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Advanced product verification technologies will also deliver digital innovations that will connect supply chains, increase productivity, drive sustainability and create high-value engineering jobs.
Andy Silcox, AMRC Cymru research director, said: “This centre of excellence is investigating how manufacturers can get all the data they need without it being a cost or time burden, to process it efficiently, and then ultimately make data-driven decisions back on the shop floor.”
The grant has been spent on software and hardware, including metrology equipment to measure accuracy and update robot paths in real time; projected work zones to show live data; motion tracking haptic gloves; a suite of human behaviour sensors to capture biometric data; and a chroma key room to use with the latest mixed-reality headsets.
“We want to demonstrate the power of data to improve manufacturing organisations,” said Silcox. “The kit falls under three categories: data acquisition, data handling and processing, and data visualisation.”
Developing solutions
Technologies developed at AMRC Cymru through the centre of excellence will support projects such as BAE Systems’ Tempest programme and Airbus’s Wing of Tomorrow initiative. Sophie Lane, chief relationships officer at the Aerospace Technology Institute, said the centre is targeting several innovations that will make a significant impact on how the UK approaches manufacturing.
She said: “This centre of excellence provides a sandpit environment, independent of any vendor, for industry to develop solutions before they are implemented on the shop floor.
“Those innovations will lead to a digitally connected supply chain and smart factories that will strengthen the competitiveness of the aerospace sector and wider manufacturing sector, and lead to the creation of high-value engineering jobs and increased productivity.”
Sustainability is important for manufacturers large and small, regardless of the sector in which they work, but especially in aerospace.
Lane added: “Designing, manufacturing and assembling aerospace products with the end goal of sustainable aviation must be the focus of the entire supply chain if we are to meet the target of net-zero emissions by 2050.”
Silcox agreed that the key to the meaningful use of data, especially on sustainability, is understanding what data is important and then knowing that it is accurate.
Measuring energy use
He said: “Right now, businesses want to understand where they are in terms of their carbon footprint. It’s all very well saying you need to be carbon neutral, but if you don’t know where you are now how can you ever reduce it to zero?
“Manufacturers need to measure energy consumption at a granular level to understand what is going on in their facilities. Looking at utility bills can only take you so far; it doesn’t tell you as an engineer what you can do about it. The information you need, for example, is that the CNC machine that is 25 years old is drawing three times the current of a new machine, so you can make an informed decision on whether to invest in a new one.”
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