Background

1962-68 Scientific Civil Service as Assistant Experimental Officer designing and developing equipment for HF, VHF and UHF radio communications and digital equipment for telemetry and antennae positioning.
1968-71 University of Southampton, Department of Electronic Engineering: PhD Research Studentship concerned with the design of a speech recognition and synthesis system based on digital models of the auditory system.
1971-72 Lecturer at Bournemouth College of Technology. Teaching on second and third year undergraduate courses for External London degrees. Also involved in the design of servomechanisms for low cost automation.
1972-86 Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Production, Loughborough University of Technology.
1986-88 Professor of Flexible Automation - Personal Chair.
1988-93 ICL Professor of Flexible Automation.
1990-95 Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research), Loughborough University of Technology.
1992- Founder member and Head of the MSI Research Institute present.

Professional Affiliations

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External Activities

(i) Science and Technology Committee Membership
Member of European MAP Users Group EMUG Executive Committee. Also EMUG working group 3 member on real-time control (1985/89).
UK representative of EC Tripartite working party on "sensor standards" (1986/87).
Member of BSI AMT/2 Robotics Sub Committee (1987/91).
Member of MPVI Sub-committee of the SERC Electro-mechanical Engineering Committee (1987/92).
Member of the Programme Management Committee of the SERC/DTI LINK on the "Design of High Speed Machinery (DHSM)" (1989 onwards).
Member of UK delegation on Tripartite (Australia, New Zealand, UK) Research into Manufacturing Technology (1990).
Member of the DTI "Technology and Research Steering Committee" for the Programme of Competitive Manufacturing (PCM) (1992 onwards).
Member of the SERC/DTI ITAB Sub-Committee on Multimedia Networking Applications (1994 onwards).
Member of EPSRC Engineering College (1995-97 and 1999 onwards)
Member of International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee on 'Architectures for enterprise integration' of United Kingdom Automatic Control Council (UKACC). (1994-97)
Vice-Chair and member of the IFIP Working Group 5.12 and ISO 184/WG5 on Architectures for Enterprise Integration (1996-99).

(ii) Significant External Research Appointments
External Examiner for over thirty PhD Theses (1981 onwards).
Commissioned to compile MAP/TOP report for SERC (ACME) research community, involving study tours of United States (1986/87).
Commissioned by SERC/ACME to compile report on new generations of flexible machines, study tour of United States, Japan and Europe (1987).
Appointed as ICL adviser on computer integrated manufacture to assist in strategic planning (1988-92).
Appointed Theme Monitor of the "Computer Control of Machines and Processes" area of the SERC/DTI LINK Programme on the Design of High Speed Machines (1990 onwards).
Delivered Opening Address at the 4th World Conference on Robotics, Pittsburgh, USA (Sept 91).
Delivered 'Opening Keynote Address' at the Int. Conf. on CIM, Singapore (Sept 91).
Delivered Opening Address at the Int. Conf. on CIMS in Tsinghua Uni, China (June 92).
Deliver Opening Address at the 10th National Conf. on Manufacturing Research, UK (Sept 94).
Member of the Advisory Panel for the Int. Conf. on Manufacturing Automation, Hong Kong, August 1992.
Member of Programme Committee for the Dedicated Conf. on Lean/Agile Manuf. in the Automotive Industries, 27th ISATA, Germany, Nov 1994.
Member of Int. Advisory Committee for the 3rd ICCIM/AUTOFACT - Asia '95 Conf.
Member of the International Program Committe for the 2nd Int. Conf. on Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, September 1996.
Member of the Advisory Committee of CIRP International Symposium on Advanced Design and Manufacture in the Global Manufacturing Era, Hong Kong, August 1997.
Member of International Program Committee for "Design of Integrating Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing" Conference, May 18-22 1998.
Member of International Program Committee for Mechatronics '98 Conference, Sept 9-11 1998, Skovde, Sweden.
Member of International Program Committee for the Tenth International IFIP TC5 WG-5.2-2G-5.3 Conference, PROLAMAT'98, Sept 9-11 1998, Trento, Italy.
Chaired the Fieldbus and Industrial Communications Session of the Drives and Controls Conference 1998, Telford, UK., March 98.
Inputs into Draft Mandate N419 generated at joint meeting in Boulder, February 1998 of ISO TC 184/SC5/WG1 and IFAC/IFIP Task Force on Enterprise Architecture, March 98.
Member of International Program Committee for Stimulating Manufacturing Excellence in Small & Medium Enterprises (SMESME'99), Plymouth, UK, March 99.
Referee for the British Council Franco-Alliance Joint Research programme:
Member of the Programme Committee for SMESME 2000.
Member of Advisory Committee for 2nd ICAMT Conference, Malaysia, August 2000.
Member of International Program Committee for "Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing" Conference, Nov 15-17, 1999.

