% of greenhouse gas emissions; the projected growth in global aviation will create annual CO2 emissions of 1.8 billion tons by 2050. Consequently, the sector has made a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Government policy strategies such as the Aerospace Sector Deal, Jet Zero and Destination Zero focus on sustainable aviation fuel and aircraft efficiency for the transition to zero emission flight. Although, attention to the whole aircraft life cycle including design, manufacture and recovery has been relatively lacking.

This project sought to support SMEs in the aerospace manufacturing industry by exploring remanufacturing business models, a form of Circular Economy Business Model (CEBM), to help them move towards a sustainable future.

Embracing the ‘Circular Economy’ can minimise the consumption of finite resources as well as the production of waste and emissions. CEBMs, which are often represented as R-imperatives or R-models, can not only contribute to sustainability but also to business model innovation by extending the value proposition to value recreation, redelivery, and recapture.

This project conducted case studies of five SMEs in the UK aerospace industry to explore:

  1. The extent of their current practice of, and plans for, remanufacturing
  2. Barriers they face in their current or potential remanufacturing business models
  3. Drivers for them to engage with a more sustainable business model

Find out more and download the full report below.

This research was conducted by Dr Rachael Lamb (University of Bristol), Dr Eun Sun Goodwin (University of Wolverhampton), Dr Michael Rogerson (University of Sussex) and Dr Alisha Tuladhar (University of Surrey). This work was supported by the UKRI Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and the Economic and Social Research Council via InterAct [Grant Reference ES/W007231/1].

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Productivity Resilience Resources

Accelerating Industrial Technology Digital (IDT) adoption in UK manufacturing through Open Innovation

Watch a short explainer video about how manufacturers can use an Open Innovation approach to effectively partner with industrial digital technology experts to future-proof their business.

Research overview

If solutions involving Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) that meet the needs of UK manufacturers are readily available, they can be obtained through market-based contracts or licensing agreements. However, some manufacturers may have more complex requirements that necessitate highly customized solutions or even the development of new technologies. In these situations, manufacturers and IDT providers may need to engage in Open Innovation.

Open Innovation (OI) means working with external partners to find solutions to innovation-related problems. It is a distributed innovation process based on purposively managed knowledge flows across organizational boundaries.

InterAct funded researchers offer new Open Innovation insights, allowing manuacturers to use an Open Innovation approach to effectively partner with industrial digital technology experts to future-proof their business.

Both systematic research and anecdotal evidence show that OI has many benefits, such as:

  • Improved time-to-market
  • Access to a wide variety of external knowledge
  • Reduced costs
  • Shared risk

This research was conducted by Dr. Andrei Gurca (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr. Kate Broadhurst (Loughborough University). This work was supported by the UKRI Made Smarter Innovation Challenge and the Economic and Social Research Council via InterAct [Grant Reference ES/W007231/1].

For further discussion or potential collaboration, please contact Andrei Gurca or Kate Broadhurst.

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News

InterAct joins supply chain industry leaders for UK SCALE Centre Symposium

On Monday 7 October, InterAct representatives joined leaders and executives from across the supply chain industry to the UK Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Centre Symposium at Loughborough University.

This symposium aimed to bring together key stakeholders from industry, policy and academia to discuss and co-create visions how the UK SCALE Centre, and supply chain community, can confront some of the biggest challenges facing the sector.

In recent years, manufacturers and logistics providers have faced major systemic shocks such as COVID-19, Brexit and the conflict in Ukraine. These difficulties have created a sentiment among some academics and industry leaders that collective forethought and action are needed to protect from future shocks.

Discussing the motivation behind the symposium, Professor Janet Godsell, InterAct Co-director and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy said: “The future can often seem distant and less concerning than the problems of today, particularly in the supply chain and manufacturing sectors. It has felt as though we are living in an age of ‘permacrisis’, constantly fighting just to stay on track.

“These challenges have proven the vital importance of considering potential futures, today. We need to make a fundamental change in the way we pursue growth to better balance the environmental, social and economic cost of growth, and that’s we’ve brought together so many different voices today to discuss making that change.”

