Institute for Manufacturing
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The Institute for Manufacturing was founded in 1998 and is part of the Cambridge University Engineering Department. Originally Division E: Manufacture and Management, the IfM was formed under the leadership of Prof. Mike Gregory CBE and is now a hub for almost 200 engineers, policy makers, industrialists, researchers and students.
The Institute's stated aims involve linking education, research and services in manufacturing on a local, national and international level. To these ends, it has been involved in a number of projects with global reach, such as the Auto-ID Center research programme looking at RFID chips in the supply chain, technology roadmapping and sustainable manufacturing. It also houses one of the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres.
Its specialisms include Strategy and Performance, International Manufacturing, Economics and Policy, Technology Management, Industrial Sustainability, Production Processes, Decision Support, and Distributed Intelligent Automation. Students attending the IfM at undergraduate level take the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos, whereas graduate level courses can be done in various research disciplines or in taught MPhil courses.
The Institute occupies the former Cambridge University Press warehouse complex in Mill Lane, but is rapidly outgrowing the space available. There are currently plans for a large, custom building in West Cambridge, due to open in late 2008.
