Affordable Digital Transformation: The Digital Shoestring Approach
Join us for a special seminar with Duncan McFarlane, head of the Distributed Information & Automation Laboratory within the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge.
Duncan McFarlane
Professor of Industrial Information Engineering & Head, Distributed Information & Automation Laboratory
Institute for Manufacturing
University of Cambridge
Tuesday, October 29
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern Time
Location: Manufacturing Related Disciplines Complex (MRDC), Rm. 2409
801 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332
If you can’t join us in-person, join us via teams here.
Abstract: The main driver for industrial digital systems developments over the last 30 years has been improved functionality rather than cost. Given the large number of outstanding challenges this has been a logical direction to take and in the last 10 years Industry 4.0 has provided a framework for bringing many of these developments to fruition. But a limited focus on cost has meant that many industrial companies - especially small ones - do not have sufficient budget to add digital solutions to their operations. The field of low-cost industrial digitalisation which has emerged over the last ten years in which cost is given a higher priority than functionality. This talk will discuss the meaning, scope and applicability of low-cost digital solutions and argues that a systematic approach to their specification, design and deployment can be effective in increasing the confidence of industrial organisations in applying them. The so called Digital Shoestring approach developed at Cambridge will be introduced as an example and case studies from manufacturing and logistics will provide examples of the way in which such an approach can applied.
Bio: Duncan McFarlane is Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at the Cambridge University Engineering Department, fellow of St. John's College and head of the Distributed Information & Automation Laboratory within the Institute for Manufacturing. His work involves the development of manufacturing automation and control systems and more broadly the use of digital systems across the industrial supply chain. His current research work is mainly focused on distributed, intelligent industrial automation, low-cost approaches to digital industrial solutions, resilient and reconfigurable systems in manufacturing and logistics. Previous work has also examined issues relating to RFID integration, track and trace systems, valuing industrial information, and information solutions supporting industrial services.
Prof McFarlane completed a B Eng degree at Melbourne University in 1984, a PhD in the design of robust control systems at Cambridge in 1988, and worked industrially with BHP Australia in engineering and research roles between 1980 and 1994. Prof McFarlane joined the Department of Engineering at Cambridge in 1995 as a lecturer in Industrial Automation Systems. He was appointed Professor of Service and Support Engineering between 2006 and 2011 which was supported by both Royal Academy of Engineering and BAE Systems. From October 2011, he became Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at Cambridge. Between 2000 and 2003 he was the European Research Director of the Auto-ID Center. From 2001-2011 he was a co-investigator in the EPSRC funded Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre based in the Institute for Manufacturing. In 2004 he became head of the Cambridge Auto ID Lab (2004-2021) and co founded a series of programmes on information in the aerospace sector including the Aero ID Programme, examining the role of RFID in the aerospace industry. Professor McFarlane is also Co-Founder of RedBite Solutions Ltd (2006) and was Chairman (2006-2024). Redbite is an industrial RFID and track & trace solutions company. From March to July 2020 he led a team which won the RAE Presidents Award for providing Industrial Engineering support to local hospitals managing the Covid-19 Epidemic and from September 2020 to July 2021 was Operations Logistics lead at Cambridge University for its Asymptomatic Covid-19 Student Testing Programme.
Recently, Prof McFarlane founded and led the Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring programme between 2018-2022 which investigated how low-cost, readily available digital technologies can be implemented to support productivity and sustainability in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. The project addressed the common concern that many commercial digital manufacturing solutions are designed for large companies he Shoestring approach is now being further developed across a range of research projects. He has also headed the Shoestring Business Unit at the IFM (2022-24) whose objective is to roll out Shoestring industrially through deployment programmes in different regions in the UK and internationally.
