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TWI Hosts Free Digital Manufacturing Conference 2019

TWI hosted a free Digital Manufacturing Conference at our headquarters near Cambridge on 20 November 2019.

The one-day event focussed on Industry 4.0, including its application to joining technologies. With real industrial case studies, business tools and concepts, the conference spread awareness of the latest developments, opportunities and challenges associated with digital manufacturing.

The well-attended event saw expert speakers from industry and academia deliver presentations on how digital technology is revolutionising industry and business. In addition to the presentations, there was ample time to network with fellow professionals along with some equipment and technology displays. Exhibitors demonstrating their technology and capabilities on the day included Lancaster University, Kawasaki, ITW Welding and ATS. The day was rounded off with a Q&A session.

The Digital Manufacturing Conference 2019 is the fifth largest of what has become an annual event at TWI.

2019 TWI Digital Manufacturing Conference (Video)

Conference Running Order

The conference was opened with an introduction to TWI from Rob Scudamore and Darren Williams. While Rob introduced the event, Darren provided a brief insight into the collaborative FSWBot project and also delivered the results of a poll that was conducted among the attendees to gauge audience interest across a variety of digital manufacturing areas. 

This was followed by a keynote speech from Chris White, the Electrification and Global Engineering Alignment Manager for Ford Motor Group, on the topic of ‘Digital Manufacturing Engineering in Ford Powertrain.’

Following Chris White’s speech there was a second keynote presentation, this time from Vodafone’s Product Manager for Mobile Private Networks, Chris Allen, who spoke on the subject of ‘5G and Mobile Private Networks – Enabling the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Manufacturing.’

Next, Martin Kelman of ATS gave an informative talk titled ‘Smashing Business Silos with Digital Transformation,’ before TWI’s own Geoff Melton then gave a talk about the WeldGalaxy knowledge-based b2b digital platform for welding.

TWI Industrial Member company, BAE Systems were represented by Austin Cook, who delivered a speech on ‘Data Driven Manufacturing’ before a break for lunch.

Following lunch, High Value Manufacturing Catapult AMRC’s Head of Digital, Rab Scott began the afternoon session with ‘An Overview of Digital Manufacturing across the High Value Manufacturing Catapult,’ before Lancaster University’s Helen Wilkinson gave a talk called ‘Made Smarter: North West Pilot.’

KIT AR CEO, Manuel Oliveira provided an insight into gamification with his presentation on ‘Game-Based Learning for Manufacturing Skills Training in the Context of Industry 4.0,’ before a short break for refreshments. Following this break, Manuel Oliveira took to the podium again to speak on ‘Intelligent Manufacturing Solutions from LIT AR.’

The final presentation of the day was given by Digital Catapult’s Head of Manufacturing, Nick Wright, who spoke on ‘Rethinking the Role of Digital in Manufacturing Industries.’

The presentations provided a wealth of information and knowledge related to digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0, 5G, and more, while the day itself offered a good opportunity to assess how digital manufacturing is impacting a range of industries for the future.

After the last presentation of the day, TWI’s Darren Williams spoke on TWI collaborative projects before the day was brought to a close by Rob Scudamore.

Poll Results

The poll from the start of the conference showed that the attendees were evenly split three ways with regard to their reasons for attending. The results showed that the delegates wanted to network with peers, find out about specific topics and simply to have a day away from the office!

The attendees showed particular interest in digital and 5G technologies, with less interest shown for electrification. With regard to digital manufacturing, the event showed an interest in data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Although monitoring and sensors, automation, processing digital twin and digital connectivity were also of particular interest.

Attendees

The conference was attended by representatives from across industry and academia, including those from:

ABB, Acal Bfi, Air Products Plc, Anglia Ruskin University, ATS Global, ATS Applied Tech Systems Ltd, BAE Systems, BOC, Cambridge Hacklab Academy Ltd, Cobham Mission Systems, Cranfield University, Daventry Metal Products, Digital Catapult, Digital4IR, DIT Investment Services, Dyson Technology Ltd, Ford Motors, Forth Engineering, Gemserv Ltd, High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Honda Engineering Europe Ltd, HSSMI, IP21, Intelligens, Jaguar Land Rover, JCB, John Reid and Sons (Strucsteel) Ltd, Kawasaki Robotics, KIT AR, Lancaster University, Leonardo MW Ltd, The Linde Group, Lockheed Martin, London South Bank Innovation Centre, Miller/ ITW,  the Ministry of Defence, NPL, NPZ Technology, NSIRC, Plextek, Prometheus Connect Ltd, QinetiQ, Ransomes Jacobsen Ltd. Co., Susan Reiblein Consulting Ltd, University of Cambridge, University College London, University of East Anglia, University of Leicester, UPM, and Vodafone Plc,

Feedback

There was lots of positive feedback from the event, including:

“(It was) a pleasure to attend – not a marketing event. A true collaborative opportunity.”

“Very enjoyable, friendly people, good attendees.”

“Well worth attending.”

“Good quality speakers, excellent range of subjects covered.”

“Well organised, very informative and up to latest developments.”

 “Excellent event – well worth attending.”

“(It was) much better than the MTC event!”

“Well organised, thank-you TWI.”

Photographs

You can see more images from the conference on our dedicated Flickr page.

 

About FSWBot1

The conference also delivered information on the collaborative FSWBot project, which TWI is currently a part of.

The paramount safety and environmental risk in the oil industry is the upkeep of critical oil pipelines, where any failure may lead to an environmental catastrophe and cost many millions of pounds to repair and clean up.  The FSWBot consortium, including Lancaster University, are developing an internal robotic oil pipe repair capability, which will remove the need to stop the operation of the pipeline or endanger lives of maintenance operatives to effect a repair. The on board capabilities include power generation, NDE, machining and friction stir welding robotics housed in a multi segment PIG (Pipe Inspection Gauge) which operates inside a hazardous pipe line environment full of crude oil. As well as complex operational environmental challenges for the FSWBot, the ultimate goal is to have a fully autonomous repair system available that utilises robust hardware solutions and AI technology for making on board decisions. The project is at an early stage of development, with a prototype due to run in Jan 2021 in a representative environment.

About WeldGalaxy2

WeldGalaxy is a knowledge-based online B2B platform which aims to enhance the visibility of EU welding products, prototypes and services along with the provision of innovative web-based solutions.

Using a knowledge-based engineering tool, WeldGalaxy will streamline the technology selection process for end-users to provide a ‘plug and produce’ digital manufacturing solution within the bounds of regulatory compliance.

You can find out more about WeldGalaxy on the dedicated website.

 

1 The FSWBot consortium, comprises of Forth Engineering (Lead), TWI, Innvotek, London Southbank University (LSBU) the Joining 4 Innovation Centre (J4IC) at Lancaster University and is funded by Innovate UK (Project Number 104056)

2 The WeldGalaxy project has been partially funded by the EC, under Grant agreement 822106.

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