Prof. Sami Kara

Prof. Sami Kara

P2-002 Configuration for high-tech urban production systems; P3-003 Manufacturing facility analysis; P1-030 Life cycle sustainability

Dr Sami Kara is a Professor within the School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at UNSW Sydney. He founded and heads up the Sustainable Manufacturing & Life Cycle Engineering Research Group at UNSW (LCE@UNSW) and, with fellow UNSW Professor Christoph Herrmann, co-directs the Joint German-Australian Research Group (JGARG) ‘Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Management’. An engineer with a PhD in manufacturing, Dr Kara has three-plus decades’ experience across industry, research and tertiary education. He held engineering and management roles in manufacturing companies across Australia and the world before joining UNSW’s academic staff in 2000. Since then, Prof. Kara has completed numerous projects, most industry-driven, spanning product reuse and recycling; product and process energy use and eco-efficiency; and product life-cycle assessment and costing, for applications including nanotechnologies and composite materials. Prof. Kara has particular interests in life-cycle engineering – sustainability, energy and resource efficiency in manufacturing; end-of-life product management; life-cycle design; design for disassembly; eco-design; logistics and reverse supply chains; environmental impact assessment and cleaner production; and additive manufacturing, or AM – design and process design for AM, energy and resource efficiency in AM, rapid prototyping, 3D printing, laser sintering and stereolithography. Prof. Kara is a member of Engineers Australia and a Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP).

P1-030 In Progress

Dynamic life cycle sustainability (LCS) assessment of thermoform packaging and future replacement technologies

The dynamic Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment methodology proposed by FPP R&D and UNSW will compromise three parts: environmental life cycle assessment (e-LCA), life cycle costing (LCC) and social life cycle assessment (s-LCA).
P3-003 Completed

High level analysis of participant manufacturing facility needs and production targets

This scoping project involves high-level analysis of Australian food manufacturing facility needs, opportunities and challenges. It reviews current global best practice in advanced food manufacturing; considers current and intended Australian processes and facilities; and provides scoping for future CRC manufacturing research.
P2-002 Completed

System design case study: configuration options for high-tech, artificial-light urban production systems

Working with CRC partner Sprout Stack, UNSW researchers are developing and comparing production system alternatives with the aim of increasing production capacity, reducing costs and shrinking the company’s environmental footprint. 

Meet Sami Kara: advanced manufacturing expert

For UNSW’s Professor Sami Kara, sustainable manufacturing is a key to future prosperity and a cleaner, greener planet. Scientica Education Fellow and Director of Vertically Integrated Projects in the University of New South Wales’ Faculty of Engineering, Sami isn’t one to silo […]

UNSW Professor Sami Kara: agrifood supply chains and the ‘bullwhip effect’

Inefficiencies in supply chains are exacerbated by disruptions to demand, such as the recent panic buying at supermarkets worldwide following COVID-19-related shutdown announcements. UNSW’s Professor Sami Kara explains how the ‘bullwhip effect’ typically resulting from sudden changes in demand impacts […]

Safety, streamlining and scaling up: Sprout Stack pivots to a new normal

It’s business not-quite-as-usual under COVID-19 restrictions, but Sydney-based start-up Sprout Stack is adapting to the new normal with increased hygiene and safety protocols and forward-looking ‘remote’ research.
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