[divider]Background:The RECODE network is a sister network to RDM|RSC and is focused on the role of big data and the circular economy in consumer goods. Its kick-off meeting was held in London at IDEALondon, a mixture of incubator and innovator centre, opened 18 months ago and run in partnership by UCL, Cisco and DC Thomson.
Fiona Charnley, PI of the network, introduced the aims of RECODE, which is led by Cranfield University in partnership with Brunel, Cambridge, Manchester and Teeside universities. The network is focused in consumer goods, mass manufacturing and global supply chains. Currently a great deal of the materials used in this context are wasted and there is little chance for personalisation. Resource scarcity, the trend to mass customisation, big data and wearable technology can change all that.
Fiona gave examples of electrical equipment re-use and recycling by Environcom and new directions in consumer goods from 42 Technology. She introduced the themes of the network around how data and future connected technologies can enhance connected manufacture, including open innovation, the regenerative economy, user-driven innovation, internationalisation and production communities, with cross-cutting challenges from user engagement and data analytics to skills, training and governance. Emerging technologies offer the possibility of Industry 4.0 – a fourth industrial revolution driven by smart, connected artefacts, big data, analytics and production at a regional or local scale.
The second presentation in the plenary session was from Mark Claydon-Smith, head of manufacturing research at the EPSRC, who described how the re-distributed manufacturing networks fit into the EPSRC’s 2011-15 delivery plan, current work in progress on the plans for the next five years, referring to the Foresight Report on the Future of Manufacturing, the government Industrial Strategy report on Strengthening UK Manufacturing Supply Chains and the distributed manufacturing in the Global Agenda Council’s top emerging technologies of 2015.
The third plenary presentation was from Daniel Keely of Cisco, who discussed the disruption of manufacturing models that might be possible through the internet of things, using examples from Cisco’s re-manufacturing and re-marketing business in their repair centres.
The workshop activity at the meeting focused on the design of a re-distributed model of production enabled through the use of big data, interrogation of the models to identify the opportunities and challenges posed by RDM and from that identifying a set of research challenges for the future. Products considered included food and beverage products, consumer electrical and electronic goods, clothes and household products.
We will post a link to the outcome of the discussions when it becomes available.