NEWS | EUREKA!
FMAASNTU-TFRAACCTKU NREERWS S TKOIL LS
SME MANUFACTURERS ARE to
pioneer an innovative, high impact
programme designed to upskill
their workforces to accelerate
the adoption and application of
additive manufacturing (AM).
They are part of the Fast Track
Additive Manufacturing - Upskilling
the Workforce programme, run
in collaboration with the Made
Smarter North West adoption
pilot, which connects the region’s
manufacturers to digital tools,
leadership and skills to drive
growth, Manchester Metropolitan
University’s PrintCity, and Fabricon
Design Ltd, a business specialising
in advanced manufacturing
methods.
The exible, modular training
aims to give participants a solid
grounding in all aspects of AM, from
understanding the entire digital
work ow end-to-end, including
the software and hardware, to the
range of materials that can be used
to create products or parts, and
post-processing skills.
The programme supports
the need for relevant and easily
digestible training for upskilling
and reskilling SMEs, one of the key
recommendations of the Made
Smarter Review, the independent
review of industrial digitalisation.
Ruth Hailwood, Made Smarter’s
specialist organisational and
workforce development adviser,
said: “This pioneering programme
is designed to provide businesses
with the skills required to
understand what AM technology
they should invest in, why they
should invest, how they design
products for AM and operate
the machines, and what bene ts
they can expect once they
have successfully adopted AM.
Businesses will provide real world
examples as training material so
that the course will address their
speci c skills gaps.”
“Working in collaboration
with Manchester Metropolitan
University’s PrintCity and Fabricon
Design, we have designed a
programme which aims to be
high impact and exible to
enable additive manufacturing
techniques and the associated
design and post-processing skills
to be implemented relatively
quickly to accelerate productivity
improvements within existing
operations and develop new
products and new markets.”
The blended learning approach
will include online workshops and
in-person site visits to Fabricon
Design’s facility in Ashtonunder
Lyne and STFC Daresbury.
There are also onsite sessions at
PrintCity, a 3D additive and digital
manufacturing hub at Manchester
Metropolitan University.
COFFEE SOLUTION TIME TO LAST CHALLENGE MONTH’S The solution to last month’s Co ee
The small fan draws them close
Time Challenge of how to create a
and then sucks them inside down
means of killing mosquitos cleanly,
a small funnel to the bottom of
portably and e ectively comes in
the Mosquitron where there’s a
the form of the Mosquitron.
catching tray.
The Mosquitron looks a bit like a
As the insects sit there and cannot
mini electric bug zapper when it’s
operating. It’s a black cylindrical
device that can be powered by USB
or mains power. This immediately
gives it a size advantage over the
traditional electric bug zapper.
The top part of the device glows
with UV light when it’s switched on
and a small, but powerful, fan sits
inside. The mosquitoes and other
ying bugs are attracted by the UV
light, as they are with the old bug
zapper.
escape, they simply dehydrate and
die. The bottom tray itself can be
removed at any time and the dead
insects can be easily tipped out and
disposed of. In practice, it’s an easy
device to use.
STL secures
EV funding SAMUEL TAYLOR LIMITED
(STL) has been awarded Innovate
UK funding as part of the recent
‘Catalysing Green Innovation:
Securing the Future of ZEV’
competition.
EVBus is an Innovate UK
collaborative project between STL
and TWI Ltd, aiming to investigate
an innovative Copper to Aluminium
bonding technique for use in zero
emission vehicle (ZEV) busbars.
Joining copper to aluminium
would allow for light-weighting of
electric vehicle (EV) busbars, while
maintaining electrical properties.
Busbars are an integral part of EV
battery packs. Improving the busbar
can lead to lighter packs, therefore
extending the range of ZEVs.
Successful bonding will allow the
resulting product to be laser welded
to parent copper or aluminium,
thereby solving the issues currently
associated with laser welding
dissimilar materials.
The goals of the project are to
investigate the feasibility of bonding
Copper to Aluminium directly or
using interlayer materials.
This work will inform the industrial
process feasibility and development
being undertaken by STL. STL aims
to use this process to manufacture
and market busbars for electric
vehicles (EVs) and ZEVs.
STL Sales & Marketing Manager
Carl Siviter comments: “STL are
delighted to be working alongside
TWI Ltd on the EVBus project”.
STL’s expertise in providing
specialist busbars for EV and ZEV
represents a signi cant area of
potential growth for the company.
STL already has an in-house rolling
facility manufacturing Silver to
Copper bonded bimetal, supplying
many tons of strip for fuselink
applications each year. There is a
signi cant challeng, but success
in this technology will assist in
developing the lighter, greener
vehicles of the future.
8 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | DECEMBER 2020
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