Advanced manufacturing is essential to the UK economy. The following extracts are from 'The UK Government Industrial Strategy, June 2019';

''The UK automotive sector is a great success story.It is hugely important to the UK economy ... it employs 159,000 people directly in vehicle manufacturing, with an additional 238,000 in the supply chain, most outside London and the South East ''

Covid 19 has had a massive negative effect on this industry. Travel restrictions have resulted in massive financial and job losses. Figures from the Manufacturing Technologies Association show that the production of cars in the UK fell by 99.7% between February and April.

Advanced Manufacturing Industries use sophisticated machine tools. Craftsman Tools an SME based in West Yorkshire, designs and manufactures workholding equipment (the device that locates and clamps the component on to the machine tool)

Like most companies in Advanced Manufacturing Craftsman has seen its order intake reduce significantly resulting from Covid 19, this has put a financial strain on Craftsman.

This project will enable Craftsman to use its expertise to design and develop a new workholding concept initially targeted at the companies who produce electric vehicles. The device will enable a friction welding process to bind the drive shaft to individual motors. Critically we will be developing work holding equipment which will last in the harsh manufacturing environment to ensure the required geometrical tolerances can be achieved. This is essential in efficient transfer of power from the electric motor to the wheel.

Currently the drive shafts are produced by subtractive machining (metal is removed to produce the required shape). The proposed development will reduce the cost of production, increase the strength of the drive shaft, and marginally reduce the amount of energy required to produce the part.

Once a successful device has been developed, we intend to target all companies who are producing electric vehicles. In 2019 the sales of electric cars increased by 25%. It is expected the long-term growth will be significantly more.

Electric vehicles will be crucial in achieving the government target of 'net zero greenhouse emissions.

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