Topping out at the UK’s first ‘faculty on the factory floor’

Director Carl Perrin joined Coventry University graduates, who trialled a project designed on the AME experience, to mark the next stage of construction and reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring a new higher education model for manufacturing degrees. The Chartered Engineer believes the UK's first 'Faculty on the Factory Floor' has the potential to revolutionise STEM education by utilising closer links between academia and industry and allowing students to apply their learning direct to 'live' manufacturing projects. The first cohort of 30 undergraduate and postgraduate students will arrive later this year and benefit from a unique blend of innovative Activity-led learning in core engineering skills and product development. They will also have access to R&D projects focused on delivering the next generation of powertrain technologies for aerospace, automotive, energy, oil and gas and rail. "Numerous economic reports have detailed the need to design new ways of tackling the skills shortage. Our approach will ensure that we have graduates who can make an immediate impact when they leave education," explained Perrin. "What we hope to do at AME is develop industry ready graduates that have core engineering skills, have trained on the latest machinery and, importantly, have experience of what it is like working on 'live' manufacturing projects. The latter gives them the chance to learn about teamwork, communication and managing situations when things don't go to plan." The 'Faculty on the Factory Floor', which is being built by the Lindum Group, will initially house over 1700 m2 of dedicated manufacturing, learning and laboratory space. It will be equipped with more than £2m of state-of-the machinery, including the latest robots, CNC tube manipulation, high-pressure test rigs and metrology equipment. Professors, researchers and industry professionals will use the facility to educate students in metrology, manufacturing systems, mechanical systems and design. AME is a collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart Manufacturing. The picture shows Dr Carl Perrin with Coventry University student Vinodh Viswanathan.