WARWICK MANUFACTURING GROUP, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

The Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), headed by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, has over 300 staff focused on improving competitiveness through value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice. Research successfully combines design and innovation, operational and technological issues. WMG adopts a partnership approach, involving industry closely in research, knowledge transfer, education and vocational development. WMG works with a range of European multinationals, public sector bodies, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), both innovative start-up companies and the supplier base. The Group has pioneered an international model for working with industry, with centres in China, India, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand, and is currently working with over 500 major companies worldwide.

WMG has a strong track record as an international centre of excellence in manufacturing, with a high profile in sectors including aerospace and automotive. Diversification has taken place into other sectors where advanced technologies and new pro¬duct and processes have a major effect. These include construction, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and the service sector.

WMG’s International Automotive Research Centre (IARC), incorporating the AWM (regional development agency) /Jaguar&LandRover sponsored Premium Vehicle R&D Programme, has a €115m programme of innovative R&D to enable leading edge capability in the automotive industry. WMG’s UK research council sponsored Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre has a €20m, five-year consolidated programme of innovative research in design and new product introduction, agile manufacturing technology, materials, systems engineering, and strategy and operations. The UK Government sponsored University Innovation Centre in Business-to-Business (B2B) has a €25m programme to develop techniques and technologies, establish best practice, and set up demonstrators for B2B adoption. Knowledge transfer programmes include EU sponsored programmes, national and regional programmes, with a particular emphasis on SMEs and supply chains. The Informatics Group’s mission is to understand and extend theory of data capture, storage and extraction of information, knowledge and wisdom with particular focus in engineering, manufacturing and healthcare sectors. The group has been researching into aspects of Virtual Reality, E-business, Reverse Engineering and e-Engineering & e-Manufacturing. Projects in these areas are supported by EPSRC, DTI and industry. Interdisciplinary teams of scholars work to observe analyse and report on strategic, technological, and organisational developments in a broad range of industries and their implications for society. Informatics Group provides education, Research & Development and Knowledge & Technology Transfer.