University invites bids to build next generation factory
FIRMS are being invited to bid for the contract to build a new £43m state-of-the-art research factory.
In June, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing announced it had secured funding for the AMRC Factory 2050, which will be the UK’s first fully reconfigurable assembly and component research factory, capable of rapidly switching production between different high-value components and one-off parts.
Leading manufacturers including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Spirit AeroSystems are also committed to supporting the project.
The creation of the new facility is supported by a £10m grant from the Research Partnership Investment Fund, managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
Professor Keith Ridgway, executive dean of the University of Sheffield AMRC, said: “This will be the most advanced factory in the world. It will give us a home for the research and demonstration work associated with building the next generation of aircraft and energy technologies.
“The aim is to be able to manufacture any component as a one-off, and instantaneously switch between components. This will be a totally reconfigurable factory, one of the goals of the advanced manufacturing research strategy.”
The AMRC Factory 2050 will combine technologies including advanced robotics, flexible automation, unmanned workspace, off-line programming in virtual environments linked to plug-and-play robotics, 3D printing from flexible automated systems, man-machine interfaces, and new programming and training tools.
The building will have an area of around 4,500 sq m, and will be built to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ environmental standards. It will be constructed largely from glass, to showcase the advanced manufacturing technologies being developed within.
Around 50 researchers and engineers will work in the new facility, which will be completed around the end of 2014.
