Boost for manufacturing innovation at Sci-Tech
ACUTTING-EDGE factory simulation centre could be built at Sci-Tech Daresbury in Halton if funding is backed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA).
The project would be part of a £15m investment in The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), based at Liverpool Science Park, to expand its facilities and create more than 40 high-skilled jobs.
The scheme would involve developing an open access Digital Manufacturing Accelerator based in Daresbury and Liverpool and comprising two assets – a ‘rapidly reconfigurable factory environment’, which an LCRCA spokesman described as a digitally enabled ‘factory in a box’ test bed at MTC’s recently opened in the Knowledge Quarter in Liverpool, and a ‘digital factory environment’ at Sci-Tech Daresbury near
Runcorn.
These facilities would allow companies to test and develop their manufacturing process and systems and use digital technology so they could boost production and become more successful.
Announcing the plan, Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor, said: “The Liverpool City Region is already a hotbed of advanced manufacturing activity and we are leading the way, nationally and internationally.
“The funding will have the twin benefits of delivering solutions for established industries whilst also providing a space in which innovative and responsive SMEs can develop.
“Being able to support facilities like this, which will drive the city region’s economic fortunes, is one of the main reasons we are so keen to take more decisions locally.”
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