NEWS

<p> <strong><img src="http://www.bearing.com.cn/membcentre/editor/attached/image/20190426/20190426092847_97591.jpg" alt="" /><br /> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>A technology demonstrator to show businesses how they can grow through the adoption of smart manufacturing has been launched at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).</strong> </p> <p> <br /> </p> Developed by the MTC alongside the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University and a team of industrial partners, the “Factory in a Box” is an industrial scale demonstrator, showcasing how advanced industrial digital technologies can benefit manufacturers and their supply chains.<br /> <br /> The launch event brought together industry thought-leaders, academia and the MTC’s Smart Manufacturing Accelerator team, which delivers integrated manufacturing and supply chain improvements based on industrial digital technologies. Delegates saw the Factory in a Box demonstrator working on complex pipe-work manufacture and assembly for the thermal energy industry, but the principles are applicable to a wide range of manufacturing sectors.<br /> <br /> The Smart Manufacturing Accelerator process helps companies design, develop and operate a remote Factory in a Box and provides tools to adopt advanced manufacturing technology in a traditional manufacturing facility.<br /> <br /> The Factory in a Box demonstrator – which is part of the ￡60 million Innovate UK-funded Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) programme – was formally launched at the MTC in front of an audience of nearly 300 manufacturing leaders. Presentations demonstrated how their businesses could benefit from the adoption of a smarter, more digital approach. It demonstrates a number of industrial digital technologies in an autonomous, rapidly deployable, remote controlled, modular unit.<br /> <br /> Dr Hannah Edmonds, technology specialist at the MTC said: “A Factory in a Box provides for a disruptive supply chain solution for manufacturing enabled by the latest digital technologies. It can provide a rapid route to market for manufacturing innovations, while quality, product variation and maintenance can be controlled remotely.”<br /> <br /> She added, “Our Smart Manufacturing Accelerator team can assess manufacturing businesses and their supply chains to plan, design and implement innovative manufacturing solutions, either in the Factory in a Box scenario or a more traditional factory setting.”<br /> <br /> Professor Martin Freer, director of the Energy Research Accelerator said that after several years of research and development, the MTC had delivered the manufacturing dimensions of the project to optimise a manufacturing supply chain.<br /> <br /> “This is a great opportunity for British manufacturers to grow their businesses by using technology across the spectrum,” he said.<br />