Attendees were welcomed by Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, Professor Nick Jennings, before hearing from Sir John Peace, Chair of Midlands Engine, as he discussed his enthusiasm for the potential of the UK SCALE Centre and the opportunities for regional benefits to the Midlands.

The initial talks were followed by an in-depth look at the place of the Centre within the wider Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Global SCALE Network. Dr Chris Caplice, Executive Director of MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, also provided an overview of the possibilities for businesses to engage with the Centre: “The chance for academia and industry to work together is always exciting because it opens up new opportunities. One has a longer-term view, and the other is more set in the real world and provides short-term views, so they complement each other well.

“Many figures from industry haven’t really had a chance to consider how they can work with academia to achieve mutual benefits, so it’s great to see them come together and explore that.”

Four expert speakers then examined the influence and impact of four key themes for the development of future supply chains:

  • Supply chain digitisation – Tim Lawrence, Director of Digital Supply Chain at Digital Catapult
  • The need to evolve our workforce to meet the anticipated needs of the supply chain – Dr Grant Charlesworth-Jones, D4Drivers
  • Supply chain sustainability – Judith Richardson, Managing Principal and Head of Sustainability at Argon & Co
  • Talent for the future – Jo Pick, Chief People Officer at Wincanton Plc

Discussing their participation in the day, Judith Richardson of Argon & Co said: “We were incredibly excited when we heard that Loughborough was partnering with MIT to set up a SCALE Centre in the UK. As someone from the Midlands, and an advocate for the sustainability agenda, I was delighted to hear that this initiative would be landing in the region that kickstarted the industrial revolution as we look towards creating a new ‘green revolution’.”

Dr. Charlesworth-Jones added: “Loughborough embodies the essential forward-thinking approach to making a better future, where we can deliver more on a sustainable basis, both in an economic and environmental sense… they are bringing together the best that the UK has to offer to create supply chain solutions so that we can get what we want, when we want it, without it costing the earth.”

The afternoon session saw attendees reconvene to consider the learnings from the morning, engaging with an innovative workshop approach that saw them working together on developing ‘visions for the future of supply chains in 2040’. This workshop gave participants the opportunity to showcase their professional insights and expertise, sharing these through short presentations.

Hear from SCALE Centre Symposium speakers

If you want to learn more visit the dedicated UK SCALE Centre microsite.

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News

InterAct Co-director named in The Manufacturer Top 100 Awards

InterAct Co-director, Professor Janet Godsell, has been named as a winner for the ‘Sector Activist’ category in 2024 edition of The Manufacturer Top 100.

Now in its 12th year, The Manufacturer Top 100 scours the length and breadth of the nation to find the 100 most dynamic leaders and innovators in manufacturing, nominated by The Manufacturer’s audience, the industrial community and judged by a panel of industry leaders, academics and manufacturing associations.

The Manufacturer Top 100 celebrates the heroes of UK manufacturing and recognises their contribution to Net Zero, Digital Transformation, Innovation and Leadership. 

With an extensive background in industry and academic roles across both manufacturing and supply chains, Professor Godsell has long championed the importance of manufacturing to the economy, society and people’s everyday lives. An outspoken advocate of the integral role of humans within our supply chains and manufacturing businesses, she established the InterAct Network as a co-director in 2021 to develop new research in this area.

Professor Godsell has been deeply involved in sustainability focused research through projects such as CircularMetal and CarbonVue, which aim to reduce the environmental impact of the sector. She has also played an important role in the development of the new UK SCALE Centre, a collaboration between Loughborough University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), focusing on the future of supply chain innovation.

Discussing the recognition of her work in the Top 100, Professor Godsell said: “I’ve wanted to work in manufacturing since I was 15, so being part of The Manufacturer Top 100 is amazing. It really shows that the work I’ve done has been recognised by the community.

“Whilst I’m now working in an academic capacity, I think people can see I’m making use of the skills and expertise I’ve gained over the years to make a difference for the manufacturing sector.”

