The university to collaborate with centers of sustainable production

Four new research centers aimed at tackling the challenge of commercializing early-stage research in key areas of manufacturing have been launched with academics from the University of Sheffield.

The hubs comprise four of five hubs in a funding program unveiled by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research and Innovation Council (EPSRC).

They will also work to make production processes more sustainable by reducing waste, emissions and pollution, as well as reducing production costs.

The first hub – CSManuHubSust – aims to capitalize on the opportunity of compound semiconductor production.

Researchers will develop energy-efficient opto-electronics for use in key emerging technologies such as quantum.

They will extend the environmental benefits of compound semiconductors by creating new devices such as mercury-free “night vision” mid-infrared detector arrays and devices that communicate and illuminate based on integrated transistors and LEDs.

The Hub is run by Cardiff University in collaboration with Professor Lenny Koh from the University of Sheffield Management School.

The second – the Advanced Metrology for Sustainable Manufacturing hub – will develop new technologies, such as ultra-fast and compact sensors using nanophotonic metamaterials and quantum sensors, to improve resource efficiency and productivity across the range of manufacturing-based sectors of precision.

The advances in metrology – the science of measurement – ​​that this center aims to make could ultimately reduce industries’ reliance on cheap international labor and reduce the carbon cost of transporting manufactured goods.

The hub is run by the University of Huddersfield in collaboration with Professor Ben Morgan from the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (AMRC).

The third – the MediForge hub – plans to transform drug development and production by launching an Industry 5.0 approach focused on harnessing advanced technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence for sustainable and resilient drug production.

This includes:

The MediForge Hub is run by the University of Strathclyde in collaboration with Professor Rachel Smith and Professor Jim Litster from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The fourth hub – the Manufacturing Research Hub in Robotics, Automation and Smart Machine Enabled Sustainable Circular Manufacturing and Materials (RESCu-M2) – is led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Professor Ashutosh Tiwari, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Birmingham. Sheffield and Airbus/RAEng Chair in Digital Manufacturing.

It aims to use advances in AI, robotics and intelligent automation to create a sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem in various sectors such as large aerospace structures, electric drives, energy and medical devices.

By improving the way we reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture and recycle in production, the hub will help ensure increased reuse of critical components by at least 75% and recovery of at least 50% more components.

Professor Sue Hartley, Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, said: “I’m really excited to see Sheffield academics working together on these new sustainable manufacturing centres.

“Research and manufacturing innovation is a strong point for us.

“Our academics have a fantastic track record of delivering projects that have real impact locally, nationally and internationally, and these centers continue that tradition.”