A consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has secured £22.6m of funding for a five-year innovation initiative, the first for the Advanced Machinery & Productivity Institute (AMPI), which will be based in Rochdale. The provision of this funding has come through UK Research and Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places Fund (SIPF).

AMPI will stimulate and support the rapid growth of the UK’s machinery manufacturing sector as it transitions to highly integrated digital solutions with sophisticated automated and autonomous robotic systems. The institute will enable invention, realise innovation, and increase the adoption of new machinery and robotics through UK equipment manufacturers. AMPI expects to grow the UK’s advanced machinery capability to a £2bn export capacity within 10 years, establishing over 30,000 high value manufacturing sector jobs in the process.

For further information
www.ampi.org.uk

ABB will acquire ASTI Mobile Robotics Group (ASTI), a global autonomous mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer with a broad portfolio across all major applications enabled by the company’s software suite. The move will expand ABB’s robotics and automation offer, ensuring it can offer a complete portfolio for the next generation of flexible automated solutions.

Founded in 1982, ASTI has its headquarters in Burgos, Spain and employs over 300 people in Spain, France and Germany. The company is majority owned by Veronica Pascual Boé, who is also CEO. Today, ASTI supports one of Europe’s largest installed fleets of AMRs and has a broad customer base in sectors such as automotive and pharmaceutical, across 20 countries. Since 2015 the company has enjoyed close to 30% growth annually and is targeting approximately $50m in revenue this year.

For further information www.astimobilerobotics.com

NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, managed by Mercia and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, is investing £750,000 into AME Group. The move will support further development of this product design and additive manufacturing (AM) specialist, including the recruitment of new staff and investment in new equipment.

Founder and now finance director of Sheffield-based AME Group, Ian Jones, says: “New technologies such as 3D printing have opened up new possibilities in product development and testing. As a result, the rapid prototyping market is expanding year on year. This new funding enables our team to support UK businesses with longer-term growth and their post-Covid bounce-back plans.”

For further information www.ame-group.co.uk

Delivering a single source manufacturing solution for aluminium castings is helping a Black Country foundry bounce back from the pandemic. Alucast, which employs nearly 100 people at its factory in Wednesbury, has secured a number of new wins with major carmakers thanks to its ability to provide simulation, casting, machining and the latest testing facilities.

The latter is now strengthened further with the company investing more than £200,000 into creating a specialist dye penetrant resource. A form of NDT, dye penetrant is used to assess structural vehicle components and other parts for cracks. This new line has been successfully operating for several months at Alucast, which is part of the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN), where five employees are already fully trained.

For further information www.alucast.co.uk

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has provided all mould and die shops using its WorkNC CAM software with immediate access to its model preparation software, integrating production workflows from any CAD model format to CAM so they can machine parts more efficiently and avoid costly errors.

The transition from engineering to production can be lengthy without the right tools to efficiently prepare solid models for manufacturing, impacting profitability. By providing WorkNC customers with access to its robust and fully featured CAD application, Designer Companion, Hexagon has made it easier to prepare any mould or die for machining while simplifying the challenge of working with a wide range of file types from different CAD suites.

For further information
www.worknc.com