Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Centre The University of Nottingham Faculty of Engineering University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD UK Contact Dr Paul Hamley Manufacturing Research and Business Development Manager Tel: 0115 951 4001 Email [email protected] www.nimrc.nottingham.ac.uk

Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

The Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre The University of Nottingham has an established reputation as a leading international research centre of excellence in Advanced Manufacturing. The Nottingham Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (NIMRC), which was established in 2001 with funding by EPSRC and industry, has focused on next generation knowledge driven manufacturing methods, technologies, systems and services. NIMRC’s mission is to pursue research excellence, generate high quality academic outputs and deliver significant and lasting industrial impact. The research is based on a vibrant portfolio of projects clustered in three main themes: advanced manufacturing technology, systems and management; light weight structures manufacturing; and sustainable manufacturing.

The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing, The University of Nottingham

The Centre is built around world-class academics and researchers supported by advanced research infrastructure and technology facilities for manufacture, testing and computation. Its innovative research activities have spread from basic research and concepts to industrial applications covering the whole product and system lifecycle. Researchers work extensively with industry to develop technologies, processes and systems to provide UK and international manufacturing businesses with competitive advantage in the global marketplace. We have delivered major impact for our industrial partners in such diverse sectors as aerospace, automotive, medical, instrumentation, defence, power engineering, sustainable energy, textiles and clothing, recycling and consumer products. This has produced significant step changes in production performance, reduced costs, lower environmental impact and improved lead times. The University of Nottingham is one of the founding partners of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and the High Value Manufacturing Technology Innovation Centre (HVM TIC). Our activate role in these Centres provides new opportunities for manufacturing knowledge and technology transfer, allowing accelerated testing, demonstration and industrialisation of manufacturing concepts, technologies and processes developed at Nottingham.

The Aerospace Technology Centre, part-financed by the European Union European Regional Development Fund The University of Nottingham

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Building on Nottingham’s unique position as a global international university, the NIMRC has also developed a strong international dimension to its research and outreach by establishing the Centre for Sustainability in Global Manufacturing at the University of Nottingham’s Ningbo campus in China, collaborating with our Malaysian campus in developing a strong local manufacturing research portfolio and creating new industrial collaborations throughout the world. The Centre supports a strong research community. Over the past ten years 21 Principal Investigators, 24 Co-investigators, 71 researchers, 4 technicians and 92 PhD students have worked on 93 projects which have produced 220 journal papers, 21 patents, high impact success stories and trained research engineers for career paths in industry. Our Innovation Fund has supported exciting new research for early career staff and Industrial Fellowships have given part time industry based PhD students tremendous benefits for their companies. It has attracted a further £26.9 million over the past seven years from industry, EU Framework Programme, TSB Technology Programme, European Regional Development Fund, the Health Technology Devices Programme and other grant providers to sustain and develop further innovative research for future challenges. The NIMRC research activities have formed part of the new Institute for Advanced Manufacturing at Nottingham, which also includes the Rolls Royce Technology Centre in Manufacturing Technology, the Waterjet Machining Technology Centre, the Precision Manufacturing Centre (PMC) and the Centre for Aerospace Manufacturing sponsored by Airbus. Turn to the next pages to read about the impact our research has made... Professor Svetan Ratchev, NIMRC Director

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Precision manufacturing The Precision Manufacturing Centre (PMC) combines world class expertise and cutting edge technologies to help companies create, develop and produce pioneering micro products. Building on the success of early NIMRC projects, the PMC was established in 2005 and supported by the development of its technology transfer arms - the Centre of Excellence in Customised Assembly (CECA) and Advanced Manufacturing Technology East Midlands technology transfer centre funded by ERDF.

The research portfolio in precision manufacturing has included the micro-assembly work-package in the EPSRC’s Grand Challenge 3D Mintegration and a succession of major EU and UK grants in high precision manufacturing technologies, which helped to enhance its high technology facilities, and international position as a leading research centre of excellence. The Precision Manufacturing Centre leads the development of the European strategic agenda for micro and nano manufacturing MINAM.

The Centre’s researchers and technicians engage in a wide range of projects from initial design modeling and analysis of complex micro products to developing and implementing bespoke manufacturing processes, performance evaluation, testing and validation using the world’s best precision machines and most accurate metrology in ISO level 6 clean-room facilities. Professor Svetan Ratchev and his team can develop new technologies and design and set up new reconfigurable production machines and systems for cost effective manufacture of products ranging from Formula One components to minute electrical circuits and medical devices.

