AMRC with Boeing to expand at the Advanced Manufacturing Park
Rotherham: Cranfield: Tuesday, 20th July 2010 The University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing is preparing to undertake a significant expansion of its activities at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham.The largest development will be the £25 million Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The Nuclear AMRC led by the university and Rolls-Royce will be a centre of excellence for research and development of advanced manufacturing technologies that will deliver step change, lower cost, high integrity components to the UK nuclear industry. The Nuclear AMRC will be the focal point for the technology behind the UK’s new generation civil nuclear manufacturing industry. The services provided to consortium members will enable them to be match-fit to win and hold contracts in the global civil nuclear market place. It is expected to draw together some 30 partner high-tech manufacturing suppliers who are committed to meeting UK demand and playing a significant part in global markets through the production of high-value, low-volume systems and components in a competitive manner. The plans also pave the way for the relocation and significant expansion of the AMRC Composite Centre. An extension to the Rolls Royce Factory of the Future will house the activities as AMRC researchers work with customers in the aerospace and automotive sectors on projects including automating the time and labour consuming task of producing composite components, and also how to combine composite and metal materials within single components. Moving the Composite Centre will allow a new Advanced Structural Testing Centre (ASTC) to be created. The ASTC will provide test and certification services for the AMRC and its partners and will include non-destructive testing amongst its capabilities. The final element of the plans will see the development of a Knowledge Transfer Academy that will assist companies to understand and implement the new manufacturing technologies and techniques developed by the AMRC’s activities. |