(iii) Journal Editorship, Chairmanship or Membership
Consultant Editor for "The Automation Manufacturing Directory" (1983/88) published annually by Morgan Grampian, Woolwich, London.
Member of Editorial Board of "International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing" (1987 onwards).
Member of IEE Editorial Panel for the 'Computer Aided Engineering Journal' (1988/90).
Chairman of IEE Editorial Advisory Panel of IEE Computer Aided Engineering Journal (1990/91).
Member of Editorial Advisory Board of the Int. Journal of Design and Manufacturing.
Member of IEE Editorial Panel for the Computing and Control Engineering Journal.
Member of Editorial Advisory Board of the Int. Journal of Integrated Manufacturing Systems.
Member of Editorial Board of Int. Journal of Agile Manufacturing Systems (1996 onwards).
Member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Business Performance Management (1998 onwards).
Member of the Editorial Board of the Handbook of Industrial Robotics.
Member of the Editorial Board of the Int. Journal of Agile Management Systems (1999 onwards).

(iv) Company Appointments
Retained consultant by Baker Perkins Ltd, Peterborough (1985/87), the work being concerned with the industrial application areas of micro-electronics.
Retained as consultant by Haiste Automation Ltd, Leeds (1985/89), the work being concerned with the industrial application of robots.
Member of the Advisory Committee of Loughborough Consultants Ltd (1985/88).
Appointed ICL Professor of Flexible Automation (1988 onwards).
Retained as Consultant by Trust House Forte (1990/92), the work being concerned with the application of IT and robotics in inflight catering.
Member of Advisory Board of Institute of Consumer Ergonomics (1992 onwards).
Consultant Scientist to the HUSAT (Human Sciences and Advanced technology) Research Institute (1999 onwards)

(v) Links with other Higher Education Institutions World-wide
Visit to IIT Delhi (1979) as an ODA visiting technical adviser concerning the application of digital systems.
British Council adviser to a number of overseas universities in Syria, Philippines, West Indies, Brazil and Malaysia (1983 onwards)
British Council Mission leader to Canada to discuss research collaboration between UK/Canadian universities in the areas of Manufacturing, Computer Science and Electronics (March 1995).
Initiator of Research Link in Manufacturing Systems Integration with National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, USA (1990 onwards).
Joint initiator of LUT Manufacturing Systems Research Links with Purdue University (USA) and Bordeaux University (France) with Professor D J Williams (1990 onwards).
External Examiner for Surrey University MSc Course in Computer Integrated Manufacture (1990/92).
External Examiner for Undergraduate Courses in the Dept. Eng. Prod., Nottingham University Undergraduate Courses (1990/94).
External Examiner for Cranfield Institute MSc Courses in Advanced Automation & Design (1992-95).
External Examiner for Singapore Polytechnic Diploma Courses (1992-95).
External Examiner for UMIST MEng Hons Courses in Engineering Manufacture and Management (1993-96).
Visiting Fellow at the Business Process Resource Centre (at Warwick University) 1997.
Consultant Professor to Harbin Institute of Technology (rated number three University in China) and their spin-off companies, 1997.
External Examiner for Cranfield Institute MSc Course in Engineering & Management of Manufacturing Systems (1997-2000).
External Examiner for Aston University BEng and MEng Courses in Mechanical Engineering (1998-2001).
Associated Scientist for HUSAT (Human Sciences and Advanced Technology) Research Institute, Loughborough University (commencing 1998).

Broad Interests and Expertise

Application interests span various areas of flexible automation and large-scale enterprise engineering. Experience of applying and developing 'enterprise modelling', 'business process reengineering', 'component-based machines' and 'systems integration methods and techniques'.

Research Interests and Activities

Supervising the research projects related to:
    Flexibility Theory
    System Integration Concepts, Mechanisms and Tools
    Enterprise Modelling Concepts and Representational Techniques
    Process and Workflow Concepts and Tools
    Model Execution and Connecting Virtual and Real Enterprise Systems

Publications

View central admin publications database (new window)

School Research Groups

Manufacturing
Mechatronic and Manufacturing Systems Integration

Links

Links established with many research groups overseas and particularly with Dr A Jones at NIST, Gaithersburg, USA, Prof. Vernadat at Uni. of Metz, France, Prof. U Rembold, Karlsruhe Uni., Germany, Dr S Nof and Dr E Williams at Purdue Uni., USA and Prof. P Bernus, Griffith University, Australia.