Cutting-edge work within the universities is coming to the aid of forward-thinking companies looking to achieve their ultimate goal – high-end manufacturing. Andy Coyne reports.
Arguably it is in the sector of manufacturing that cutting- edge research and development within our universities should be able to make the difference.
We all know the days of mass production here are largely gone, disappearing to cheaper labour locations in Africa and Eastern Europe, but worryingly for us countries in those regions are also catching up.
The ultimate goal is high-end manufacturing – the creation of products and processes so far ahead of the game that the argument becomes about uniqueness, innovation and problem solving rather than cost.
But everyone is after that, so how does UK plc ensure it is ahead of the game? Well, one of the answers is via the universities. Major centres of excellence in manufacturing generally, and engineering specifically, have developed at Sheffield Hallam, Warwick and Strathclyde. Cutting-edge research and product development, as well as expert advice on processes and running a business, have helped many ventures evolve and thrive but have also given new life to existing businesses.
A good example is the Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) at Sheffield Hallam University, which was set up in 1990.
The organisation carries out research on everything from semiconductors and concrete to theoretical modelling and industrial applied coatings, but this is mainly applied rather than pure research because it is focused on real commercial needs and many of its activities are sponsored by companies. This includes sponsorship from a range of sectors such as petrochemical, pharmaceutical, electronics, aerospace, automotive and biomedical.
The institute also offers consultancy services, which may involve working with a company over a period of time, perhaps in its factory or premises.
Dr Hywel Jones, consultancy manager at MERI, told Spark: “For 20 years we have worked with local industry, from small consultancy work to large research contracts, and we now have a £4m to £5m turnover.”
Jones says part of the institute’s role is to change the perception of industry and academia. “There is still a traditional view that industry can be viewed as metalbashing and academia as ivory towers,” he says. “Both views are wrong and out of date. We are keen to make sure these disappear.
“Some of my guys have worked in industry before, and I’ve been into a lot of factories. We understand what industry needs.”
But Jones is realistic enough to know that its expertise is often best appreciated by next-generation manufacturers.
He adds: “Metalbashing is part of the regional economy but a lot of successful manufacturing is at the high-value end. They take an innovative approach to developing products. These companies are attracted to the university by the highly skilled environment.
“These high-end people are the ones we have the best relationships with. It could be people who have in-house expertise but want help in developing products. It could be a PhD or consultancy work.”
Yet, as if to prove companies don’t like to be put into categories, high-end work doesn’t have to be from new companies borne out of universities. They may be, dare one say it, metalbashers.
One company Jones cites is machine knives and industrial razor blade manufacturer Durham Duplex, which has been going since 1910 and is based in Sheffield.
The company has seen the benefit of working with the local university in various areas, including sponsoring a PhD at MERI. The qualifying student works with Durham Duplex, and the company knows specific research is being done on its behalf in developing new, highly innovative techniques for producing the next generation of cutting edges.
The student will explore the use of laser metal deposition, laser hardening and friction stir processing to manufacture sharp, long-lasting cutting edges for industrial applications. This will include the use of a range of deposition materials, exploration of the key parameters for each production process and the characterisation of the edge material in terms of its properties and performance in cutting applications.
This helps the company get bang up-to-date product and process research, and also brings more skilled postgraduate students out into the regional market when the course is over, hopefully to carry on the work.
A not dissimilar idea is knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs), whereby a graduate is recruited by the university to work in a company and given access to university research facilities. The company pays a percentage of the costs and gets a skilled employee and a gateway to university facilities.
Both options cost the company roughly £20,000 a year. But is even that too much for companies in the
current economic climate?
Those at MERI keep coming back to this question as the institute deals predominantly with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“It is a concern,” says Jones. “Some companies will concentrate on their core business. But all good companies, unless they are unlucky, will have enough resources to get through this and they have to keep an eye on the 12 to 18-month horizon. They will need a new product or process in place for then. If they don’t they will probably have a tough time.
“If there is slack in the system, such as unused machines, people should see that as an opportunity to innovate. If we can help them do that we will.
“Our day-to-day enquiries have fallen a little but they have not fallen off a cliff. And some of our business is distress-driven. We care about the health of regional businesses and want to do something about it.”
The University of Warwick’s offer in this area shares many of MERI’s principles, but the approach is different and the client size can vary.
WMG, formerly known as the Warwick Manufacturing Group, is part of the School of Engineering at the
university and was established under its director, Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, in 1980.
If the idea of universities and businesses coming together for the good of the wider economy has had standard bearers and visionaries, then Lord Bhattacharyya fits both categories.
His aim of reinvigorating UK manufacturing through innovative research and knowledge transfer was revolutionary at the time and based on his experiences and observations growing up and training in engineering in the West Midlands’ automotive industry.
The importance of this sector locally has meant much of WMG’s best-known work has been in this field, such as the £72m Premium Automotive Research and Development Programme, which started in 2001 and is funded by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and Jaguar.
But that expertise is available to the wider manufacturing community, an expertise likely to be enhanced further when WMG’s fourth building, the Warwick Digital Lab, is launched. The building houses ten research teams and looks at areas such as digital manufacturing and digital healthcare.
Dr Mark Swift, who heads the SME programme at the £50m lab, has been at Warwick for ten years and his work includes developing a group-wide IT development methodology for non-vehicle projects at BMW AG and MG-Rover Group. This followed working with more than 50 small engineering businesses to determine the requirement and status of collaborative methods and tools in the automotive supply chain.
The outcome was the deployment of virtual teaming practices, including video conferencing technology, and a methodology specifically configured for small business, implemented in 40 small engineering businesses.
He says: “WMG has been industry- led for more than 25 years. My programme has a regional focus. There is a £10bn output gap in the West Midlands and funding to address that from an SME point of view.”
Swift says it is possible to categorise the companies it deals with in three ways: “Twenty per cent of them would have developed technology already and would maybe have in-house research and development. These are the early adopters. Sixty per cent are the middle-ground companies that may need a bit of help and 20 per cent would be followers,” he says.
“We work with SMEs to do an analysis of their business and map it. Then we look to assist them in any areas where they need assistance.
“The digital lab is for digital technology and may look at areas such as digital healthcare. We are looking at a digital surgery simulator, for example. This would allow people to conduct virtual surgery. We have got a rogramme looking at that now.
“We’ve got all sorts of digital projects. It may be to do with the design of a factory, all the way down to where the robots go. And we can design a supply chain online.”
In the current climate many SMEs could only dream of having such equipment in-house. Using WMG’s facilities is a much cheaper alternative.
“The team has bought a lot of new kit,” says Swift. “A lot of it is the only kit of its kind in the world. Companies come to try it. One project at the moment is to do with replacing hip joints through the use of technology.”
Like those representing other successful universities in this field, Swift is keen to stress that the place isn’t full of academics tinkering away in their labs with no real concept of the demands of the real industrial world.
“We have a lot of industry people here,” he says. “A lot come from QinetiQ, the international defence
company formed from the greater part of the government agency DERA. These people can speak industry.”
Encouragingly, like Jones at MERI, Swift says enquiries have remained pretty strong: “People are developing new ideas and we haven’t seen a slowdown yet. Some companies are clearly struggling but there’s still strong demand for workshops and events.”
And he is pleased others have followed WMG’s lead. “We were the innovator but other universities are picking up on this with small businesses,” he says. “There is a real impact to the work that can be done.”