Sheffield Rising
Today, Sheffield has come back a long way with a resurgence of advanced manufacturing in the area.
Once Sheffield, England, was an industrial center for Great Britain with huge steel and coal mining enterprises. Then came nationalization and the loss of 100,000 jobs in those industries and others. It was very hard times for the region.
Well, it’s hard to keep these people down, and today Sheffield has come back a long way with a resurgence of advanced manufacturing in the area. Emblematic of this resurgence is the AMRC (Advanced Manufacturing Resource Center) built on 200 acres that were once basically a slag heap.
From a single center employing 20 people more than a decade ago, it has grown to provide 2,000 jobs in its seven centers, each dedicated to an aspect of advanced manufacturing. It also supports 650 apprentices with the hopes of creating sustainability for manufacturing beyond the current generation.
AMRC is combination of participants including 80 industrial partners such as Boeing as well as the British Government all under the auspices of the University of Sheffield. This three-legged stool is a collaboration that is not only scalable, but also portable to other areas of the world looking to establish or re-establish high end manufacturing for the future.
AMRC with Boeing applies its world-leading research capabilities to address needs for present and future demands in aerospace, automotive, power generation, and medical among other high value manufacturing sectors it serves. Over time, it has built a global reputation for creating research that helps local, national and international companies overcome their manufacturing problems.
It has become a model for collaborative research involving academia, government entities and industry that can be replicated worldwide. Click here for more information.
