Delcam joins Manufacturing Technology Centre in high value manufacturing push

As a member, Delcam will be able to become a partner in development projects with industrial members of the centre, including Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN Aerospace, and with many suppliers of complementary equipment, including machine tool manufacturers DMG/Mori Seiki and Agie Charmilles; cutting-tool suppliers Sandvik Coromant and SGS; and metrology specialists Hexagon and Renishaw. MTC research partners include The Welding Institute, plus three forward-thinking universities from the region: Birmingham, Nottingham and Loughborough. Delcam marketing manager Peter Dickin said: "With many of our customers and technology partners being members of the MTC, it was an easy decision for Delcam to join the organisation. We have worked closely with Birmingham University for many years and have also collaborated on projects with Nottingham and Loughborough Universities. Our MTC membership will help to reinforce these relationships." Clive Hickman, CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Centre, added: "The Manufacturing Technology Centre was set up to bring together the leaders in manufacturing innovation. Delcam's international reputation and long history of software development certainly puts the company into that category. We aim to provide the setting where the latest research can be translated into mainstream manufacturing technologies." One programme at the MTC where Delcam has already been heavily involved is the RECLAIM project, which has the potential to save UK industry millions of pounds by re-manufacturing high-value components that would otherwise have gone for scrap. The process developed by the project uses laser cladding, automated inspection and high speed machining in a single, fully integrated re-manufacturing cell. This combination of technology enables manufacturers to repair and recycle worn, high-value components such as turbine blades, to a consistently high quality. It is expected to make a major contribution to the reuse of worn components in the aerospace, defence and power industries in particular. As well as being able to repair damaged and worn components, the system can be used to manufacture totally new complex metal parts, upgrade obsolete parts and reconfigure standard parts for low-volume applications.