Digital Manufacturing Centre Now Fully Operational

The Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) has opened its advanced engineering and production facility at Silverstone Park, Towcester, U.K. According to the DMC, it was built from the ground up to solve complex engineering challenges, featuring additive manufacturing (AM) processes, connectivity and pioneering engineering to enable companies operating at the forefront of their sectors.

The 2000-square-meter facility is now fully operational. With an engineering-led philosophy, the DMC says it works in partnership with customers to understand their specific requirements, designing for application as well as manufacture.

As an end-to-end solutions provider, the facility brings together metal, polymer and silicone AM processes with complementary machining, finishing and inspection services for a fully-connected process chain.

The DMC aims to leverage actionable data from across the facility and its machines to deliver a step-change in AM capability and capacity. Embracing Industry 4.0 practices and principles, in line with the Industrial Strategy, the DMC’s data-driven approach will allow its engineers to further refine part design and processes by effectively implementing capabilities including predictive analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).

The DMC is also helping to develop sought-after STEM skills in frontier applications. Not only is this providing new employment opportunities, but it is also offering valuable support to local education, with the DMC team already working closely with Silverstone University Technical College (UTC) and other schools and colleges.

The organization works alongside a number of industry and technology partners, including Renishaw, Beckhoff, Spectroplast, DyeMansion, DMG MORI, Enable Manufacturing and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC). This partnership network allows customers to have access to multiple proprietary processes, including Spectroplast’s silicone AM technology and Enable Manufacturing’s Additive Casting.