Greater Manchester is building a new centre to turn its world-class materials research into a sustainable manufacturing supply chain that companies can actually use. The problem is a global gap: few companies can supply sustainable advanced materials—such as polymers, composites, biomaterials, technical textiles, and coatings—at the scale industry needs. Even when materials exist, manufacturers struggle to adopt them. This programme, p-CEAMS, connects regional businesses to national supply-chain needs, helps them develop solutions, and runs collaborative pilot projects that demonstrate both scale-up and real-world application of new materials and digital manufacturing technologies. If successful, the programme will create a pipeline of viable businesses and supply-chain enterprises anchored in the new Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials and Sustainability (CEAMS) in Atom Valley, Rochdale. That would give UK manufacturers a reliable source of sustainable materials, reduce reliance on overseas supply chains, and generate revenue and productivity gains for the region. The consortium—including the University of Manchester, National Physical Laboratory, and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult—is designed to make this a permanent capability, not a one-off project.
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Greater Manchester (GM) has world class research capability in developing advanced materials and has a growing materials innovation cluster within the city region. Globally there is a gap in companies able to provide sustainable materials for manufacturing supply chains, and also a market failure in industries ability to scale up and adopt sustainable materials in manufacturing applications. This presents a major economic opportunity for GM -- and there are plans to realise this through GM Combined Authority's (GMCA's) and Rochdale Development Agency's (RDA's) development of a Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials & Sustainability (CEAMS), which will be built in Atom Valley/Rochdale. Our programme, "Supply Chain Pilots for the Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials & Sustainability (p-CEAMS)", supports GMCAs ambitions in the development of CEAMS, leveraging GM's existing strength in materials research, alongside the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult's (HVMC's) competency in building supply chain capability. Our programme: 1) Addresses current supply chain gaps in provision of sustainable advanced materials by: \*Connecting regional businesses to National supply chain needs in advanced materials including polymers, composites, biomaterials, technical textiles, coatings, and digital manufacturing of materials (Materials 4.0) \*Supporting regional businesses to develop solutions to these needs \*Demonstrating scale up AND application of new advanced materials and digital technologies in industrial processes, through collaborative pilot projects 2) Supports the development of CEAMS and ensures this becomes a long-term capability for GM by transferring activity and follow-on work into the CEAMS -- creating starter pipelines for this investment 3) Uses the activity to catalyse strategic links to inward investment, accelerating advanced materials business clustering in GM through collaborative creation of new material supply chain enterprises, and through the attraction of existing advanced material supply chain companies to GM. Our consortium, comprised of Rochdale Development Agency (RDA), University of Manchester (UoM) Institutes (Royce, GEIC, SMI Hub), National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Science and Technologies Facilities Council (UKRI-STFC), and the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult, will exploit existing infrastructure within GM and nationally to catalyse cross-sector and cross-supply chain collaborations, developing viable business models to ensure quality and sustainability of AdM systems that deliver innovations, revenue and productivity/GVA benefits for GM businesses and the region .
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