As an example, the NIMRC’s Microtool project is delivering new micro-scale process and system integration solutions for product centred processing based on integration of moulding of micro-parts, high precision machining of micromoulds and micro/nano scale inspection. Spinouts include packages in the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine and collaborative projects with E-ON and BAE Systems to further application of our capabilities in sectors such as energy and defence. Contact: [email protected]

Dr Joel Segal and Professor Svetan Ratchev discussing microtool project results outside the Precision Manufacturing Centre’s clean room.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Medical implants NIMRC research into lightweight components for vehicles has developed into patented technology that could revolutionise reconstructive and orthopaedic surgery and produced a range of glass fibre products in worldwide demand. An early project led by Professor Chris Rudd which developed a new vacuum infusion process, better processing methodologies and tools for lightweight components resulted in the Biobones project to develop biodegradable composite materials to replace and repair broken bones.

Replacing bone usually relies on metal pins or plates which have to be removed later. The Biobones team worked with a consultant maxillofacial surgeon at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to develop a composite material with similar mechanical properties to bone, but includes a fully resorbable biodegradable glass fibre to allow new bone to grow.

To support this research, NIMRC funded the Centre for Innovative Structural Fibre Manufacture to produce strong, specialist phosphate glass fibres for biomedical applications using a pre-form draw technique.

Current work in Biobones has investigated additional high-strength synthetic fibres andexpanded research into composite cement systems, nano-composites, sol gels and electrospinning.

These innovative fibre forming capabilities have created new opportunities in polymer composites, bioengineering and tissue engineering for further healthcare applications and have stimulated interest from a broad range of internal and external collaborators throughout the world.

Funding from the Health Technology Devices (HTD) scheme is now developing prototype orthopaedic fracture plates with industrial partner DePuy. Contact: [email protected]

Dr Andy Parsons using the glass drawing tower to produce fibres for medical implants in the Centre for Innovative Structural Fibre Manufacture.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Carbon fibre recycling Research into recycling carbon fibres has led to lighter high strength recycled components for the aerospace industry and novel heated materials for garments and food bags. Carbon fibre is energy intensive to manufacture and most waste goes to landfill. Recycling has been pioneered by Dr Stephen Pickering at Nottingham to produce short individual filaments in a fluffy form and develop materials with appropriate quality control methods so that designers and manufacturers will have confidence in using recycled materials in future. Early NIMRC work used injection moulding to produce fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite materials. The Boeing Company funded further carbon fibre recycling research and product development for the aerospace industry and launched a new programme in 2011 to continue this work, providing $1million per year, initially for 3 years.

Spin out research has developed non-woven mats made from recycled carbon fibre as heating elements for garments and insulated food bags. This UK/Malaysia NIMRC project is working with Technical Fibre Products and EXA Technology, a Malaysian manufacturer, to commercialise the novel thermoelectric material for cooling and heating food containers and offer new markets to UK companies supplying recycled carbon fibre. PhD student Edwin Pang won the JEC Asia 2011 Innovation award in the student research category. His recycled carbon fibre as a heating fabric in pizza bags and gloves was exhibited at the JEC Asia Show in Singapore and promoted in trade-magazines. Contact: [email protected]

Nottingham’s recycling test facility. Virgin carbon fibre can cost over £10,000 per tonne. Recycled carbon fibre from the fluidised bed process is expected to be significantly less.

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Dr Stephen Pickering and Edwin Pang using recycled carbon fibres to make mats for heated garments and food bags.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Lightweight metal components NIMRC MANSAFE research into lightweight sheet metal components for the automotive industry has successfully branched out into vehicle remanufacture, aerospace applications and novel low energy brazing technology that is providing significant production improvements and cost savings. Development of advanced high strength steel for lightweight automotive Body in White construction with Ford Motor Company led to a 50% reduction of the force required by conventional pressing.

Spin out research to improve vehicle design through segmentation characterisation, remanufacturing and end of life reuse has produced a modular concept of vehicle construction where any vehicle can be rebuilt by making the elements larger or smaller.

