LEAD FEATURE ADVANCED MACHINERY INNOVATION INITIATIVE
Inset: PTG/
Holroyd CEO
Dr Tony Bannan,
OBE, says the
AMP Institute
will appeal to
all machinery
manufacturers
and users
innovative stuff and trying to create things to help their
own processes internally, so you end up with a lot of
special-purpose, bespoke machines. Those kind of
companies with access to leading-edge machinery
specialists could potentially be interested in
collaborating with the AMP Institute.
“But there is an element of future modelling
because we don’t know what kind of product will be
made in the UK or any of the advanced economies in
20 years. For example, there is a school of thought that
says it’s not going to be minerals-based and metalsbased
but could be more than 50%
cellular-based, so plant-based, biological
and so on. There will be manufacturing
methods that are not in existence
today that will be needed for those
processes. We’re reaching out into
the unknown a little bit as well. But
as it stands today, there is not a
forum or an entity in the UK that is
looking at this area. There are
pockets within universities and
companies that are obviously
engaged in thinking about it, but
there’s no centralised hub, those whose
Institute will be that hub.” And in creating these
future machines, digital technologies involving
intelligent, connected equipment – Industry 4.0 – will
be a major part, of course, he adds.
Picking up the measurement/NPL aspect, Edwards
explains further: “The next generation
of machinery design, its manufacture and operation,
is dependent on precision, con dence and traceability,
which is everything that’s fundamental to NPL, in such
things as dynamic dimensional position, mechanical
control and the digitalisation that Tony talked about.
“And then data-driven design; you know, it will be
necessary to have con dence in the data that’s going
into the simulations that are producing the designs for
the parts to be made. These are all fundamental and
growing strengths of NPL. And, speci cally, it aligns with
our ambition to develop capability that’s needed by UK
industry moving forward.
“But, summing up, the development of nextgeneration
machinery is going to need a new generation
of metrology, and for NPL to be in the heart of an
industry-led initiative that is coming up with these
challenges, and to be solving them with industry as it is
starting to experience them, is just a perfect position
for us to be in.”
Underlining the wide collaborative foundation that
the AMP Institute sits on is the existence of an
industrial steering board. Edwards again: “We have a
regular meeting of the industrial steering group that is
driving the institute’s development and shaping the
onward delivery. This is our primary focus and it’s
critical to make sure the project remains industry led
and that it delivers what industry needs in a way that
industry can get hold of it and take full advantage.”
The steering group includes the rms already
named, plus laser micro-machinist M Solv, global
metrology/additive manufacturing/medical engineering
expert Renishaw, AWE Aldermaston, University of
Salford Robotics Group, Manchester University,
Rochdale Development Agency and MACH exhibition
country.
Involvement of such bodies as combined authorities
means that the socio-economic impact and
sustainability can also be modelled, with initial
estimates suggesting that the institute will “generate
660 new direct jobs and 530 indirect jobs across the
region” in coming years. In a similar political context,
paralleling government priorities for the UK is also
considered important – a green economic recovery,
levelling up of skills, levelling up between regions, and
so on.
With a research portfolio already being formulated
and with industry’s needs becoming clearer, the next
step is to launch the AMP Institute to a wider audience
through workshops to build further momentum and
engagement. First off, a September, invite-only event for
industry took place to help further de ne, and
challenge, the model that is proposed. A second
workshop this month will be broader and more
open, spreading the news and information
about the AMP Institute more widely. The
deadline for the ‘Strength in Places’
competition proper is late November,
with the outcome expected in
summer 2021.
Read details from the ‘Future State
Workshop of UK Advanced Machinery
Manufacturers report’ on p14.
based remit it is to be doing that stuff. The AMP
organiser and industry representative body the
Manufacturing Technologies Association.
On the periphery, there’s: NOV Mono
Pumps in Middleton, Manchester;
Hopwood Hall FE College,
Rochdale; Greater Manchester
Combined Authority; plus West
Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Basically, there’s a general interest
along the Manchester-Yorkshire
corridor, which has “an awful lot of
very relevant skills and capability,
plus companies that have relevance
here”. But the AMP Institute will leverage
organisations and work with rms across the
Below: Professor
Paul Shore has
spent a lifetime
working in the
fi eld of precison
engineering, in
both industry
and academia.
He is one of the
main proponents
behind the
creation of the
AMP Institute
www.machinery.co.uk | MachineryMagazine | @MachineryTweets | October 2020 13
/www.machinery.co.uk