Hear more about Jan’s career journey and her view on the biggest challenges facing the sector
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News

InterAct attend the Women in Manufacturing Conference 2024

InterAct representatives were pleased to support the Women In Manufacturing initiative’s ‘Changing Perceptions’ conference on 19th September 2024.

Hosted at the state-of-the-art Manufacturing Technology Centre facility in Coventry, the event brought together a range of people within the manufacturing ecosystem to discuss gender diversity and inclusion within the industry.

The event was one of a series organised by the Women in Manufacturing UK Initiative, a network of industrial and academic professionals with a shared interest in encouraging diversity and inclusion in the sector.

Although women represent almost half of the labour force in the United Kingdom, they account for only 26% of all workers in the manufacturing sector.

Gender norms, stereotypes, and even AI biased can divide men and women into different occupations, leadership positions and economic activities, resulting in a lack of diversity influencing decision-making at the sector’s summit.

The morning sessions aimed to tackle this, kicking off with Dr. Jennifer Castañeda Navarrete and Zoi Roupakia presenting findings of their report, co-authored with Dr. Viktória Döme and Guendalina Anzolin:  ‘The Women in UK Manufacturing 2024: Addressing Labour Shortages and Bridging the Gender Gap’.

This was followed by presentations including ‘Driving diversity and inclusion in manufacturing’, a panel discussion on ‘Inclusive innovation in manufacturing’ and ‘Industry best practice’.

Throughout the afternoon, a series of workshops delved into various aspects of women’s roles in manufacturing, covering topics such as career advancement, mentorship programs, and strategies to overcome gender bias.

Attendees had the opportunity to engage with seasoned professionals, share experiences, and gain insights into navigating the challenges unique to women in the manufacturing workforce.

Whilst the conference made it clear that the industry has a long way to go in terms of promoting diversity and inclusion, and solving these long-term issues, the enthusiasm and ideas generated by the Women in Manufacturing initiative was an inspirational takeaway for attendees.

If you want to learn more about how you can take practical steps to help address these challenges, you can read Dr Jennifer Castañeda Navarrete and Zoi Roupakia’s report, co-authored with Dr. Viktória Döme and Guendalina Anzolin’s.

Full report
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InterAct Blog

The Circular Electricals and Electronics Project 

Miha Creative / Adobe Stock
Dr Lucia Corsini (University of Oxford)

Enabling a low-carbon and Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment is a critical element of reducing carbon emissions from the extraction and processing of minerals.

Electrical and electronic equipment is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK and the world. Less than 35% of waste electrical and electronic equipment is recovered in the UK.  

Our ability to effectively reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle electrical and electronic equipment is locked in by decisions made at the design and manufacturing stage.  

So, how do we design more circular products, services and systems to enable the effective maintenance, reuse, remanufacture and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment?  

How can we help industry to do the same, within the socio-economic, technical and regulatory constraints they face?  

The Circular Electrical and Electronics Project aims to tackle these challenges and has been carefully co-created with more than twenty-four partners from across the electrical and electronic equipment value chain.  

This project is supported by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship funding of £1.56m awarded to Dr Lucia Corsini to explore “Tackling Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The initiative develops systems and engineering design solutions to enable a Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment, in which product lifetimes are maximised and products are effectively reused, remanufactured, repaired and recycled. 

Forming part of a systems approach, this research project develops design and engineering solutions to:  

  • Model flows of waste electrical and electronic equipment and related carbon emissions  
  • Identify waste and carbon reduction scenarios and strategies  
  • Develop circular product design and business model solutions that leverage emerging technologies and behavioural insights  
  • Help industry to embed novel circular economy solutions 
  • Support entrepreneurship and incubation of circular economy solutions 
  • Raise awareness and improve consumer access to circular economy solutions 

Please contact Dr Lucia Corsini at lucia.corsini@eng.ox.ac.uk if you would like to: 

  • Participate in the Circular Electrical and Electronics Project to get early access to research findings and publications 
  • Attend the annual Circular Electricals and Electronics Project Knowledge Exchange event 
  • Co-create future pathways for a Circular Economy for electrical and electronic equipment by participating in policy and industry stakeholder workshops (January– April 2025) 
  • Invite the Circular Electricals and Electronics Project team to speak to your organisation or provide guidance on the Circular Economy, waste electrical and electronic equipment, or critical minerals 

Dr Lucia Corsini is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and is an incoming Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Circular Economy and Sustainability Lab at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. Previously she was a Reader in Product Design Engineering at Brunel University London. 