A ‘closed loop’ method of whole vehicle remanufacture has been developed that Dr Peter Standring believes could triple the output of vehicle manufacture in Europe if taken up in future. Offering scrapped metal components as preforms for alternative manufacture could obtain 100% recovery of original manufacturing cost for the EU automotive industry, save around 0.9 million tonnes of crude steel in the EU, which in turn would save ~1.9 x 107 GJ of energy and 1.5 million tonnes of CO2.

MANSAFE designed tooling and components for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine has resulted in £1million a year cost savings, and other novel metalforming processes to obtain cost benefits via material utilisation and enhanced methods of production have potential cost savings of further millions.

Complimentary studies have also taken place on the development of E Business in the Chinese automotive industry to gauge how this global industry is likely to change in future.

The Plasmatron’s high temperature joining and welding system uses robotic devices to eliminate industrial problems. It operates at 3.6 times normal production speeds and has been used to improve in-plant process quality, efficiencies and cost savings in both the automotive and aerospace industries, particularly with aluminium and aerospace alloys.

The Plasmatron brazing cell at Nottingham - the only facility of its kind in the UK – is pioneering novel brazing technology.

A process for brazing vehicle roofs, joining advanced high strength BiW sections was developed by Dr Standring and NIMRC Industrial Fellow Johannes Dedenbach (Ford Asia Pacific Manager) and later trialed in Ford plants in Taiwan, Vietnam and Russia. This has improved Ford in-plant performance by over 300%. Contact: [email protected]

Dr Peter Standring, Dr Adam Clare and NIMRC Industrial Fellow Johannes Dedenbach, (Ford Motor Company) discussing results at the UK’s first Plasmatron brazing/welding cell.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Precision cutting Freeform abrasive waterjet machining research has developed novel ways of cutting difficult materials into complex shapes at Nottingham’s prestigious Waterjet Technology Centre The Centre’s six-axis computer controlled waterjet machine can cut a wide range of materials into three dimensional components, carve cavities and remove coatings. Using water jet pressure of up to 55,000 psi and speeds of up to 2,000 mph the machine can cut with great accuracy and refurbish components to reduce costs and environmental impact. Highly brittle ceramics and heat sensitive Ti-6-4 alloys are difficult to machine using conventional cutting tools. Professor Dragos Axinte and his researchers have developed novel tool path strategies to cut a wide range of materials into a variety of 3D shapes. Their technique is suitable for machining thin, fragile materials as it

exerts minimum cutting forces, incurs minimum mechanical or thermal damage to the machined surface with minimum burr formation, and it also provides omni-directional cutting with high productivity. New grants from the EU FP7 ConforM-Jet project (with Nottingham as coordinator) and TSB SAMULET project will take this technology to a higher degree of automation in future. Industrial users are interested in using waterjet technology to mill complex geometry surfaces in difficult to cut materials, while machine tool builders want to develop the capabilities of their machines in terms of increased system automation. Contact: [email protected]

Diamond micro tooling

A unique method for creating complex shapes onto diamond surfaces developed by NIMRC Industrial Fellow Paul Butler-Smith has produced new tooling technology that will transform the micro-fabrication industry. Diamond is the hardest known material, so takes a long time to shape. A patented highly flexible and rapid technique called DiaTex has been developed at Nottingham to create detailed and complex shapes and forms into the surfaces of diamond using a process of precision ablation with a laser. Paul Butler-Smith of Dimax Ltd is one of three part time PhD Fellows supported by NIMRC. His research with supervisor Professor Dragos Axinte has, for the first time, produced diamond abrasive tooling with precise features and controlled feature angles. This novel technology is 100 times faster and 20 times more accurate than mechanical methods and enables devices to be rapidly manufactured from diamond and related materials.

These include specialised micro tooling, electronic heat sinks, medical devices, micro fluidics for the analysis of cells, genes and drug dosages, tribological devices (valves and mechanical seals) and patterned diamond jewellery. He is now developing novel micro grinding tools for aerospace and orthopaedic applications and finding partnerships for his company to market and manufacture the tools. Three global companies have offered to fund further studies, The University of Nottingham has received letters of interest from two major European diamond tool manufacturers to apply the technology worldwide, and Element Six is funding a PhD programme Contact: [email protected]

Professor Dragos Axinte and Dr Carol Kong discussing abrasive machining at the Waterjet Technology Centre.

