The Future Metrology Hub, based at the University of Huddersfield and funded by the EPSRC and industry, was officially launched at an event attended by more than 130 scientists, engineers, academics and industrialists from around the UK. They heard a sequence of talks from key figures, including the hub’s director, Professor Dame Jane Jiang (pictured), who provided an overview of its work. She said that metrology is critical to modern manufacturing and pledged that the technology she and her colleagues develop in the lab – such as sensors and artificial intelligence control systems – would be geared-up for use in the real world of industry.

There are 29 industrial partners, including firms such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, GKN Aerospace, BAE Systems, Siemens, Reliance Precision and Carl Zeiss, all of which were represented at the launch. Another key partner is Renishaw, which has collaborated with the University of Huddersfield for a quarter of a century. Renishaw’s group engineering director, Professor Geoff McFarland, gave the keynote address at the launch day.
He described the trajectory of modern manufacturing, with its “intelligent factories with zero waste and optimal efficiency using automated processes”. Metrology was crucial to this, said McFarland, describing the science as “one of our best manufacturing tools”, and it needed to have a presence on the shop floor.
Renishaw has more than 1500 patents and patents pending, said McFarland, “but we don’t have all the answers and there are more and more questions. And that is why we are involved with this wonderful hub.”
For further information https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/fmh