Thanks for the vision
1 min read
The various government/membership/contract research-funded manufacturing centres of excellence that have been established over some 11 years, starting with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, initially at Sheffield University, but now located on the Rotherham Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), will, Machinery is certain, come to be seen as key in supporting the reshaping and development of manufacturing in the UK. Indeed, this government has made some of them the bedrock of its <a href="http://is.gd/pIdAxw" target="new">High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult network</a>.
Facilities such as the AMRC are places where new manufacturing processes and methods are taken from their academic roots through to production-ready technology; manufacturing process innovation of a type very difficult to achieve in a factory.
Machinery first covered the AMRC's development in 2003, when the AMP on which it stands was still a muddy building site. We have returned many times since, and do so again this issue. The AMP today is not just the home of the AMRC, but also numerous other high technology activities: it has become a high technology cluster in its own right (full list of tenants http://is.gd/Ld0Tpo). (Clusters drive technological development faster and across a broader front than do dispersed companies.)
The cluster is still growing. The AMRC recently announced the opening next year of an ambitious apprentice training school, while Rolls-Royce (a Tier 1 AMRC member) is building a new aerofoil casting facility. Growth will not stop there.
The more recently opened Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry (see Machinery, September 2012 and page 29 this issue), also part of the HVM Catapult, is also growing fast. MTC phase 2 will see another building of the same size constructed on the same site to support research, while a further building is also planned, namely the Manufacturing Technology Academy, which will provide support for up to 200 apprentices a year.
The direction of research at these manufacturing centres of excellence is driven by their members, sure, but the technology developed there by all the partners in pursuit of a common goal will benefit manufacturers at large. For while Rolls-Royce may have very particular needs, the solutions, say, that AMRC partners Sandvik Coromant, Mori Seiki et al develop for Rolls-Royce's benefit will come to the general machinist in due course, embedded in broader product developments.
As is the way with many things, it was a small number of individuals who started this ball rolling – notably Professor Keith Ridgway CBE, Adrian Allen OBE and John Baragwanath OBE (more here http://is.gd/iYA6Ro). So, thanks for the vision.
First published in Machinery, November 2012
