EDT MATTER - Manufacturing Advances Through Training Engineering Researchers

过去10年，英国制造业投资不足，使这一至关重要的经济支柱暴露在风险之中。经济合作与发展组织(OECD)的统计数据显示，将英国与自新千年开始以来行业增长的竞争对手进行比较时，这一点非常明显--英国拥有最大比例的低技术公司--制造业的员工比例最低--研发支出占GDP的比例最低，而与生产率相比，研发成本最高。最近的经济危机突显了英国对金融服务业的过度依赖。法国和德国等拥有更大且不断增长的制造业基地的国家，摆脱全球衰退的速度都比英国更快。EPSRC已经认识到了对制造业支持的差距，他们提供了资金来刺激新的IMRC和博士培训中心，这些中心可以通过与大学的科学基地密切合作来支持英国的制造业。MATTER是斯旺西专门针对高科技先进制造业的新倡议，利用了斯旺西大学博士中心在管理行业方面的丰富经验。物质将在斯旺西工程学院提供的跨三个研究中心--计算、材料和纳米技术--的多学科研究环境中运行。它将由一个由经验丰富的研究人员组成的团队领导，他们代表了各中心的广泛专业知识。自1992年EngD概念诞生以来，斯旺西一直是该概念的先驱。获奖的研究和培训伙伴关系继续与威尔士钢铁业和燃气轮机结构金属系统的两个高度集中的博士培训伙伴关系。斯旺西也是ERDF资助的项目ASTUTE的牵头组织，该项目旨在通过博士后研究和从学术界到工业界的广泛知识转移活动，支持威尔士的先进可持续制造技术。制造业也在HEFCW资助的项目中发挥了重要作用，该项目旨在建立由斯旺西大学领导的威尔士航空航天研究组织Arrow。后者是为了建设研究能力，但它缺乏资金让博士生更广泛地接触工业。在分析包装和航空航天行业的技术路线图文件以及向制造业提供的支持组合时，斯旺西大学确定了与包装、汽车和航空航天供应链合作的关键差距和机会，特别是在现有资金覆盖的欧盟趋同领域之外。在这些技术集群中，有关键的横切主题、精益原则、可持续性和附加值。支持方面的缺口将通过建立一个先进制造中心来填补，该中心将培训至少26名工程博士研究工程师，为现有的服务于威尔士融合地区的培训计划增加价值。Matter将专注于增加产品和工艺的智力价值，以通过创新增加价值，减少英国大部分行业的大宗商品元素。Matter的一个关键重点领域将是改进流程，以最大限度地减少浪费并提高质量。斯旺西大学现有的基础设施将为Matter提供支持，最大限度地增加可以培训的学生数量。斯旺西将贡献56%的费用，以及提供培训成本和管理支持，这些费用来自他们围绕几个大型项目建立的广泛基础设施，如带状、敏锐和箭头。工业界还将在实物支持和现金方面做出相当大的额外贡献。工业界和斯旺西大学对Matter的贡献加在一起，将为EPSRC每1个请求提供大约2个。

Underinvestment in Manufacturing in the UK over the past decade has left this vital pillar of the economy exposed. OECD statistics show this starkly when comparing the UK to competitors whose sectors have grown since the start of the new millennium - the UK has- The largest proportion of low technology companies - The lowest proportion of employees in manufacturing- The lowest R & D spend as a function of GDP- The highest wage costs when compared to productivity.The recent economic crisis has highlighted the UK's over dependence on the financial services sector. Countries such as France and Germany with larger and growing manufacturing bases both emerged from the global recession more rapidly than the UK. This gap in support for the manufacturing sector has been recognised by EPSRC who made provisions to stimulate new IMRCs and doctorate training centres which can support UK manufacturing through close collaboration with the science base at universities.MATTER is a new initiative at Swansea specifically targeted at high technology advanced manufacturing and exploits the considerable experience of running industry facing doctorate centres at Swansea University. MATTER will be run in the multidisciplinary research environment provided in the School of Engineering at Swansea spanning all three research centres - computational, materials and nanotechnology. It will be led by a team of highly experienced researchers representing a wide range of expertise across the centres. Swansea has been a pioneer of the EngD concept since its inception in 1992. The award winning research and training partnerships continue with two highly focused doctoral training partnerships for the steel industry in Wales and for structural metallic systems for gas turbines. Swansea is also the lead organisation on the ERDF funded project ASTUTE to support Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies in Wales with postdoctoral research and extensive knowledge transfer activities from academia to industry. Manufacturing also strongly features in the HEFCW funded project to establish ArROW, an Aerospace Research Organisation Wales, which is led by Swansea University. The latter is to build research capacity, but it lacks funds for the critical element of doctoral students to more extensively engage with industry.In analysing technical roadmapping documents from the packaging and the aerospace industries, and the portfolio of support offered to manufacturing industries, Swansea University has identified key gaps and opportunities to work with the supply chains in Packaging, Automotive and Aerospace specifically outside of the EU convergence areas covered by existing funding. Within these technology clusters are key cross cutting themes, lean principles, sustainability, and value added. The gap in support will be filled through the generation of an advanced manufacturing centre that will train a minimum of 26 engineering doctorate research engineers, adding value to the training schemes already in place to service the Welsh convergence regions. MATTER will concentrate on increasing the intellectual value of the products and processes in order to add value through innovation, decreasing the commodity element of much of the UK sector. A key area of focus for MATTER will be improving processes to minimise waste and to improve quality.The existing infrastructure at Swansea University will underpin MATTER maximising the number of students that can be trained. Swansea will contribute 56% of the fees along with the provision of training costs and administration support from within their extensive infrastructure build up around several large scale projects, such as STRIP, ASTUTE and ArROW. Industry will also make a considerable additional contribution both in terms of in kind support and cash. The combined contribution from industry and Swansea University to MATTER will provide approximately 2 for every 1 requested from EPSRC.