Shahin Rahimifard

Shahin Rahimifard is a Professor of Sustainable Engineering in the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University. He is the Founder and Director of the Centre for "Sustainable Manufacturing And Recycling Technologies (SMART)"WWW.CENTREFORSMART.CO.UK , which was formed in 2004.

Professor Rahimifard is also the Deputy Director in 'EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability' and 'EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Food', in which he is leading a wide range of research focused on sustainability issues throughout a 'Product Lifecycle', including projects on sustainable product design, low carbon and energy efficient manufacturing, sustainable business and consumption models, product service systems, sustainable resilient manufacturing supply chain, and remanufacturing and recycling technologies.

These projects have benefited from involvement of a number of high profile global manufacturers and retailers, which include Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell, Jaguar, Toyota, GM, Unilever, PepsiCo, Heinz, Nike, New Balance, Clarks, Marks and Spencer, Tesco, and Next.

Prof. Rahimifard has an extensive range of editorial experiences. He was the Principal Organiser and Chair for the 5th International Conference on "Design and Manufacturing for Sustainable Development" which was held at Loughborough in July 2007 and has been the Editor-in-Chief of the 'International Journal of Sustainable Engineering' WWW.TANDF.CO.UK/JOURNALS/TSUE since its launch in 2008 (published by Taylor and Francis).

How can we manufacture a 'Sustainable Future'?
It is widely agreed that current international efforts in planning for a globally sustainable future are insufficient. For example, there are significant concerns over the emission of greenhouse gases associated with energy generation, and yet it is predicted that the energy demands will be 45% higher within the next twenty years. This highlights a need to plan for a paradigm shift in the way we use and preserve our energy and other resources, in particular in the field of manufacturing where the effects of resource depletion, climate change and population growth will have a severe impact on the design of future products and their production methods. In this context, the appropriate support of long-term strategic investment by various stakeholders including governments, manufacturers, retailers, and even consumers is of paramount importance to safeguard the future of the manufacturing industry. Using a target year of 2050, the current and future drivers for societal changes have been used to develop four possible scenarios for the future manufacturing industry. The presentation will consider the impact of these scenarios on five key factors influencing manufacturing businesses, namely resources, products, production, labour and market, and will discuss possible solutions for one of the greatest challenges facing the global society, i.e. how can we manufacture a 'sustainable future' for 9 billion people in 2050?