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NIMRC Industrial Fellow Paul Butler-Smith cutting diamond.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Thermoplastic composite structures Research into the design and manufacture of lightweight structures for challenging load cases has developed new innovative high energy absorbing materials which will provide blast protection for army vehicles. Early NIMRC work in lightweight structures manufacturing (particularly impact and fatigue) produced the world’s first frangible legform for pedestrian safety tests in the automotive industry.

Further thermoplastic composite (TPC) sandwich structures research by Dr Richard Brooks and his team developed modelling/simulation methods and vacuum moulding processes for curved TPC sandwich structures used in the manufacture of two prototypes:

• a metro train mounting beam with APT Ltd (for Bombardier Trains) which could lead to the first composite part designed for such a safety critical application, increasing the rail industry’s confidence in this technology. • a ¼ scale wind turbine blade with Skyrota using a new manufacturing process for this complex shaped sandwich structure.

These ‘shaped’ or curved TPC sandwich structures offer high specific strength, good fatigue resistance, increased fracture toughness and impact tolerance, unlimited shelf life of raw materials, cleaner process environment, shorter manufacturing cycle times and high recyclability potential which will benefit industry. Funding has been obtained for four new projects with industrial partners to move the research into sustainable lightweight high energy absorbing materials, in particular blast protection for MOD vehicles. Contact: [email protected]

Oluwatosin Aawoyemi and Dr Richard Brooks inspecting thermoplastic composite panels for blast protection on vehicles

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Technical textiles and textile composites TexGen software has provided the world’s first modelling capability for the design and rapid manufacture of technical textiles and textile composites. TexGen allows the geometry of a textile repeat or unit cell to be modelled automatically via a “virtual manufacturing” approach. Facilities for meshing, automatic property assignment and export to engineering analysis packages are incorporated and can used for variety of problems including manufacture of composites (reinforcement deformation, resin infusion, permeability), structural performance (stiffness, damage and fatigue), and mechanical/physical performance of technical textiles (airbags, protective clothing, paper making

fabrics). The Open Source software has recorded over 7000 downloads from all over the world (http://texgen.sourceforge.net) and a thriving global user community has developed. Textile composite materials consist of a polymer matrix (thermoplastic or thermoset) combined with a textile reinforcement. Materials of particular interest to Professor Andrew Long’s NIMRC’s Advanced Preform Processing project team have included commingled glass/polypropylene

fabrics, dry fabrics (woven, warp-knitted or braided) combined with thermoset resins via liquid moulding, and carbon/epoxy thermoset prepregs. Typical applications include high performance aerospace components, structural parts for road vehicles and wind turbine blades. Improvements in the accuracy of structural analysis for textile composites have led to reduced component lead times and improved properties or weight reduction. Industrial partners Airbus, Bentley Motors, GE Dowty Propellers and Rolls-Royce have benefited from detailed understanding of processing behaviour for advanced preforms, including triaxial

braids and 3D woven materials, and researchers provided ESI Software with permeability data to populate their database for customers (the first University to do so). Recent research into the feasibility of mapping of fluid content in impregnated textiles and void formation has used MRI imaging at Nottingham’s Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre – the first time the MRI has been used for detecting manufacturing process defects. Contact: [email protected]

Professor Andrew Long and Frank Gommer inspecting textile composite materials

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Sustainable manufacturing Natural fibres Research into natural composites is causing a stir with industries in the wind energy sector that want to use natural materials to satisfy their environmentally conscious customers Dr Peter Schubel’s team is developing fully natural fibre and resin composite applications, component manufacturing solutions, and simulation tools to optimise the design of small wind turbine blades. Their industrial partners are planning to use the materials and manufacturing technology to create new product lines and find new global niche markets.

Four natural fibres (flax, jute, hemp and Sisal) underwent extensive mechanical trials to determine their physical performance with existing resin systems (polyester, epoxy). Manufacturing trials included vacuum infusion, RTM, LRTM and prepreg, with appropriate blade moulds being designed and manufactured. Research with epoxidised soya oil and an exciting new resin extracted from a plant in Ethiopia shows significant promise in creating a full natural composite structure.

