Dr Graham leads collaboration with North East automotive industry
Research into the automotive industry supply chain led by Dr Gary Graham saw manufacturers, academics and stakeholders gather to address the industry’s future on 1 July 2021 at Sunderland College.
The College hosted the Automotive Innovation Post 2030 Workshop, as part of a series of research projects led by the University of Leeds bringing together key industry experts and industrialists in the North East.
The research is led by Associate Professor Gary Graham, together with John Barnett, and will use prototyping methodology designed by Dr Graham to assess automotive supplier strategic and operational readiness for surviving and prospering in the post-Covid environment. A model developed by Mr Barnett and Dr Graham with input from undergraduate students will also serve as a basis for the research.
The automotive industry faces significant challenges in the near future, including Brexit, Electric Vehicle phasing out of all petrol and diesel cars by 2030, product and process innovation reducing from four to two years, new entrants such as Tesla, electronification, and product servitisation from AI and big data.
Dr Graham and John Barnett presented their research findings at the workshop with support from the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), with participation from Komatsu, Elring Klinger, Nifco, Marelli, Adient, Sunderland City Council, and Zero Carbon Futures. The successful collaboration will allow the research team to refine and advance the supplier readiness assessment tool in order to assess the industy’s market landscape, technological and supply chain readiness for the future challenges.
Dr Graham is an Associate Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management and a member of The Centre for Operations and Supply Chain Research (COSCR). He commented on the workshop:
“The day proved a great success and the data we have collected from the virtual Miro-boards and survey work will provide the basis for the development of future grant proposals and research projects in conjunction with the NEAA.”
With the recent unveiling of Nissan Motor Corporation’s EV36Zero – a £1billion EV Hub to accelerate the journey to carbon neutrality, we are uniquely positioned at COSCR to be at the forefront of building research projects with the UK’s leading location for vehicle electrification.
Find out more about the Centre for Operations and Supply Chain Research.
