School of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Leeds

Design and Manufacture Research Group


The Design and Manufacture Group is researching into product realisation and design processes, manufacturing processes and design/manufacture integration.

Product realisation and design process research seeks to understand how new products are developed and brought to market, and how companies and users alike can support the products afterwards. The research is about understanding humans and products, life cycle processes and the organisational structures that execute them, and with creating computer aided engineering support tools to make design and manufacture more effective.

Manufacturing process research is both experimental and analytical. It seeks to understand and improve materials processing, and to ensure that products are designed to be manufacturable. Research into new manufacturing processes hopes to open up quicker and more profitable methods to manufacture products.

Design/manufacture integration seeks to understand the links and dependancies between design and manufacturing and how these can be exploited to facilitate a better quality, less expensive product which reaches the market quicker. 
 

Current Areas of Research

  • Design Processes.  The development of new and improved processes for designing products, processes enterprises and systems.
  • Product Information Management.  The correct design, manufacture, use and disposal of products requires that appropriate product information is available throughout the product life-cycle. Tools which aid the management of this information are being developed.
  • Enterprise Engineering.
  • Computer Aided Engineering.  The investigation of new and improved CAE tools and techniques to aid in design and product introduction processes.
  • Rapid Manufacturing.  The Group was the first in the UK to invest in the new rapid manufacturing technology of selective laser sintering, and is researching how the technology can be used to create polymer, metal and ceramic components.
  • Metal Machining.  Improving the productivity of metal machining through experimental and finite element studies.
  • Composites.  Investigating how the design of flexible composite components can be improved to provide extended product life and improved performance.
  • Affective Engineering. Affective engineering is the study of human-product interactions at the subjective, emotional or cognitive level, to study the relationships between the physical aspects of products and there qualitative influences to use the knowledge gained to design more satisfying products.
    The Design and Manufacture Group is integrating its activities in computational geometry (virtual prototyping), rapid prototyping (mass customisation) and process and supply chain management, and investing in human-factors design and evaluation laboratories, to address these issues.


Interdisciplinary Research

There are natural links between Design and Manufacture and other research groups within the University of Leeds, throughout the UK and around the world. The Group has strong links with the University Keyworth Institute, an interdisciplinary research centre which seeks to promote research across the engineering, computing and business disciplines.

Design process research is carried out collaboratively with computer scientists and business researchers, and manufacturing process research links into engineering and materials science research. The Group works with staff in the Leeds Schools of Computer Science, Business Studies, Psychology, and Textiles and in the Departments of Materials and Medical Physics.

There are strong links with European, North American and Japanese Universities. PRESTIGE.
 

Industrial Collaboration

The majority of the Group’s research is carried out with industrial collaboration. Current industrial collaborators include Rolls-Royce, Hasbro, Rover, Boeing, Simpson International (UK) Ltd, McKechnie Plastic Components, WABCO, Unilever, ICI, Rover, Quantum Laser Engineering, Short Brothers, Boots plc, Masterfoods and Nestle.
 

Future Areas of Research

The Design and Manufacture Research Group is continually looking to recruit well qualified and motivated individuals who have an interest in any of the areas we research in. Specific projects which we are seeking individuals for at the moment include:-

  • Integrated Product Life Cycle Support Techniques
  • Product Introduction Processes
  • Supply Chain Analysis and Simulation Tools
  • Integrated Product and Business Process Modelling
  • Design and Manufacture of Low Cost Composite Components
  • Computer Aided Functional Modelling of Assemblies
  • Selective Laser Sintering of Polymers, Metals, Ceramics and Biomaterials
  • Manufacture of Integrated SMART Actuators using Laser Sintering
  • Rapid Tool Manufacture for Materials Processing
  • Metal Machining Process Understanding and Productivity Improvement
  • Risk Management in Engineering Design
  • Product Requirements Management
  • Characterising the Relationships between Tolerances, Quality and Cost
  • Design/Manufacture Integration
  • Engineering Decision Support Systems
  • Manufacturing System Design Methodologies
  • Decision based engineering
  • Affective Design
  • Understanding Tactile Interfaces


Academic Staff


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