Environmentally friendly manufacturing is the key

An University of Warwick product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 21, 2004

According to one of the UK's leading manufacturing experts, environmentally aware manufacturing is the one remaining thing that can stem the quarter-century-long slump in UK volume manufacturing.

Today Prof Sir Kumar Bhattacharyya, one of the UK's leading manufacturing experts, will tell an international conference at the University of Warwick that environmentally aware manufacturing is the one remaining thing that can stem the quarter-century-long slump in volume manufacturing in the UK and Europe.

Prof Bhattacharyya, head of the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick will say that: "The UK has seen a 75% reduction in manufacturing capacity over the last 25 years.

The survivors are lean, agile, innovative and well aware of the forces of global competition.

There is very little technological competitive edge left in volume manufacturing.

Factories in low wage areas no longer lag in technology, However we are set for a new revolution in manufacturing, where the driving forces will not be those of simple financial bottom line measurements.

We will have to incorporate social and environmental performance into the measures of the success of manufacturing industry - the triple bottom line.

Current notions of recycling are just stop-gap - we must develop profitable manufacturing methods that do not require expensive and inefficient processes.

This will require a redirection of our economies to enable everyone to meet their basic needs and improve their quality of life while ensuring that the natural resources on which they depend are maintained and enhanced.

New collaborations stretching along the whole length of the supply chain from the farmers through to manufacturers and end-users must be brokered".

Prof Bhattacharyya will give this address at the first day of the Environmentally Friendly European Composites conference and workshop which has drawn delegates from over dozen countries including the UK, Malaysia, Romania, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Finland, Portugal and Sweden The event brings together leading academics, engineers and manufacturers to explore the future development and use of environmentally friendly composite materials in manufacturing and related industries.

A number of the delegates will be from key industrial "end-user" groups in the automotive, construction, electronic and telecommunication industries.

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