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Coventry University is a dynamic, global and transformational ‘modern university’ with a proud tradition as a provider of innovative teaching and learning and a focus on impactful research. As University of the Year 2016 and 15th in the Guardian's University League tables, Coventry University is gaining momentum as a global, innovative institution.

The University has established a robust reputation for pushing the boundaries of higher education regionally, nationally and across the world. In addition, Coventry University prides itself on making a substantial contribution to some of the modern world’s most challenging issues through ground-breaking research focusing on sustainability, disease prevention and innovative engineering.

Through successful partnership working, Coventry University has created the UK’s First ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ - The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering, a ground-breaking collaboration bringing together the best in academia, industry and R&D in a ‘live’ manufacturing environment.

www.coventry.ac.uk

AME leads the way in collaborative robot investment

Graduate engineers at AME will be among the first in the UK to be trained on the latest robotic technology.

The UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ has invested over £50,000 into purchasing ABB’s YuMi, a small parts assembly robot that can work collaboratively in the same environment as people.

Each of the 60 students will receive over 25 hours training on it, as well as participating in real life R&D projects, including teaching the robot to complete lightweight assembly work for electronics and automotive components.

“YuMi is a vision of the future and has the potential to change the way we think about assembly automation…it’s fantastic that we are one of the first organisations in the UK to implement it in our course and in the wider Unipart Manufacturing operation,” explained Andy Hind, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Manager.

It is one of the most advanced collaborative robots on the market, offering, dual arm, flexible hands, camera-based part location and state-of-the-art robot control. AME was set-up to give graduate engineers access to the best technology and being able to learn on a collaborative robot and how that fits into the future of manufacturing will put them way ahead of the majority of their peers.

YuMi will also be immediately used to benefit the Unipart Manufacturing Group and there will be training opportunities for existing engineers with the view to integrating the technology into the manufacturing environment.

You can watch a short video about studying at AME here

Summer placements with Subaru Automotive USA

Second year AME students had the unique opportunity to take part in a 10 week long summer exchange with Purdue University in Indiana, USA.

The three Manufacturing Engineers, Maria, Alicia and Nick spent their summer working for Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc., an Indiana-based manufacturer of the Subaru Outback and Legacy line of vehicles. SIA is the only Subaru auto assembly plant in the United States, and the students played a pivotal role in helping to create a new production line which will eventually increase Indiana Automotive’s workforce by around 1,200 employees.

Utilising their skills in automation, logistical planning and project management, the students gained first-hand experience of working on real-world problems, as well as being offered the unique opportunity to work in an international environment.

Nick Hugill, one of the students chosen for the exchange, commented “Maria, Alicia and I were lucky enough to travel out to the state of Indiana to work with Subaru Automotive. We were all nervous to start as we weren’t fully certain on what we would be doing, but we found everyone to be so accommodating and this made us eager to perform well and impress. In their plant 5,400 people are employed so it was different to anything we had seen before and took a lot of getting used to.

“Maria was assigned to work in the Trim and final assembly shop where she would work on developing a suitable system for the assembly of a new model of vehicle. Alicia worked in the body department on a multitude of projects including designing new racks for parts storage and working with the new state of the arm robot assembly line. I found myself out in the factory working with the materials management office, making sure the production line never ran out of stock.

“Working in a new place always makes you learn new things and approach tasks with a new way of thinking. This is definitely true for our time at Subaru. All of us have applied things that we have taken from our time at University, however being given the opportunity to go out to places like this and working hard has given us all something valuable to bring back and take forward in finishing our degrees and onto our future career.”

AME opens its door to TEENTECH to showcase the benefits of STEM

Each year AME plays host to over thirty 13-17 years old in support of the TEENTECH initiative. TEENTECH runs lively one-day events, with a year-round supporting awards scheme to help young teenagers see the wide range of career possibilities in Science, Engineering and Technology. They help the “X Factor” generation understand their true potential and the real opportunities available in the contemporary STEM workplace.

The aim of the day was to give teachers the chance to lead their student groups through the process of generating a viable idea, then look at how this could be transformed into a prototype and finally how to sell and market to a target audience.

More information about the TEENTECH initiative can be found at www.teentech.com