About the AMRC
Where we started
We were founded in 1999 by Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, Keith Ridgway and Sheffield local businessman, Adrian Allen,
and build on Sheffield's indigenous expertise in manufacturing and
materials. The University of Sheffield has historically been a
world-leader in metallurgy and engineering research. Following the
closure of the city's mines and steel works, Allen and Professor
Ridgway realised that a new collaborative approach between industry and
academia was needed for if local companies were to remain competitive
in the global economy.
Their vision
was to establish a world-class research facility that would apply
Sheffield's traditional expertise in metals technology
and engineering to new and exotic materials such as titanium, inconel
and composites.
The result of their partnership is the
University of Sheffield
Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing. We
are a multi-million pound collaborative
partnership that combines the scientific excellence of the University
of Sheffield's faculty of engineering, with the expertise and
technological innovation of companies 
involved throughout the aerospace
supply chain.
Where we are
The AMRC is the anchor tenant of South Yorkshire's Advanced Manufacturing Park
(AMP), we have grown rapidly. Following our official opening in 2004
we have grown from two partners to over 30 in less than three years.
Our team of carefully selected staff is made up of over 50 highly qualified researchers
and engineers from around the globe. Our
expertise ranges from materials (for example knowing how the properties
of metals will react when machined materials properties
change), dynamics (how vibration can affect a cut) and composites to assembly (reducing cost and
increasing accuracty) and additive manufacturing (growing parts by
putting material on).
Equally
important for the region we and have attracted inward investment and
given advice, assistance and intervention to SMEs helping to re-develop
Yorkshire's local manufacturing capabilities.
We have now moved into the Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future, the second
phase of the AMRC. Our new building is four-times (4654 metres
squared) the size of our current centre, and will contain all of our
current manufacturing and research equipment, as well as some new ones.
On
March 6, we officially dedicated the Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future by burying a
time-capsule filled with over 35 items from our partners. The first of our windturbines is currently being erected with the second to follow shortly.
To read the press release for the event please click, here.
For press clippings from the event please e-mail Timothy Scherer.For pictures of the AMRC and the proposed design of the Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future, click here.
For pictures from the Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future dedication, click here.