WMG is the lead centre for two of HVM Catapult’s 12 strategic objectives of Vehicle Electrification and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), and is active in deploying Digital Manufacturing technologies to improve supply chain competitiveness.
The Centre is helping industry innovate in a number of key areas, including vehicle electrification, intelligent vehicles, and materials and manufacturing. All this is underpinned by expertise in automation, digital manufacturing technologies and supply chain and operations, enabling more efficient and low-cost manufacturing processes in connected supply chains.
Their vision is to develop and enhance the UK’s automotive manufacturing capabilities to enable the development of cleaner, safer and smarter vehicles. This vision is closely aligned to the national ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, in which the Government outlines plans to make road transport emission-free by 2050.
But it’s not all about automotive. For the past four decades, we have been successfully transferring knowledge into other sectors, such as aerospace, rail, health and motorsport, demonstrating how well industry and academia work together.
The department delivers this vision by collaborating with UK-based manufacturing companies and their supply chains, helping them innovate to overcome existing challenges and develop new technologies. Between 2012 and 2017, WMG’s dedicated SME Group supported 789 businesses, creating or saving 240 jobs, and adding £55m in value to the West Midlands economy. WMG also collaborates with industry more widely; in 2017 WMG was involved in 14 successful Innovate UK bids, with a total value of £76.2m, demonstrating the scale of R&D effort that Catapult Centres can catalyse.
WMG is home to two UK centres of excellence in lightweight technologies, and energy storage and management:
We speak from a position of knowledge and understanding of UK advanced manufacturing and we use our expertise to help shape UK policy.
We speak from a position of knowledge and understanding of UK advanced manufacturing and we use our expertise to help shape UK policy.
Casting is a manufacturing process by which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and is then allowed to solidify.
Composite materials are materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties, that when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components.
Design for manufacture is a term used to describe the process of designing products/parts/components in a way that optimises all the manufacturing functions as well as ensuring that design supports the optimisation of cost, quality and regulatory compliance.
Advanced manufacturing is a highly knowledge intensive sector where advances in IT systems have a huge role to play in improving manufacturing intelligence; capturing, sharing and managing big data; supporting collaboration; increasing efficiency & speeding up innovation.
Electronics deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive electrical components and interconnection technologies.
A method for producing goods that is readily adaptable to changes in the product being manufactured, in which machines are able to manufacture parts and with the ability to handle varying levels of production.
Formulations refer to the putting together of components in appropriate relationships or structures, according to a formula.
Machining is any of various processes in which a piece of raw material is cut into a desired final shape and size by a controlled material-removal process.
Materials characterisation refers to the broad and general process by which a material’s structure and properties are probed, measured and tested.
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces.
Metrology (the science of measurement) provides critical quality assurance for manufacturing processes.
Modelling and simulation is getting information about how something will behave without actually testing it in real life.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the process of creating objects directly from digital files via the successive addition of discrete layers of material.
Many of the emerging production methods that produce net shape components begin with powdered metals.
Environmental legislation is creating a significant demand for electrochemical storage solutions for both static and mobile application.
The efficient use of resources in manufacturing processes coupled with low carbon and low energy manufacturing processes is a major target across the whole of manufacturing industry.
Tooling refers to workings or specialist manufacturing aids which are usually limited in use to a specific production line or the performance of a specific contract or job.
If you have any questions we'd like to hear from you. Whether you're interested in working with us or would simply like to know more about WMG, don't hesitate to get in touch.
International Manufacturing Centre
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL