AMRC marks 25 years with ambition to quadruple industrial impact
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The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has refocused its strategy, prioritising the high-growth aerospace, defence and nuclear energy sectors and setting a bold ambition to quadruple its economic impact over the next decade.
As the AMRC marks its 25th anniversary, it is focusing its research and technology capabilities on accelerating technology adoption and building sovereign UK supply chains to help UK manufacturers scale and compete globally. The strategic shift is anchored by its major research programmes including the £54 million Composites at Speed and Scale (COMPASS) facility and small modular reactor (SMR) development supporting Rolls-Royce SMR.
It builds on the AMRC’s 25-year track record of innovation-led impact that has already helped attract £350m inward investment and more than 2,500 manufacturing jobs into the South Yorkshire manufacturing cluster. Further recent investments include McLaren Automotive’s announcement of a £40m expansion of its composites technology centre, creating 300 jobs, and a £19m investment by Rolls-Royce into its Advanced Blade Casting Facility, both located close to the AMRC.
Professor Ben Morgan is chief executive officer at the AMRC and is leading the centre in its refreshed strategy, which is aligned to national priorities set out in the government’s industrial strategy.
He said: “For 25 years, our mission has been to take high-risk R&D off industry’s shoulders so manufacturers can start, scale, and stay in the UK.
“As industrial and national priorities shift, we are putting our technical capabilities squarely behind aerospace, defence, and nuclear and clean energy.
“Our goal for the next decade is to quadruple our historical impact. We aren't just doing research - we are driving up shop-floor production rates, shortening technology adoption cycles and ensuring critical supply chains remain firmly anchored in the UK.”
Founded in 2001 with just a team of eight, the AMRC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and was set up to build a bridge between the research happening in university labs and the practical needs of production lines. It has since become a global model for how research-led innovation can regenerate communities and use advanced manufacturing as an economic engine to create wealth and jobs.
Katherine Bennett CBE, chief executive officer of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, congratulated the AMRC on ‘25 years of transforming UK manufacturing’.
She said: “Throughout my career in aerospace, I have seen first-hand the reputation the AMRC has built for turning world-class research into real-world impact through close collaboration between industry, academia and government, from South Yorkshire to the North West and Wales.”
The AMRC employs more than 570 skilled researchers and manufacturing experts across centres in South Yorkshire, Wales and Lancashire and remains a proven engine for regional growth. A recent report showed Rotherham’s productivity had grown by 64 per cent since 2004, driven in large part by the Advanced Manufacturing Park, and anchored by the AMRC.
Based on the former Orgreave Colliery and coke works, the AMRC is at the heart of the Advanced Manufacturing Park, acting as the primary catalyst for transforming the brownfield site into what it is today - one of the most important concentrations of advanced manufacturing capability in the country, boasting global titans like Boeing, Rolls-Royce and McLaren, alongside critical supply chain companies.
Lane Ballard, chief technology officer for Boeing, said: “Twenty-five years ago Boeing jointly established the AMRC alongside the University of Sheffield. We have never looked back.
"This year, we began the latest chapter of our partnership with the opening of the COMPASS facility, home to Boeing’s largest global R&D project, IHSS. The foundation of advanced manufacturing lies in fusing quality research, skills and supply chains.
"We are proud of what our teams continue to create in partnership in South Yorkshire.”
Alan Pardoe, senior manager for manufacturing capability delivery at Rolls-Royce SMR, said: “The AMRC has played a leading role in advancing UK manufacturing over the past 25 years.
“Through its unique and collaborative approach with British industry, it has helped turn ambition into reality - developing the skills, technologies and expertise required for long-term, sustainable success.”