The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s £43 million Factory 2050 is is taking shape on Sheffield Business Park. Mechanical and electrical services for the landmark, glass-walled reconfigurable, digital factory are now being installed, the entrance roadway is being laid and contractor Interserve Construction is on schedule to complete building work early in November.
Factory 2050 has been designed to help advanced manufacturers respond to increasing demand for high levels of flexibility and will be home to the AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group (IMG).
The new development’s facilities will be at the heart of a £1.6 million research project that will develop advanced, flexible manufacturing systems which be used by construction and engineering group Laing O’Rourke in a new factory manufacturing modular systems for new homes and other buildings.
Factory 2050 will be host to a project to explore future digital factory technologies for one of the world’s largest independent producers of commercial aeroplane structures, Spirit AeroSystems. A series of projects is in train to develop reconfigurable manufacturing systems into the future.
Once it is operational, it will employ around 70 people and directly contribute almost £2 million to the local economy every year.
Factory 2050 is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, each of which are contributing £10 million to the project.
