research and development facility spearheaded by The University of Sheffield, tasked with helping businesses unlock productivity and sustainability gains and keep the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector ahead of the pack.
It continues to play a key role in supporting Lancashire firms to compete both nationally and internationally and has worked with hundreds of businesses, large and small, across the county.
Its North West Additive Manufacturing Forum, in collaboration with University of Lancashire, BAE Systems, The Making Rooms and others, now has more than 100 members.
Matt Ward, business engagement manager at the AMRC, which has a 70-strong team in Samlesbury, says: “We work on issues such as supply chain resilience, automation and robotics and additive manufacturing with manufacturers of all shapes and sizes, across all sectors.”
Recent projects have included working with Leyland Trucks to develop an AI-based quality inspection system, aimed at spotting manufacturing and assembly defects as they occur, eliminating them before the trucks roll out of the factory gates.
Prof Melissa Conlon, commercial director at AMRC North West, believes Lancashire and what its advanced manufacturers can deliver is getting more visibility, through the work of organisations like the NWRDSC and the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA).
She says: “You just have to look at the eco-system and the engagement between organisations, working together with the universities. We have such a strong base to work from.
“When it comes to projects there is now much more emphasis on their impact. Everything is speeding up, including delivery.
“Innovation in Lancashire doesn’t start in a lab and end in a brochure. It starts on a shop floor, gets sharpened in our research and development (R&D) assets and then is pulled into programmes through the clusters and the primes. The trick is to design for dual use from day one.
“Lancashire already has the ingredients of a sovereign defence ecosystem - advanced manufacturing, cyber, R&D and clusters. Our job now is to turn interest into readiness. Every business collectively elevating quality assurance and cyber resilience across the entire supply chain, every cluster making capability visible, and every good idea on a shop floor finding its way into a live programme.”
Continued on Page 62 Artist’s impression of the Warton Enterprise Zone BOOK NOW Become a patron
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Contact Joanne Hindley on 07442 949697 or email
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Brought to you by #LBD26 Prof Andrew Schofield The Engineering Innovation Centre Charity Partner: LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
Celebrate Lancashire Day with the county’s business community!
Date: Friday 27 November 2026 Time: 12.00pm – 5.00pm Venue: Burnley Football Club
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
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