Airbus and two food and drink businesses in Wales have collaborated with AMRC Cymru to take part in a new R&D project on how manufacturers can increase productivity while meeting net zero targets.
The project, called Ffatri 4.0, hopes to prove that both sustainability and productivity targets in manufacturing can be reached through digital manufacturing smart technologies.
Lessons learnt from the project will be shared across the Welsh manufacturing sector and, if successful, a blueprint will be created for future factories to follow, while increasing the capacity for collaborative research with industry and R&D investment in Wales.
The Pudding Compartment from Flintshire and Hensol Castle Distillery from the Vale of Glamorgan are the two food and drink businesses taking part.
Backed by the Welsh Government, the project will create six new research positions at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Cymru in Broughton, Flintshire.
Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: "Ffatri 4.0 is an innovative project which supports research and development in Wales, while also carrying out important work to advise the factories of the future. Businesses want and need to increase productivity but must do so while taking the environmental impacts into account."
He added: "It’s great to see AMRC Cymru being used for this important research which will be of particular benefit to the aerospace and food and drink sectors. It fits in with the wider aims of our Manufacturing Plan of creating the right environment for businesses to succeed."
AMRC Cymru operations director Jason Murphy, said: "We are excited by the opportunity that this project brings for knowledge transfer and the sharing of ideas across these two incredibly important sectors to the Welsh economy.
"Ffatri 4.0 will make a significant contribution to the aims of the ‘Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act’, ‘Wales 4.0 – Delivering Economic Transformation for a Better Future of Work‘ and ‘The Decarbonisation Framework for Wales’."
Mr Murphy added: "The lessons learnt will be shared widely across the Welsh manufacturing sector to improve productivity, boost business resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste.”
Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales Lesley Griffiths said: "I’m pleased to see food and drink companies taking advantage of the excellent facilities at AMRC Cymru. The work carried out will be of benefit for the future productivity of the sector, while boosting Wales’ reputation for research and development."
She added: "The lessons learned as part of this project will be of benefit to businesses across Wales and further afield. It’s particularly positive to see sectors collaborating on research in this way, which was one of the aims of AMRC Cymru."
AMRC Cymru is managed by the University of Sheffield and the £20m construction of it was fully-funded by the Welsh Government. Airbus is a tenant as part of its Wing of Tomorrow project.
It focuses on advanced manufacturing sectors including aerospace, automotive, nuclear and food. It is predicted the new facility could increase GVA to the Welsh economy by as much as £4 billion over the next 20 years.
