The new centre is a major expansion of the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, part of the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
Around 150 regional manufacturers and stakeholders attended launch event at the iHub on Wednesday, 13 February, to experience the state-of-the-art manufacturing R&D in the Nuclear AMRC's new workshops and hear high level speakers from industry and government discuss the challenges facing manufacturers of all sizes.
Industry speakers included Dr Hamid Mughal, director of manufacturing at Rolls-Royce; Will Tanner, director of public affairs at Bombardier; and Neil Foreman, chief executive of Centronic, a new member company of the Nuclear AMRC.
Speakers from government included Craig Lester, deputy director of nuclear strategy at BEIS, presenting an update on the UK's nuclear programme; and Councillor Chris Poulter, leader of Derby City Council, discussing regional innovation challenges.
Said Andrew Storer, chief executive officer of the Nuclear AMRC: “Our new facility in Derby gives us an incredible opportunity to work with manufacturers of all sizes operating in the most economically important industries across the Midlands. As well as helping companies win work in nuclear, the technologies we are developing can tackle the manufacturing challenges in automotive, rail, aerospace, renewable energy and many other high-value sectors.
“We have already helped dozens of Midlands-based manufacturers become Fit For Nuclear through our supply chain development programme, and want to collaborate with even more to support their ambitions to innovate and win work at home and worldwide.”
The new facility is a collaboration between the Nuclear AMRC, Derby City Council and the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.
Nuclear AMRC Midlands is initially based in two workshops and two office suites within iHub. The workshops will act as flexible incubators for new manufacturing technologies, operating at an earlier level of manufacturing readiness than the Nuclear AMRC's other facilities in Rotherham and Birkenhead, and exploring new technology areas, including electrical controls and instrumentation. The facility will also act as a regional base for the centre's supply chain development programme, allowing the Nuclear AMRC team to work more closely with companies across the UK’s manufacturing heartlands and help them become Fit For Nuclear.
The iHub facility is just the first phase of Nuclear AMRC Midlands. The centre continues to work with Derby City Council, the D2N2 LEP and industrial partners to develop proposals for a bespoke research facility of around 6,000 square metres on Infinity Park. The proposed centre will focus on later-stage development in technology areas that will deliver the maximum impact for the UK's supply chain.
