A Message from the Chair

AILU's Product and Process Innovation Special Interest Group

AILU's new Product and Process Innovation (PPI) Special Interest Group is one of several new SIGs that have been set up to serve the special needs and interests of members, in this case those in academia and other organisations involved in laser materials processing research and development.

Like all of AILU's SIGs, membership is free to those in the research community. At the most basic level the PPI Group provides networking opportunities, including a PPI forum on the AILU web site, accessible to members once they have logged in. This forum has already been put to good use for members to review and respond to the research topics identified in AILU's recently completed report on UK research in laser materials processing.

The PPI Group has yet to formally establish itself with a constitution and a democratically elected committee; in the interim period the AILU Steering Committee has made the following appointments:

  • - Prof. Lin Li University of Manchester
  • - Clive Grafton-Reed Rolls-Royce
  • - Prof. John Powell Laser Expertise Ltd
  • - Dr. Mo Naeem GSI Group
  • - Dr. Martin Sharp Liverpool John Moores University

The mission of the group is to promote laser technology transfer between academia and industry and to bring together researchers, equipment suppliers, system integrators and end users with a common interest in the creation and application of novel laser processing technologies in the real world.

A recent AILU report [1] shows that there are at least 16 universities and research institutes and 16 companies in the UK that are very active in developing new laser materials processing (LMP) technologies. In addition, there are a further 26 university research groups that are active in research activities relevant to laser processing. With a wide range of state of art laser processing facilities located in laboratories throughout the UK, these groups produce hundreds of publications and many patents each year in the area of LMP. One aspiration under consideration within the PPI Group is the creation of a “Virtual UK Laser Laboratory” that would link these capabilities and research facilities to provide a major resource for LMP research and new technology exploitation.

Another intention of the group is to maintain the R&D report Laser Materials Processing: Identification of opportunities and competency map of top-level providers. Laser users and researchers are invited to send notices of new technology highlights and patents as well as successful deployment of new, innovative laser technologies to the AILU office (marked 'PPI') so that these can be added and used to promote the take up/licensing of new technology by industry.

A current activity of the group is to support the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) “High Value Manufacturing” competition call (budget of £21m) that opens on 19 January 2009 [2]. The call provides a good opportunity for the UK laser community to develop projects and collaboration between industry and academics. A briefing session was organised on 3rd December 2008 at the AILU workshop in Sheffield but further assistance to help identify partners, especially technology providers and equipment suppliers is available via the AILU office.
Finally, AILU is planning to hold a 2-day LMP symposium later this year. This new initiative will provide an excellent opportunity for PPI members to present their work to the UK industrial community.

All in all, 2009 is shaping up to be a busy year for this new group! If you are not already a member [3], join us by simply contacting the AILU office.

Lin Li
E: lin.li@manchester.ac.uk

1. R&D in Laser Materials Processing: Identification of opportunities and competency map of top-level providers. is available for downloading in the 'strategy' section of the resource library in the members area of the AILU site
2. See report on pp52 in this issue for further information on the High Value Manufacturing call.
3. The easiest way to check if you are a member of the group is to log in on the AILU site and click forums. Members have access to the PPI Forum


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