redistributing manufacturing localised food · pdf file2 food case studies: bread tomato...
TRANSCRIPT
1
Redistributing ManufacturingLocalised Food Systems
Dr John IngramFood Systems Programme LeaderEnvironmental Change Institute
University of Oxford
Dr Aidong Yang‘Food’ RDM Project Leader
Department of Engineering ScienceUniversity of Oxford
“To develop the research agenda for Re-Distributed
Manufacturing with a particular focus and to engage with
both relevant academic and user communities.”
Re-Distributed ManufacturingCall for Networks
(2014)
Food in manufacturing
(2014, UK)
Guiding Questions for the Food project
1. What would be the drivers of reorganising food manufacturing?
2. What would be the necessary organisational, regulatory and technological facilitators of such a change?
3. What would be the consequences (intended and unintended) of such a change?
“Technology, systems and strategies that change the economics and organisation of manufacturing, particularly with regard to location and scale.”
EPSRC working definition of RDM
How the research agenda (questions)was produced
Scoping projects(literature review + empirical studies)
Stakeholder interviews and workshops
“raw” research questions
Selection, combination, streamlining, regrouping
Overarching questions
Engineering & technology
Economics and business
Policy and society
(a) Resources, wastes and emission
(b) Food technology
Research questions:
• How has the distribution of food manufacturing changed over time in the UK, both in terms of ownership and geography?
• What is the relative concentration and distribution of manufacturing for different food products in the UK, and what factors account for the variance?
• What are the food security and resilience implications of RDM in the food sector?
Food manufacturing in the UK
Research questions:
• What kinds of products are best suited to local markets, why and what are their key characteristics?
• How do customers perceive locally manufactured foods relative to centrally manufactured foods?
• How would the business and regulatory landscape have to change to promote more local food manufacturing businesses at city scale?
Central vs local manufacture?
Local food: how ‘local’ is ‘local’?
Definition of ‘local’• The geographical scope of a
locale, within which beneficial alignment of resource, production and consumption can be effectively established through innovations in technology, products and systems.
• The size of such a locale may vary, depending on its physical
and social-economic situation.
Case studies
2 geographic case studies:
Oxford: 150,000, ca. 1% food from county=> retrofitting existing systems
Northstowe: 40,000, ?% food from county=> designing de novo
2 food case studies:
Bread Tomato paste
Oxford case study
• As scale has increased over C20, manufacturing sites have become consolidated
• Distance from consumer has increased, even becoming global• Facilitated by manufacturing technology, transportation, global trade, etc…
MANY, SMALLER FEWER, LARGER
Bread case study
80% PLANT BAKERY
17% IN-STORE BAKERY
3% CRAFT BAKERY
Bread case study
13
EXAMPLE 2: BREAD
How does bread get to Oxford?• A mixture of global, regional and local elements• Why this geographical balance?
• Use of UK grain enabled by technological changes –Chorleywood
• Shelf-life• Economies of scale• Food culture – compare to Italy, Spain
14
EXAMPLE 2: BREAD
Shifting the balance - Oxford manufacturing its own bread?• Abundant wheat is available in the county• A very small mill? A year’s flour for Oxford = 7 weeks flour
production for a small commercial mill; 2.5 days for a large mill• One or many bakeries – existing artisan bakeries as a blueprint?
Or a mechanised model?
• Consequences: • Cost; retail; investment; efficiency; ownership; employment…
Research questions:
• What future scenarios would encourage businesses to radically redistribute bread manufacturing, for example rising transport fuel costs?
• What are the cultural and structural differences underlying the differing distributions of milling and baking in France vs the UK?
Bread case study
• Highly centralised (globalised) manufacturing• An archetypal global food product• A non-perishable form of a highly perishable raw material, preserving
important attributes• A highly seasonal product can be sold all year• Removing water = reducing weight, so transport is easy
What if… Oxford manufactured its own tomato paste?• Tomatoes would have to be grown here too > 1.8ha heated greenhouses• Small-scale equipment• Economic viability – £1.50/100ml vs 22p/100ml• Potential for value-added? Environmental and social benefits? …or costs!
Processing tomatoes >> remove skin and seeds >> juice >> condense >> pack
Tomato paste case study
1. The home replicator
Manufacturing in every home
2. Artisanal dream
High quality small batch products
3. Mid-sized, mechanised
A bakery for every town
4. Onshoring
Made in Britain
Current systems: Large-scale, national International
Distance to consumer
Scal
e o
f o
pe
rati
on
What could redistributed food manufacturing look like?
Research questions:
• How well do these four preliminary categories of RDM in the food sector fulfil analytical needs? Can they be strengthened or improved upon?
• Do the multiple different ‘types’ of RDM in the food sector constitute a coherent research area or are they best researched separately?
• How do drivers and outcomes of change differ across these four RDM types?
What could redistributed food manufacturing look like?
Food is globalised manufacturing
ChinaBelgium
UK
France
NetherlandsBelgium
Mauritius
Factory in NE England
Switzerland
Argentina
Japan
Italy
Germany
Spain
Poland
Brazil1 product with18 ingredients from14 countries
Research questions:
• What are the political and philosophical questions surrounding the RDM of food?
• How aligned is RDM with localist philosophies?
Local vs. global?
21
LNN Feasibility Projects
1. Food2. Energy 3. Water4. Business models and practices5. Policy and society6. System integration
www.localnexus.org