Coventry University helping manufacturers to use data to reduce waste, energy use and operational costs

Coventry University is supporting a new collaborative project to help manufacturers better understand how energy and resources are consumed across their operations and where improvements can be made.

The Innovate UK-funded EMPOWER project will combine production, energy, resource and operational data to give manufacturers a clearer picture of where inefficiencies occur and what level of digital monitoring is appropriate for their business. Led by Bloc Digital, the consortium includes Pressac, Alucast, Wallwork, Digital Manufacturing Centre, the Midlands Aerospace Alliance and Coventry University’s Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME).

AME – which is part of the university’s Research Centre for Manufacturing and Materials - will lead work on manufacturing methodology, applied testbed activity and industrial evaluation. The team will develop a digital value-stream approach that compares planned performance with evidence from real manufacturing operations, including cost, quality, delivery, energy and resource use.

AME’s applied manufacturing environment will also be used to validate the approach before trials with industrial partners, exploring how accessible sensing, structured data capture and contextualised dashboards can support better operational decisions.

By linking consumption directly to manufacturing activity, EMPOWER aims to help companies understand not just how much energy and resource they use, but why they use it, where losses occur and which improvements are worth pursuing.

Find out more about the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering.