Computer Science and Unilever R&D

14^th March 2018, 13:00 ELT Lecture Theater
Andrew Mitchell
Automation and Standardisation Team
Unilever R&D Port Sunlight

Abstract

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. Unilever has a long-standing relationship with the University of Liverpool, which has lead most recently to our partnership in the Materials Innovation Factory.

The MIF’s ambitions in Computer Aided Materials Science align well with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan. We will use MIF to drive our In Silico First strategy enabling our Home and Personal Care Brands such as Comfort, Dove, TRESemmé, Persil and Lynx to minimise their impact on the planet.

I will briefly introduce myself and Unilever at the MIF, then discuss the type of work we undertake to digitally enable Fast Moving Consumer Goods research. I will then focus on my role as the Automation Data and Standardisation Manager and discuss some of the initiatives we have in MIF around ‘Lab of the Future’, ‘Internet of Things’ and ‘Industry 4.0 for the Lab’. I will highlight some of the challenges we face that could lead to MSc projects. These range from simple instrument control interfaces through to what I believe are some complex AI opportunities for comparing and curating formulations.