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Productivity Resilience Resources Sustainability

Transforming supply chains: UK Supply Chain Survey 2024

phaisarnwong2517 / Adobe Stock

Research overview

A new survey of manufacturers and technology companies has revealed the key challenges facing companies when it comes to digitalisation of supply chains. The Digital Supply Chain Hub programme has conducted its own research uncovering organisations’ attitudes towards the digital transformation of supply chains. Interviews were held with supply chain professionals in large manufacturing businesses and SMEs, as well as technology and innovation professionals developing solutions for supply chains.

It has revealed that insufficient resources are one of the most common barriers to digital transformation when it comes to supply chains. There is a growing need to upskill workforces in using new digital technologies and deep tech such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence. Enhancing efficiency and automation, building resilience against disruptions, and developing a more sustainable supply chain are key priorities for large manufacturing businesses while SMEs surveyed are slightly less likely to be prioritising supply chain digital transformation, with 14% saying they don’t currently have any supply chain top priorities.

Overall, the research shows that there is considerable appetite for digital supply chain solutions and that large businesses in particular are prioritising this crucial development.

However, talent shortages, market competition, and access to funding are most likely to be preventing technology and innovation professionals from developing and providing innovative digital supply chain solutions to UK manufacturers, with a need for further investment and robust policies to drive transformation.

The data can be explored using the interactive graphs, examining differences in views from large manufacturers when compared to SMEs. Regional variations in supply chain challenges can also be examined.

explore the UK Supply Chain Survey 2024

Take the next step and connect to a community of supply chain experts, tools, and resources with the Digital Supply Chain Hub.

Building on the research and business engagement of the programme, the Digital Supply Chain Hub platform has been designed to facilitate strategic collaboration between manufacturers and digital solution providers. The platform will meet industry demand to accelerate the digitalisation of supply chain operations, driving resilience and sustainability through the application of deep tech solutions.

The hub is accessible to businesses of all sizes and can help tackle problems often encountered during the search for a suitable supply chain partner. The platform provides matching capabilities to connect companies with the right partners for their specific needs. The hub also offers educational courses to address key skills gaps and provides tools for companies to assess their current supply chain resilience and data readiness.

join the Digital Supply Chain Hub
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Digital Supply Chain Hub publishes findings of UK Supply Chain Survey 2024

phaisarnwong2517 / Adobe Stock

A new survey of manufacturers and technology companies from the Digital Supply Chain Hub has revealed the key challenges facing companies when it comes to digitalisation of supply chains. The Digital Supply Chain Hub programme has conducted its own research uncovering organisations’ attitudes towards the digital transformation of supply chains. Interviews were held with supply chain professionals in large manufacturing businesses and SMEs, as well as technology and innovation professionals developing solutions for supply chains.

The report found that insufficient resources are one of the most common barriers to digital transformation when it comes to supply chains. There is a growing need to upskill workforces in using new digital technologies and deep tech such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence. Enhancing efficiency and automation, building resilience against disruptions, and developing a more sustainable supply chain are key priorities for large manufacturing businesses while SMEs surveyed are slightly less likely to be prioritising supply chain digital transformation, with 14% saying they don’t currently have any supply chain top priorities.

Overall, the research shows that there is considerable appetite for digital supply chain solutions and that large businesses in particular are prioritising this crucial development.

However, talent shortages, market competition, and access to funding are most likely to be preventing technology and innovation professionals from developing and providing innovative digital supply chain solutions to UK manufacturers, with a need for further investment and robust policies to drive transformation.

Find out more and access the full findings