Tuesday, November 27, 2012

News: Funding secured for "proving factory" in Rotherham

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Rotherham has secured its place at the heart of the advanced manufacturing supply chain with the award of a government grant.

A consortium of industry partners has secured a multimillion pound grant to create an advanced manufacturing "proving factory" in Rotherham to develop the mass production of new low carbon technologies.

The successful bid is from Round 1 of the Government's £125m Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) that aims to strengthen manufacturing supply chain projects across key sectors such as the automotive, aerospace and chemical industries.

Led by industry experts, Productiv Limited, working closely with Tata Steel and other advanced manufacturers and technology developers, the project centres on technologies with the "potential to transform the vehicles of tomorrow."

Productiv works to bridge the gap between small enterprises developing leading edge low carbon technology and large vehicle manufacturers. They allow carmakers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to introduce and validate new technologies at much lower volumes (up to 20,000 units compared to the usual 200,000) but still at an affordable price.

By working together it is expected that manufacturers will be better joined-up across whole supply chains.

Further details of the project are to be announced in the New Year but the grant is expected to be over £2m.

With sites in London, the West Midlands and Wales, Productiv is headed by Richard Bruges who was previously the head of innovation at Unipart. It has worked on previous government funded industry collaboration projects which has led to a key aim to establish a vertically integrated factory specialising in precision rotary machines and components including engine parts, electric motors, flywheels and gearboxes.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Over half the UK's exports and almost three quarters of our business research and development activity is in manufacturing, so it's vital that we create the right conditions to encourage growth in the industry.

"The successful applications in AMSCI Round 1 represent a high quality of projects that bring together businesses and forge new partnerships across various supply chains that will strengthen our presence in Europe and the world.

"Through this initiative Government and industry can work together to help UK supply chains become more globally competitive, and plug the gaps that act as barriers to efficiency and expansion."

The Government estimates that the award of £30m from the initiative in 11 projects will bring in a further £50m being from private sector partners and lead to over 2,160 jobs being created or safeguarded.

Productiv website

Tata Steel website

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