The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is expanding its research capabilities to include castings technology, following its acquisition of well known Rotherham business Castings Technology International (CTI).
The University of Sheffield has acquired the buildings and assets of CTI and Titanium Castings UK Ltd (TCUK) including the ongoing research work, commercial contracts and consultancy.
As part of the agreement, staff at CTI and TCUK are transferring to the employment of a University of Sheffield subsidiary company.
The new addition to its portfolio will allow the AMRC to offer castings technologies to its industrial partners, adding breadth and depth to the University’s collaborative research capabilities.
Professor Keith Ridgway CBE, who founded AMRC, said the AMRC played a major role in supporting the UK’s advanced manufacturing industry its aim is to work with industrial partners to be at the forefront of advanced manufacturing research and help companies to address real manufacturing challenges.
“Acquiring CTI will complement our existing strengths and provide another important aspect to our work with industry,” he said. “Set in the context of the AMRC’s overall vision to be the world’s leading manufacturing technology research centre, CTI is a core element which sits alongside the AMRC with Boeing, Nuclear AMRC, Design Prototype & Test Centre, apprentice Training Centre, Namtec and the reconfigurable Factory 2050.”
The original Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing, founded in 2001 as a partnership between The University of Sheffield and the Boeing Company, has grown to include collaboration with over 70 manufacturing companies, including BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Spirit AeroSystems, UTC Aerospace Systems, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and other leading manufacturers. Core research areas include machining, assembly, composites manufacturing and structural testing.
CTI Chairman Tom Westley said: “This is a real win-win situation for our members and staff. Our members will continue to receive all the services they have always enjoyed, but with the much enhanced resources of the University of Sheffield to support an ambitious expansion of our activities on the AMP.”