The small wind turbine (SWT) industry has expanded considerably following initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions but has faced challenges in manufacturing efficient small-size wind turbine blades. The industry was inhibited by inadequate design technologies and traditional manufacturing, which is costly, labour intensive and exhibits high waste levels. The NIMRC team believe that increased sustainability can be achieved by improving blade shape and implementing optimised manufacturing methods for their blade designs. They developed innovative simulation tools to assist component manufacturing solutions, including a blade shaping program which allows the aerodynamic

optimisation of small wind turbine blades. This is believed to be the first blade design tool that is suited to both small and large turbine blade designs and has been instrumental in obtaining new TSB funding for manufacturing large off-shore wind turbine blades. A demonstrator blade set is being trialled on a 6 kW wind turbine to showcase the developed technologies. Contact: [email protected]

L to R - Darshil Shah, Dr Peter Schubel and Tegene Desalegn (on secondment from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia) inspecting the injection moulding process using multiaxial flax fibres to manufacture a small wind turbine blade

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

Intelligent and reconfigurable technologies

International reach

Creating and developing intelligent and reconfigurable systems, machines and tools has enabled manufacturers to provide a cost-effective, rapid response to market demands for specialist products at mass-production prices.

NIMRC’s Centre for Sustainability in Global Manufacturing (CSGM) in the new Science and Engineering Building at the University of Nottingham’s Ningbo campus in China is establishing our unique position as a truly international centre of research excellence.

Early NIMRC research met demand from the aerospace industry to develop advanced manufacturing techniques for complex geometry components. Professor Nabil Gindy’s team provided innovative fixturing solutions by creating simple, cost effective, maintenance free fixturing prototypes using smart materials. Ten patents have been filed and four reconfigurable fixture prototypes produced to demonstrate how a single work holding device can be reconfigured for reuse. The developed devices offer several compelling commercial advantages: • They conform to component geometry, reducing component deformation • One reconfigurable device serves many components, significantly reducing tooling costs and lead time in the manufacture of new components. • Waste of material is reduced both in the manufacturing process and in the disposal of workholding devices that are no longer needed. • The technology can be scaled up and readjusted for use on a wide variety of machines from lathes to vacuum forming.

Notable technology transfer into industrial practice includes fixturing technology for thin walled structures developed for Rolls-Royce Trent T1000 casings and manufacture of single hit fixtures for Nozzle Guide Vanes reducing setups from 8 to 1. A Technology Transfer award from Innovation China UK (ICUK) to commercialise reconfigurable technologies in the UK and China promoted the technology at international exhibitions and led to funding from the Ningbo Government, China for a reconfigurable vacuum forming moulding machine capable of reusing the mould for many different components. Dr. Yan Wang is working with the Ningbo Disabled Rehabilitation Centre and a local company to use the machine for foot orthoesis. Research is continuing into a new method to fabricate nano-structured hybrid materials targeted for renewable energy applications (solar cells). Contact: [email protected]

The Centre hosted the 5th International Conference on Responsive Manufacturing – “Green Manufacturing” in Ningbo in 2010 and participated in the Shanghai Expo which attracted over 73 million people. Around 1 million visited the University of Nottingham’s Expo pavilion (the only foreign University to exhibit). It hosted 17 expert-led events, including Professor Nabil Gindy’s Sustainable Manufacturing workshop and the launch of the Sino-UK Low Carbon Manufacturing Consortium, leading to further invitations to run business events in China. As a result, Nottingham won Gold for Best Business / Community Engagement Campaign at the HEIST Awards in 2011. Professor Nabil Gindy, the CSGM’s Director and Ningbo campus’s Vice-Provost for Research was awarded the 2010 International Scientific and Technological Co-operation Award at the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Congress following the University’s accreditation by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology as an ‘International Co-operation Base’ to mark significant success in international research collaborations.

impact of engineered products through stages of product development in a global context. The software demonstrator systems are of interest to BAE Systems in the UK and several automotive companies in Ningbo. Research into eBusiness in the Chinese automotive industry found that SinoForeign Joint Ventures have adopted the eBusiness networks of the Foreign partner but there would be huge implications if domestic manufacturers were encouraged to use their own eBusiness systems and standards. The Malaysian campus has signed a memorandum of understanding with Auto V Corporation Bhd (AutoV), an automotive components manufacturer, to develop and commercialise products. Our UK/ Malaysian project featured on page 8 has obtained a commercial grant from CRADLE (a governmentlinked company administered by Ministry of Finance, Malaysia) to purchase equipment and support technology transfer. Nottingham’s Engineering Faculty Intercampus PhD scholarships programme is establishing new interdisciplinary research activities between its campuses in the UK, Malaysia and China.

