Professor David Edwards

Keynote Title: Digitizing a Smart Built Environment: “The future is today

Professor David J. Edwards BSc(Hons), PhD, FIoQ, Assoc. Mem HM Royal Engineers.

David currently holds four chairs and is a Professor of Plant & Machinery Management, Birmingham City University UK, Distinguished Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa and Adjunct Professor at KNUST, Ghana and University of South Australia, Australia - as well being a Distinguished Visiting Academic at Canberra University, Australia. His work has been funded through engineering councils, government bodies (eg. HSE, Innovate UK, Highways England, UK Home Office and Defence Logistic Organisation, UK Ministry of Defence, JCB etc.) and an extensive network of industrial collaborations. He has published over 350 scientific research papers in leading international journals and numerous conference contributions & textbooks. He is a peer referee for over 75 scientific journals. Amongst his many awards and accolades, two are held most dearly, viz.: Recipient of the Commander’s Coin, US Department of Defence (2011) for his work into hand-arm vibration and Chief for Education Development, Ashanti Region, Ghana. However, his greatest achievement in life is his daughter Rebecca - a buddy future academic now in her own right.

Keynote Abstract

This keynote focuses upon presenting an 'overview' of practical applications of Industry 4.0 technologies using two case studies of recently completed research grants. Both involve automation - the first, for mobile plant and machinery and the second, for embedding BIM within supply chain manufacturing processes (CNC machines etc.). This highly impactful work presented is very practical, yet scientifically grounded and is actively being used in practice. As such the work serves as an exemplar for inspiring peers who wish to conduct similar impactful research.