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Design, Materials & Manufacture
About Us |
Qualified
and experienced staff offers an independent and integrated
product development expertise, training and consultancy
services.
The group has helped companies solve
problems related to product design, materials selection,
manufacture and use for over 20 years. A large number
of businesses have benefited from the group’s
help and advice. Many of the companies and organisations
assisted over the years remain as valued clients. The
approach has been to focus on the high value-added activities
associated with manufacturing, acquiring, wherever possible,
grant funding to support organisations involved in industrial
development projects. To assist companies the group’s
experts provide detailed explanation and interpretation
of results and make realistic recommendations. Over
the years the group has worked with businesses from
most industrial sectors including electronics, medical
& healthcare, plastics, energy, automotive and aerospace. |
- Concept & product design, prototyping &
design verification
- Trouble shooting – including failure analysis,
forensic investigations & expert witness and recycling
- Expert resources for problem solving in design,
materials and manufacture
- Knowledge Transfer Partnerships supported by highly
qualified staff & resources and backed up by the
full range of University facilities
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The Group assisted a high-tech
start-up to design and develop a system that employs
conductive polymers to manufacture prototype printed
circuit boards for the electronics industry.
The equipment enabled the Company
to compete in the global market, worth £2 billion
annually, for prototype PCBs. The initial feasibility
study, carried out by the School of Engineering, involved
identifying suitable materials and processes, producing
concept and product designs and developing a demonstration
system to show to potential investors. The study enabled
the Company to obtain initial investment of £420K
from the Scottish Office, 3i, Scottish Enterprise
and private backers. The funding included a SPUR grant
from the Scottish Office of £92K and provided
the means to establish the Company at the Elvingston
Science Centre. School of Engineering staff assisted
with the funding applications and provided ongoing
technical support, chiefly in design, materials and
manufacturing. Within 2 years the Company had attracted
further investment of £1.2 million and had generated
interest in the printer and printing process from
major international players including HP, IBM, Siemens
and Motorola.
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