Our UK/China project Eco-Efficient Product Development has developed tools to assist corporate decisions about the environmental

Reconfigurable device for the aerospace industry.

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Professor Nabil Gindy in the Science and Engineering building at Ningbo.

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NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

NIMRC: Innovative manufacturing solutions

A sustainable future Manufacturing and aerospace have been established as key research priorities for the University of Nottingham in its strategy to deliver research excellence with impact. Initial funding has been allocated to support staff, infrastructure and knowledge transfer activities for the Advanced Manufacturing Priority Group led by Professor Svetan Ratchev and the Aerospace Priority Group led by Professor Andrew Long, both NIMRC academics (www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/priorities). A £2.5 million investment from the Capital Investment Fund has consolidated our high technology facilities at the new Institute for Advanced Manufacturing (IfAM), which includes NIMRC, the Waterjet Technology Centre, the Rolls-Royce UTC for Manufacturing Technology, the Precision Manufacturing Centre (PMC) and the Centre for Aerospace Manufacturing sponsored by Airbus. The IfAM supports SMEs through Advanced Manufacturing Technology East Midlands, the PMC’s technology transfer arm. Nottingham is leading the new Manufacturing Technology Engineering Doctorate Centre in partnership with the Universities of Loughborough and Birmingham and supported by RollsRoyce, Airbus, Aero Engine Controls and the Manufacturing Technology Centre. The Centre opened in September 2011 to deliver a high quality EngD programme for research engineers (www.manufacturingedc.ac.uk). We also lead the new EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites. Partners Nottingham, Bristol, Cranfield and Manchester Universities are supported by the National Composites Centre and the Manufacturing Technology Centre to study next-generation composites manufacturing processes. Funding of £3.6million from the European Union—European Regional Development Fund has set up the purpose built Institute for Aerospace Technology to focus on multidisciplinary research, strengthen strategic links with partners in industry and bring new inventions to the marketplace.

The new facility on Jubilee campus consolidates a portfolio of aerospace research worth £35million, with more than 70 separate projects focused on key challenges in power electronics, electromagnetics, advanced manufacturing, polymer composites, non-destructive evaluation, thermo-fluids and many other areas (www.nottingham.ac.uk/aerospace). We are exploiting our unique position with campuses in Ningbo, China (UNNC) and Malaysia (UNMC) to promote our research activities and staff on the international stage. We are exploiting our unique position with campuses in Ningbo, China (UNNC) and Malaysia (UNMC) to promote our research activities and staff on the international stage. An International Doctoral Innovation Centre funded by the Ningbo Education Bureau, the Ningbo Science and Technology Bureau and the University of Nottingham to deliver a four-year PhD course split between the University’s campuses in China and the UK has also been launched at Ningbo. The Centre will support 100 full time PhD scholarships in the fields of manufacturing, energy and the digital economy, work with at least 50 companies and develop new business models to make Ningbo’s manufacturing sector more profitable, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Manufacturing Technology Centre The MTC’s purpose-build 12,000 sq. metre facility in Ansty, near Coventry opened in September 2011 to fast track new technologies into production and give competitive advantage to UK industry. Founding partners are the Universities of Nottingham, Loughborough and Birmingham, TWI Ltd, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Aero Engines Control.

Significant investment has provided state-of-theart equipment to support the delivery of industrial R&D projects across five strategic themes Advanced Tooling & Fixturing (led by the University of Nottingham), Near Net Shape Manufacturing, High Integrity Fabrication, Intelligent Automation and Electronic Assembly. MTC is a member of the High Value Manufacturing Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) network which has significant new investment funding for infrastructure and equipment.

For further information about Manufacturing at Nottingham contact Dr Paul Hamley, Manufacturing Research and Business Development Manager Tel: 0115 951 4001 Email [email protected]

“Working with NIMRC has helped us to generate innovative ideas for new processes and technologies and retain our strong global competitive position” Stephen Burgess, Manufacturing Process and Technology Executive at Rolls-Royce plc

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