Jim Rowley

Dr Jim Rowley, has been involved in the design and optimisation of automotive, aerospace, food and drink factories; warehouses; production and horticulture systems, since 1993. He holds an Engineering Doctorate (University of Warwick) awarded for the design of an innovative automated solution for harvesting mushrooms in a horticultural environment. The solution combined machine vision, laser, anthropomorphic flexible robotic arm, vacuum suction cup array and was integrated to harvest mushrooms within a simulated automated farm of the future.

In his previous role, Dr Rowley set up and managed a Research Team for Operations Management and Simulation at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry, UK. Outputs of the Research Team were used to advise Blue-chip companies and UK Government on Capital Expenditure decisions. Experience prior to this was as Policies Manager at the Institute of Logistics and Transport, researching and advising the UK Government on new trends and technologies. The outputs of this experience has manifested in numerous publications and public speaking outputs.

Area of Expertise:

• Facility design
• Simulation
• Operations management
• Logistics
• Supply chain management
• Automation

Facility and production line design and operation is a varied and dynamic discipline that crosses a vast range of engineering and scientific principles, which enable the successful evolution of world-class manufacturing and logistics companies. The integration of simulation, embedded sensors and self-adaptive control systems to automated equipment enables in-decision-time flexibility across supply chains and allows for synchronisation that increases efficiency and eliminates waste. This is what compels me to devise innovative solutions, to exploit those benefits towards helping to improve society.