On 20^th June, the Manufacturing Advisory Service and WMG are running a unique event introducing manufacturers to MAS’s New Product Development Gateway programme, as well as a range of innovative technology and tools available at WMG’s International Institute for Product and Service Innovation.

The event will help local manufacturing SMEs create products that will give them a competitive advantage.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and WMG have a long history of working together and are both part of the West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium that delivers MAS support across the region.

During the day, the following sessions will be held:

Low Volume Manufacturing

A practical session offering an introduction to Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology and how it is possible to develop prototypes and tooling through this technology.

Product Benefits

A session using a "Design with Intent" toolkit to look at what specific behaviours you can derive through clever product design and how you can better meet user requirements.

Social Media as an Intelligence Tool

How chatter and discussion on Twitter et al can help you determine what your competitors are doing and how you might use social media to create advocates and a community to ultimately sell your products.

Dr Greg Gibbons, Head of WMG's Additive Layer Manufacturing group, was featured on BBC's The One Show last night in a piece about the future of 3D printing.

One Show presenter, Marty Jopson, visited WMG's facilities to see the range of work that is currently taking place and the number of different sectors that are are already benefitting from the technology.

The full piece on The One Show can be viewed on BBC iPlayer for the next 7 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rjzcc/The_One_Show_27_03_2013/?t=31m46s 

A new interdisciplinary research centre for industrial biotechnology and biorefining was launched at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) on 21 March. The Warwick Centre for Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining (WCIBB) builds on existing strengths in chemistry, life sciences, engineering and manufacturing.

Industrial biotechnology and bioenergy are key research priorities for funding councils. The centre will establish new links with the growing UK biotechnology sector in biorenewables, bioplastics, and renewable materials for manufacturing.

The SME team from WMG, at the University of Warwick, have been working with Birmingham-based Barkley Plastics for the past year in a collaboration which has led to increased turnover for Barkley Plastics of over half a million pounds and the creation of three new jobs.

The WMG team are based in The International Institute for Product and Service Innovation (IIPSI), a building funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and University of Warwick that is dedicated for the use of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the West Midlands region. Their in house Innovation Programme aims to encourage SMEs in understanding how new technology, processes and ideas can be implemented to develop new products and services to benefit their business. Companies can access three areas of support: Experience Led Innovation, Polymer Innovation and Digital Innovation.

A consortium of researchers led by WMG at the University of Warwick are to embark on a £3 million research programme called “Cleaning Land for Wealth” (CL4W), that will use a common class of flower to restore poisoned soils while at the same time producing perfectly sized and shaped nano sized platinum and arsenic nanoparticles for use in catalytic convertors, cancer treatments and a range of other applications.

A “Sandpit” exercise organised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) allowed researchers from WMG at the University of Warwick, Newcastle University, The University of Birmingham, Cranfield University and the University of Edinburgh to come together and share technologies and skills to come up with an innovative multidisciplinary research project that could help solve major technological and environmental challenges.

WMG is looking to make a number of key academic appointments across its full range of research activities in Digital Technologies, Materials and Manufacturing and Operations and Business Management, in order to enhance and expand its capabilities in these developing areas.

The new posts cover a range of research, teaching and knowledge transfer activities, working with partners in diverse business sectors such as automotive, aerospace and defence, digital, healthcare, finance, energy and pharmaceuticals.

The Group are currently looking for world class individuals who want to make a real impact in their field. The following roles are available:

• Jaguar Land Rover Chair in Simulation of Complex Hybrid and Electric Powertrain Systems 
• Royal Academy of Engineering / TATA Steel Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials Technologies
• Professor of Innovative Manufacturing
• Professor of Cyber Security
• Associate Professor in Service Systems
• Associate / Assistant Professor in Tropical Diagnostics (in collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine)

Other key academic positions in Cyber Security, Digital Product Lifecycle Management, Hybrid and Electric Vehicles and Nanocomposites will also be announced shortly.

A team of engineering students from the University of Warwick have returned from the European RoboCup Rescue Championship with two awards – and second place overall.

The eight-strong team of WMG and Engineering students won special awards for Best in Class for Mobility and Best in Class for Manipulation at the four day competition in Germany.

Engineering students at the University of Warwick are developing and building an innovative rescue robot, which will compete at the European RoboCup Rescue Championship.

The team of eight WMG and Engineering undergraduates will be searching for success in April when they take their search and rescue robot to Germany for the competition.

WMG has an extensive portfolio of equipment and resources, which are available for companies to use for testing and research. The equipment, which can often be difficult for companies to access elsewhere, is coupled with a very broad technical capability available from staff within the WMG. Companies are able to use the equipment in a variety of ways from a fully-funded, free-of-charge basis, through to a facility day-rate charge.

Our facilities are state-of-the-art and, in all but the most exceptional cases, are provided with expert technician support. All are offered at competitive rates, where applicable. Some of our equipment, such as the Vehicle Energy Facility, a Science City Research Alliance funded project, is unique in terms of being available for use within the public arena.

Contact us for a copy of our WMG Equipment and Capability Directory, or for a quotation.

Visit our business pages for more information.

Drayson Racing Technologies and Lola will unveil an electric prototype racing car the “Lola-Drayson B12/69EV” at the Low Carbon Racing Conference at the NEC, Birmingham on Wednesday. As well as being unveiled in the Midland’s the car drew on specialist materials research by WMG researchers at the University of Warwick in Coventry.