About Joanna Johnson

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So far Joanna Johnson has created 54 blog entries.

Lessons learned from differing priorities for stakeholders

TransFIRe User Journey Method Pilot Study: Lessons learned from differing priorities for stakeholders J McKendree & S Cinderby Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York Summary TransFIRe Workstream 3 (WS3) explores collaborations between Foundation Industries (FIs) and nearby communities. User Journey methods are useful for exploring expectations, challenges and potential solutions in such partnerships. A workshop was planned to pilot a User Journey with an example FI, local businesses and community organisations concerned with skills promotion and net zero goals. Community organisations were more likely to show interest than the FI companies or local small businesses. Finding the appropriate contact for community engagement in industry was difficult. Many FIs have limited time for external engagement and prioritise technical actions to increase short term productivity and profitability. TransFIRe could potentially facilitate industry/community connections and collaborations. Conducting individual User Journey interviews remotely may offer a more effective means of exploring opportunities than [...]

2023-05-02T12:27:53+00:00February 28th, 2023|
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Materials Processing Institute (MPI) EDI Focus Group

30 January 2023 Following a tour of the Teesworks Industrial Zone conducted by Project Manager Simon Bailey, the TransFIRe EDI team visited the Materials Processing Institute (MPI) in Middlesbrough, where we were hosted by the HR Director & EDI lead Melissa Bevington and Jon Bolton the Executive Chairman. We were given insights on MPI’s vision, mission and EDI policy as well as a number of policies linking directly to the Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 including policies on menopause, working from home, flexible working, mental health and wellbeing, assistance animals, grievances, anti-bullying and harassment. Around 30%-40% of the eighty five staff at MPI work to a hybrid work pattern, with 3 WFH permanently. Employees are encouraged ‘to flourish wherever they are’, thus being inclusive of those who may have parental or carer responsibilities, and to support to those who may have mental [...]

2023-02-09T14:30:58+00:00February 9th, 2023|
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TransFIRe Report: State of EDI in the UK Foundation Industries 2022

The TransFIRe EDI team have brought together a series of findings in a "State of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the UK Foundation Industries 2022" report. It is becoming increasingly apparent and widely accepted that equity, diversity and inclusion are of paramount importance in the success of any organisation or project. Yet research by UKRI has found the foundation industries to face a specific set of EDI challenges1. As a new topic to the foundation industries, there are many gaps in research, and EDI practices do not appear to be well established. The TransFIRe EDI survey set out to measure a baseline of the EDI capabilities of organisations in the foundation industries in 2022. All TransFIRe academic and industry partners were invited to participate in this survey, which consisted of 33 questions aligned to 7 major themes of common EDI interventions. The term “interventions” is used to mean any [...]

2023-02-27T15:03:50+00:00February 2nd, 2023|
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TransFIRe partner collaboration on the tiles

In the summer of last year, a range of teams from across TransFIRe began working with Zentia, a ceiling tile manufacturer in Gateshead, to develop a case study focused on reducing energy usage, capturing and reusing waste heat and exploring the use of additives and alternative product mixtures to improve the material properties of their products. Zentia’s factory produces ceiling tiles formed from a wet mixture of newsprint, starch, fibreglass and other minerals, which are then pressed and dried by passing through a long series of gas-fired ovens.  The manufacturing process generates large amounts of steam and hot air and offers significant potential for heat and water recovery projects. Initially brought into the TransFIRe programme by Professor Justin Perry and Dr Matt Unthank, Chemical Technical Working Group members from Northumbria University, to explore the use of alternative tile coatings, the engineering and management team at Zentia also expressed interest [...]

2023-02-27T15:04:46+00:00January 30th, 2023|
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Mapping energy and material flows for the foundation industries

As the costs of goods and services continue to rise and the world looks for ways to become more efficient and sustainable, an approach called Gentani is being used to help reduce waste and inefficiency.  Gentani is a Japanese word that means output level or consumption rate, but in these circumstances, it means the minimum resource you need to carry out a process. Using this approach, over the past few months TransFIRe’s Workstream 1 (WS1) have been able to map the energy and material flows at the UK level for all six of the foundation industries (cement, chemicals, ceramics, metals, plastics and paper) to identify potential opportunities for improvement and symbiosis. The researchers are also developing an approach to present the combined energy and material flows that will allow reporting data in a concise, transparent and flexible manner. The new approach has the flexibility to scale from company to [...]

2024-01-29T11:33:36+00:00January 30th, 2023|
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Getting out and about

As part of the EDI team’s activities, Mike Thakoordin, TransFIRe Post-doctoral Research Associate at Durham University, undertakes a number of site visits to companies within the foundation industries. This month has been extremely busy with several visits across the country. With each visit, as well as getting to know more about the company and its inputs and outputs, Mike looks to determine the level of awareness of EDI within the organisation, what the main challenges are, if and how they have tackled these, what the outcome of this has been and what the future plans are. Over the past few weeks visits have been made to Tandom, a specialist metals recycling company, Breedon Cement, Almath Crucibles, the Materials Processing Institute (online) and Constellium. Each organisation has its own unique approach to EDI and set of plans, some with little activity and others with some impressive ideas and ways of [...]

2023-02-01T10:44:27+00:00January 26th, 2023|
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Funded Brand and Communications Training for SMEs

Are you an SME working in or with the foundation industries, looking to make your business or technology stand out? Are you a business founder looking to inspire and add authority when you speak? There is an opportunity to receive brand and communications training funded by the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge. The training course is delivered by a specialist consultancy and is designed for smaller businesses. If you would be interested in receiving this training, please complete the Expression of Interest form by 27th January 2023. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScayZtWmvOJZvWt0_FvpzOXS5PZlHeFPES3Pf82WrlR8xErcA/viewform

2023-01-24T14:31:51+00:00January 24th, 2023|
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TransFIRe helping to inspire the next generation…

As part of Manufacturing and Materials Week at Cranfield University, Professor Mark Jolly, Director of Manufacturing at Cranfield University and Director of TransFIRe, delivered an outreach event to pupils of Bedford Road Primary School. The children visited the Cranfield campus where Professor Jolly talked to the children about what triggered the start of our increased use of fossil fuels, sustainability and ways in which we could all think about reducing our carbon footprint in our day-to day lives.  They then had the opportunity to explore the labs and 3D printing equipment and to talk to some of our researchers about the work they are doing. The children also made a series of pledges of ways they would try to reduce their carbon emissions, generating ideas such as reducing the number of single use aluminium cans they used to reducing their meat consumption! The aim of the event was to [...]

2023-01-24T12:14:59+00:00January 24th, 2023|
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TransFIRe Industrial Symbiosis Workshop helps identify new valuable partnerships with foundation industries

Over the past few months, TransFIRe has been working with project partner International Synergies Ltd on their first industrial symbiosis workshop, generating a range of exciting results with the potential to reduce cost, cut carbon emissions and reduce waste disposal for foundation industries. The workshop brought together around 50 participants from over 30 organisations with the aim of bringing together the six foundation industries (cement, chemicals, ceramics, metals, glass and paper), with representation from their respective supply chains, to identify opportunities for industrial symbiosis. Companies exchanged information on the resources, wastes and by-products they had and which they could benefit from, highlighting a significant number of industrial symbiosis synergies, some quick wins and other longer term innovation opportunities.  These are currently being taken forward and developed by the TransFIRe team in close collaboration with our project partners. Out of the 172 resources presented, 83 ideas, or potential synergies, [...]

2023-02-27T15:03:10+00:00January 24th, 2023|
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