New £4m centre opens near South Yorkshire’s AMRC

A partnership that dates back to the founding of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is set to bear new fruit for UK companies.
Tony Bowkett, second left, Nikken Kosakuso Europes apprentices and leading figures from Nikken, with mementoes of the official opening, made by the apprentices.Tony Bowkett, second left, Nikken Kosakuso Europes apprentices and leading figures from Nikken, with mementoes of the official opening, made by the apprentices.
Tony Bowkett, second left, Nikken Kosakuso Europes apprentices and leading figures from Nikken, with mementoes of the official opening, made by the apprentices.

Nikken Kosakuso Europe, which develops technology for machine tools, was one of the first partners to back the embryonic AMRC when it was established at the start of the new millennium.

Now it has opened a new demonstration and customer support centre, the Nikken Innovation Centre Europe, which is packed with advanced equipment to help companies become more competitive by increasing production rates and quality while reducing costs.

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A total of £4 million has been invested in the new development and the company plans to invest a further £3m on a second phase of development by the middle of 2017.

The new development is Nikken’s first research and development facility outside Japan and will complement facilities at the neighbouring AMRC.

It will also be the headquarters for Nikken’s UK operations and seven subsidiaries stretching from France to Sweden and Germany to Turkey and South Africa, which support customers in 28 different countries.

Tony Bowkett, group managing director of Nikken Kosakuso Europe, said: “Our partnership with the AMRC is a marriage made in heaven.

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“We have been part of the AMRC from the outset. We share the same philosophy and the cross fertilisation between the two organisations is fantastic. We have a great collaboration and the AMRC is training our four apprentices, whose numbers we hope to increase to 10 over the next five years.”