Digital Manufacturing Centre

Digital Manufacturing Centre expected to aid growth to local economy and jobs – second vlog update with South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership

Following the first vlog and subsequent announcements of key hires and technology partners, the Digital Manufacturing Centre’s second vlog with the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) reveals the number of jobs and growth opportunity the DMC expects to bring to the Midlands and Oxford-Cambridge Arc area.

Innovation through people and partnerships will be one of the key growth factors of the UK’s Digital Manufacturing Centre, the stand-alone production centre dedicated to additive manufacturing methods, as found in the second vlog in a series presented by the DMC’s CEO, Kieron Salter.

In the second video instalment, launched today, Kieron discusses the Digital Manufacturing Centre’s growth with funding partner, South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) and its Chair, Peter Horrocks CBE. The video shows Peter having a tour of the new 2,000 sqm purpose-built additive manufacturing facility in its pre-fit-out guise, as the building and its team prepare for the opening in Q1 2021. In the video Kieron Salter explains that the Digital Manufacturing Centre is expected to facilitate the creation of 50 local jobs over the next five years, while the DMC as a whole is forecast to contribute £9 million gross value added to the region.

“Our people will be as important as our machines,” commented Kieron Salter, Digital Manufacturing Centre CEO. “As a centre dedicated to future digital production methods, our core focus is to breed innovation, maximise talent and knowledge, as well as being able to offer our clients an unrivalled team within the digital manufacturing sector. We expect that over the next five years the Digital Manufacturing Centre will facilitate around 50 jobs within the DMC and the supply chain within the area [Silverstone, located in the Midlands within the Oxford-Cambridge Arc] and that the DMC will provide a range of new talents and learnings to the additive manufacturing and engineering sector as a whole.”

“The Digital Manufacturing Centre’s launch in 2021 is important in many ways – not just for creating UK jobs within the manufacturing space – but to show the power of the people behind this manufacturing technology,” commented South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) Chair, Peter Horrocks CBE. “Our commitment to companies like the Digital Manufacturing Centre is to provide real-world opportunities and ideas that will help the local area and the UK as a whole. Realising the potential of digital manufacturing technologies to reduce waste and pollution within manufacturing is a key part of our Local Industrial Strategy and commitment to achieving a zero-carbon economy.”

Based within Silverstone Park in the South Midlands region of the UK, the DMC is part-funded by the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund and the ideation and business case were developed by leading high-performance engineering and additive manufacturing specialist engineering solutions provider, KW Special Projects (KWSP), of which Kieron Salter also leads.

The Digital Manufacturing Centre is an example of the recent priorities announced by SEMLEP through its Local Industrial Strategy. The facility will enhance the knowledge sharing capabilities of the Silverstone Technology area – encouraging the growth and commercialisation of innovation, while promoting high-tech development and high-value specialisms.