society in general.”
Hickman says that the MTC’s next big
NMIS Glasgow
expansion will be in Oxfordshire, building on its
recently established tie-up with the UKAEA (UK
Atomic Energy Authority). In fact, an MTC-backed
apprentice training centre has already opened at
Culham near Abingdon (https://is.gd/weheti), which
aims to increase the amount of trained technicians
available to local employers in the county, one of the
UK’s high-tech hotspots. Some 75 apprentices are
already in situ, a gure that will reach 200 in the next
two-three years.
“We are currently looking at how we expand that
training capacity into a resource for nuclear fusion as a
clean energy source; at how we engage the wider
capability of the MTC into project delivery in that
sector,” says the MTC’s top man.
Although the MTC’s original vision to “inspire
great British manufacturing on a global stage”
remains the same, Hickman admits that the
organisation’s ambition to have a positive impact on
society has only been articulated uently in the
past couple of years, a factor that also comes with
growth.
GREATER CAPACITY TO HELP MORE
“When we were a 50-60-employee operation around
seven years ago, we only had a certain amount of
resource to offer our users,” he says. “Now, with around
800 employees, we can help a lot more companies.
We are currently collaborating with several hundred
businesses on an annual basis, which in turn means we
are working on 350-400 projects at any one time.
“Growth has also enabled us to help more SME
manufacturers,” adds Hickman. “We need that to
engender a better level of business sustainability.”
The MTC now has in place a programme of support
for the SME community. For instance, its engineers can
perform a free line-walk at an SME, looking at
manufacturing operations and offering up ways to
improve. This might involve self-help initiatives, or the
launch of an MTC project, or investment in some form.
“In short, expanding our offer to more SMEs is key,
as many are not prepared to travel more than 30 or 40
miles to participate in a project,” Hickman explains.
“However, we are not looking to do this in isolation, it will
be done collectively and collaboratively with others in the
HVMC. For instance, I currently have MTC
representatives at the National Composites Centre
(NCC) in Bristol, and others at the Centre for Process
Innovation (CPI) at Sedge eld.”
So what technologies are likely to underpin expansion
efforts moving forward? “Automation and robotics will
become far more prevalent,” he says. “But not a xed
robot performing a dedicated task, it will be multi-tasking
LEAD FEATURE GROWTH & FUTURE PLANS
robots linked with AI, lasers and optics. Another growth
area is non-conventional machining, particularly via
advanced laser processing, which will become far more
important.”
The story of growth is similar at the AMRC, as
research director Ben Morgan explains: “We
grew organically quite quickly in the early
days, moving into our rst building in
2004. Having our initial partner Boeing
commit for the rst 10 years was
hugely signi cant, as it prompted
other OEMs to come on board,
such as Rolls-Royce and BAE
Systems. Today, we have eight
buildings locally at the Advanced
Manufacturing Park (AMP) near
Rotherham, as well as AMRC
Cymru, the proposed AMRC site in
Samlesbury, and the Nuclear AMRC
Midland’s site in Derby, which
opened last year https://is.gd/
AFRC Glasgow
AMRC Samlesbury
AMRC Shef eld
AMRC Derby
MTC Culham
voxatu.”
Across the entire AMRC group, which includes the
Nuclear AMRC and the training facility, some 670 people
are employed. This gure is a far cry from the 40 staff
present when Morgan joined the business in 2008. The
organisation also has 120 members.
“Of course, there is no need to be a member to work
with us; we work with lots of big businesses and
hundreds of SMEs,” say Morgan. “Through catapult
funding and various mechanisms, we are trying to make
ourselves highly approachable. We can be agile, we can
be low cost, and we can deliver value.”
In terms of the geographic locations for AMRC Cymru
and the planned AMRC facility in the northwest, history
points to long relationships with Airbus and BAE
Systems.
“Also, the catapult has a 12-point strategy across a
range of different sectors,” says Morgan. “One is to
support the next generation of wing manufacture in the
UK, while another is to make the defence industry
competitive through support and by addressing its
challenges. However, it’s more about the supply chains,
rather than the OEMs, as to why we identi ed those
areas for new facilities. The OEMs have deep enough
pockets to send a team of engineers to our facility in
Shef eld to work on a project for a couple of weeks,
unlike many smaller supply chain businesses. Expansion
makes us more accessible and approachable.”
And Morgan is not just talking about the aerospace
and defence supply chains. In Wales, for example, there
are strong clusters for sectors such as automotive, with
Toyota and Aston Martin close by, as well as food and
drink, plus optical. So, are there plans to open more
AMRC facilities?
Map: shuvro ghose /stock.adobe.com
CPI Sedge eld
MTC Liverpool
AMRC Cymru
MTC Coventry
NCC Bristol
Nuclear AMRC,
Derby
AMRC’s planned
northwest facility
AMRC on the AMP
AMRC Cymru
www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets February 2020 11
/weheti)
/stock.adobe.com
/www.machinery.co.uk