SIR Showcase 2018 Highlights
Jerome Finlayson, Chair of the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture board and Lead Practitoner at the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) welcomed delegates with an overview of remanufacturing in Scotland, and how SIR has helped stimulate innovation and growth in this area. He also discussed the future of remanufacturing in Scotland, leading onto an interactive feedback session in which delegates were asked to have their say in helping to shape SIR’s strategy going forward;
What is the number one priority activity for remanufacturing in Scotland over the next five years?
Delegates were also asked what the biggest opportunity/challenge to remanufacturing was, in their opinion;
And the priority sector for remanufacturing in Scotland over the next five years?
Our invited speakers provided much insight and knowledge, giving their experience of remanufacturing in the UK today. Dr David Stewart from High Speed Sustainable Manufacturing Institute (HSSMI) gave an interesting perspective on how Industry 4.0 could and should have a circular perspective, describing four projects that the Institute is currently involved in to demonstrate the opportunities.
The benefits and challenges of implementing a circular business model were highlighted in the presentation from Jim Ross and Umit Bititici, who discussed their project between Menzies Distribution, CCL North and Heriot Watt University – ‘Capturing Waste, Creating Value, Avoiding Landfill’.
Colin Kennedy, Sector Manager for Manufacturing at Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) told delegates about the role of ZWS in accelerating the transition of Scotland to a circular economy, highlighting the various ways in which they can provide support and expertise to the Scottish manufacturing industry.
Joyce Onuonga, CEO of Kinnotech talked about their project with SIR in the area of design for sustainability. Kinnotech wanted to incorporate design for remanufacture principals into their new product, and Joyce gave some insights into how this was achieved.
Paul Cantwell from the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) discussed the value of remanufacturing in the upstream Oil and Gas supply chain, and Dr Winnie Ijomah from SIR described a number of industry-led projects which focus on investigating the use of automation and robotics in the remanufacturing process to reduce some of the barriers that currently exist.
The event concluded with a presentation from Prof. Jonathan Corney of SIR, who demonstrated how a design for reuse toolkit could help companies wishing to adopt this process. A beta-version of the toolkit is available to anyone wishing to try it out, please email sir-enquiries@strath.ac.uk to request one.
Many thanks to those who attended the SIR Showcase 2018, if you missed it you can register to receive our newsletter and information about forthcoming events here.