Coventry University’s Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) relaunched after a £6 million investment. The AME’s ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ base in the city has expanded thanks to the huge cash boost, with the new nearly 2,000 m² of space boasting state-of-the-art equipment, new teaching and research facilities, as well as six new laboratories and a robotics and testing area.
AME was born out of a collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart Manufacturing that delivers teaching excellence alongside the delivery of innovative research and allows students to learn while being involved in real projects being run by businesses in the city.
Marcos Kauffman, Director of AME and Centre Director of the university’s Research Centre for Manufacturing and Materials, said: “We are proud of the AME expansion which is more than just a physical growth of an additional nearly 2,000 m²; it’s a testament to our unwavering commitment to bridging the gap between academia and industry.
The AME expansion was part funded via a £1 million grant from the Government’s Local Growth Fund though the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) and the brand-new facilities were officially launched on November 8, 2023.
As well as a large number of guests attending in person, high-fidelity 3-D models of the facilities and equipment were used to create a digital universe – known as a metaverse – meaning people from countries right across the globe could take part in the live event using a digital representation of themselves.
Other new research facilities at AME include a digital twin pilot environment, which represents a physical manufacturing production line but as a digital representation, and a series of physical stations with fully configured digital systems to represent real, individual manufacturing businesses of varying complexity at each point in the value chain.
