Mapping UK Additive
Company Profile
The MTC and its National Centre for Additive Manufacturing aims to promote the uptake of AM technology in the UK, especially with SMEs. By working closely with the MTC, Valuechain implemented our Network Portal which has helped them map the AM supply chain in the UK and further digitally connect companies to promote collaboration.
The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) was established in 2010 as an independent Research & Technology Organisation (RTO) with the objective of bridging the gap between academia and industry – often referred to as ‘the valley of death’.
In 2015, the MTC developed the UK’s Additive Manufacturing Strategy to amidst the emergence of additive manufacturing to ensure UK maximises benefits of Additive Manufacturing and accelerate learning/knowledge transfer amongst participants.
Synopsis
In 2019, the MTC were looking for a way to digitally map and identify all UK additive manufacturing companies, learn more about those companies and enable them to connect closely with industry, academia and funding opportunities.
Chris Sweatman, Project Manager commented:
“Overall I have been very impressed with the Network Portal team. The project had tight deadlines and the team worked tirelessly to get the platform up and running and provide any assistance that was required.”
The Solution
Working closely with the MTC and NCAM teams, Valuechain deployed Network Portal to map the AM supply chain in the UK and further digitally connect companies to promote collaboration. This included big data analysis to identify AM companies in the UK, and digitally mapping them by location, capability and role in the AM supply chain.
Launched at the DRAMA event in October 2019, the platform was very well received by industry with significant interest in joining the platform.
The project further aims to use this digital platform to generate more market intelligence and feed that to the funding bodies, helping them direct efforts towards the gaps in the capability.