The University of Sheffield’s pioneering Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre has unveiled plans to more than double its turnover to in excess of £80 million over the next five years.
Professor Keith Ridgway, Executive Dean of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing, laid out the ambitious plans to representatives of some of the world’s leading advanced manufacturing companies.
He was speaking at the recent annual Tech Fellows Conference, attended by AMRC partners, including Boeing, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Airbus.
More than 70 delegates and a similar number of AMRC staff heard Professor Ridgway outline new opportunities for the AMRC in fields including civil nuclear power, medical devices, training for the high value manufacturing sector and virtual and augmented reality.
Tech Fellows Conference delegates heard from other presenters about the latest developments and research plans of AMRC groups pushing forward boundaries in the fields of design and prototyping, process technology and composites.
Researchers also outlined how technologies like additive layer manufacturing were changing the engineering design process and opportunities for meeting the challenges facing the offshore wind power sector by reducing costs.
Delegates had an opportunity to visit some of the AMRC facilities, on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) at Catcliffe and learnt about new projects such as the Medical AMRC, AMRC Training Centre and Factory 2050.
The Medical AMRC has been set up to applying the organisation’s expertise in developing advanced engineering techniques for the high-value aerospace and automotive sectors to the healthcare industry.
The pioneering AMRC Training Centre, recently opened by HRH the Duke of York, KG has been established to train the next generation of highly skilled workers, who could go on to become world leading engineers and is already targeting further expansion.
Meanwhile, work has already started on Factory 2050, which will be the new home of the AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group.
Factory 2050 will be the UK’s first totally reconfigurable factory and will develop ways of responding to requirements for increasingly flexible, automated factories capable of making a range of highly customisable products.
