£5m funding to boost high-tech manufacturing skills in West Midlands

The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME), a collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart to prepare engineering graduates with the experience and skills for the manufacturing industry, is to be extended after receiving over £5 million of funding.

AME, known as the ‘faculty on the factory floor’, was established at Unipart Manufacturing on Beresford Avenue in Holbrooks, Coventry, four years ago to provide teaching and research space for Coventry University students.

Around 120 students are currently studying at the site and, since AME was launched, 100% of students who have graduated have been employed in engineering jobs.

Work is now due to start on refurbishing one of the site’s buildings next month, with a view to it being officially opened by the end of the year.

The Government’s Local Growth Fund – through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) – has awarded £1 million of funding and Coventry University is providing a further £4 million to refurbish the additional building to equip it with state-of-the-art digital manufacturing and materials analysis equipment.

This will include investment in robotics, automation, digital technologies, laser processing and surface engineering - all designed to enhance research and teaching capabilities that will drive increased productivity.

Professor Carl Perrin, CEO of the Institute for Future Transport & Cities (FTC) and Director of AME, said the quality of students who have graduated has got better and better.

He said: “The vision for AME was to create a unique live manufacturing and engineering environment that inspires the next generation of engineers and develops powertrain and energy transfer solutions of tomorrow for partners involved in automotive, aerospace and renewables.

“Instead of just coming along to the Coventry University campus and working in classrooms and workshops, we wanted students to work on a live shop floor and experience real time projects as part of a team, under the usual time pressures and deadlines that go with that.

“Each year as part of their degree, the students are tasked with solving problems from Unipart’s manufacturing facilities and then presenting their recommendations to Unipart Manufacturing Group Managing Director Carol Burke.

“The expanded AME will consolidate our manufacturing and materials research under one roof and provide a digital manufacturing demonstrator for research, upskilling regional businesses and teaching our students the latest digital manufacturing technologies which will benefit future employers.”

Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering www.coventry.ac.uk/ame