67 jobs at risk at University of Sheffield manufacturing research centre

Sixty seven jobs at a University of Sheffield research centre are at risk under a new 10-year plan.
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The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre aims to have the ‘appropriate structures and skills’ for ‘AMRC Chapter 2’ which lays down its ambitions up to 2030.

A consultation process has started and will last for three months.

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Bosses say the proposed changes would result in a net reduction of 15 people. The AMRC, based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, employs 456. It is owned by the University of Sheffield.

Steve Foxley, executive director of the AMRC.Steve Foxley, executive director of the AMRC.
Steve Foxley, executive director of the AMRC.

A university spokesman said: "To deliver this ten-year strategy - which was developed following discussions with staff, our 123 industrial partners, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and the wider University - we want to ensure we have the appropriate structures and skills in place, so we have started a consultation process with staff regarding some proposed changes.

“The proposals would result in a reduction to the AMRC headcount of 15 - less than three per cent of the current workforce.

"The AMRC is an important part of the University of Sheffield and we will listen to the views of staff throughout this consultation to ensure that the AMRC is best placed to deliver its new strategy’s key themes of sustainability, digital manufacturing, future propulsion and supply chain resilience and continue to enhance its impact in the region and nationally in the years to come."

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Lecturer Keith Ridgway and businessman Adrian Allen co-founded the AMRC with Boeing in 2001. It is based on the former Orgreave Coking Works site, which was to become infamous for a battle between police and striking miners in 1984.

It pioneered close working between academics and manufacturers and a string of advances quickly made its name.

Today it has more than 100 industrial paying partners, employs more than 700 in an AMRC ‘family’ that includes the Nuclear AMRC and Training Centre and has attracted more than 100 companies to the area, including Boeing and McLaren. It also has satellites in Derby, Preston, Wales, the Wirral and Korea.

Sheffield University took top spot for income from engineering research in 2019, earning £124m. Some 57 per cent was from the AMRC.

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Today, it is led by executive director Steve Foxley who joined from Siemens last year.

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