Local school pupils recently had the chance to learn about Sustainability and Manufacturing in South Wales at an event hosted at Swansea University.

On 16th & 17th May 2023, the SUSTAIN Hub held their Task Updates & Board Meetings in the International Digital Laboratory (IDL) at the University of Warwick.

On the 1st and 2nd of December 2021, the SUSTAIN Future Manufacturing Research Hub held its second bi-annual conference, ‘Sustainability in Steel’.

By Dr Qiushi Cao
Manufacturing processes are sets of structured operations to transform raw material or semi-finished product parts into further completed products. To ensure high productivity, availability, and efficiency of manufacturing processes, the detection of harmful tendencies and conditions of production lines is a crucial issue for manufacturers.

On 27th October and 24th November, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) hosted two steel strategy seminars sponsored by the SUSTAIN Hub. The focus of these seminars was Industry 4.0, and brought together industrial and academic specialists to present on and discuss the progress and challenges the UK Steel Industry faces in this area.

Steel is one of the world’s most recycled materials, with nearly 40% of steel products on the market containing recycled material and 75% of steel products ever made still in use today. Although producing one tonne of steel today requires just 40% of the energy it did in 1960, the industry must adapt and look at alternative ways to reduce its energy consumption and carbon emissions.

The Discover Materials group recently held an Open Week of events to highlight the importance of Materials Science and Engineering in everyday life, and the variety of career options available in this discipline.

As many countries across the world begin to ease lockdown restrictions following the impact of Covid-19, there are many questions concerning the effect this period of uncertainty will have on global economies. In a recent webinar titled “Economic Outlook for the Global Steel Industry” run by Steel University, Dr Edwin Basson, Director General of the World Steel Association, discussed the current and potential future impacts of this global crisis on the steel industry.

The UK has a high demand for scientist and engineers, but suffers from stereotypical perceptions of these subjects. SUSTAIN is helping to inform young people about the diverse range of careers on offer within these sectors.

The SUSTAIN Steel project recently held its Inaugural Engagement Event at The Royal Society in London on 4th December 2019. SUSTAIN is a £35M Future Manufacturing Research Hub, supported by £10M of EPSRC funds, as well as by Universities, Trade Bodies, RTO’s and Businesses over 7 years to support the UK steel industry. The Grand Challenges the project addresses are “Carbon Neutral Iron and Steelmaking” and “Smart Steel Processing”.