The Manufacturing Technology Centre at Ansty Park (
www.the-mtc.org), near Coventry, is launching a drive to recruit more than 100 highly skilled engineers and trainee engineers to work on its ‘ground-breaking’ programmes in advanced high-value manufacturing systems.
An MTC spokesman said: “The new engineers are being sought to join the fast-expanding centre, which is currently fitting out a £30 million Aerospace Research Centre jointly funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute and industrial partners. The new recruits will bring the numbers of engineers at the centre to more than 500, and the target is 1,000 within five years.”
MTC chief executive Clive Hickman said that the new engineers and trainees make an enormous contribution to the capabilities of the centre: “These are high-level engineering jobs and much-needed training places that will benefit the region as a whole and — in particular — the industrial partners and SMEs who work with us.”
Meanwhile, the MTC has teamed up with a leading provider of high-power fibre lasers. As part of its partnership with IPG Photonics, it has taken delivery of ‘state of the art’ lasers that have “the potential to make a major impact on high-value manufacturing and materials processing in the UK”, according to a spokesman.
The spokesman added: “The new equipment — among the first in Europe — enables manufacturers to reduce costs while improving productivity and quality. It combines multi-axis flexibility, high-speed machining and minute
accuracy. The equipment has a high operating efficiency and is also more compact than traditional lasers, allowing better use of factory space and reducing the need for multiple machines.”
Mark Thompson, director of sales at IPG Photonics (UK), said: “IPG is committed to the MTC’s vision of inspiring British manufacturing on a global stage. Fibre laser technology can be scaled to meet market needs; this allows the supply chain to rapidly open up new opportunities in the aerospace, automotive, rail and industrial sectors.
“Fibre-laser technology provides significant benefits of high-speed processing combined with higher quality and lower cost.”
IPG has its headquarters in the USA, with manufacturing operations in Germany, Russia and Italy. It is opening a new UK sales and service centre.
The MTC — opened in 2011 — was founded by the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and TWI Ltd. Its industrial members include some of the UK’s major manufacturers.