HP commits £1 million infrastructure and services to Coventry MTC

MTC moved into its facility this year at the Ansty Business Park research outside Coventry, and is currently working with manufacturers across a range of sectors – including aerospace, automotive, rail and IT – providing space, systems and expertise to develop innovative processes. According to Volkhard Bregulla, HP's vice president of discrete manufacturing in EMEA, it will also now showcase HP's technologies, ranging from enterprise integration software to operational services for PLM (product lifecycle management) and MES (manufacturing execution systems) implementations. "We are providing an instant-on infrastructure, including our managed storage and networking products, as well as services and software components, adapters and processes for PLM and MES applications," explains Bregulla. "We see this investment as helping manufacturers to drive and accelerate ROI by linking standard software with reality," he continues, "potentially cutting development cycles in half and boosting engineering capacity in CAD and PLM environments." "Through the new MTC, manufacturers can now more effectively collaborate with HP by capitalising on [our] deep supply chain experience, gained from managing one of the largest and most complex global commercial supply chains itself.," he adds. MTC chief exec Clive Hickman explains that it's all about increasing manufacturing agility and reducing time to market, with instant and continuous connectivity for designers, manufacturers, supply chain partners and customers. "The Manufacturing Technology Centre will provide not only a high quality environment but also the resources necessary for the development and demonstration of new technologies on an industrial scale," says Hickman. "Today's announcement marks a key milestone in the growth of high value manufacturing capability in the UK," comments Dr Hamid Mughal, executive vice president, manufacturing engineering and technology at Rolls-Royce, one of the MTC's founding industrial members. "We are looking forward to working with our strategic partners, such as HP, and creating mutually beneficial, best in class technologies," he continues. "Our leading involvement is a major part of our commitment to develop a global network of advanced manufacturing research environments and establish a platform for sustained success." Other founding MTC members are Aero Engine Controls and Airbus UK, while research partners include the University of Birmingham, University of Nottingham, Loughborough University, and TWI.