Pryor Marking Technology’s Technical Director, David Ray, and Sales Director, Alastair Morris, will be speaking at the Robot Assisted Manufacturing Forum on Wednesday 11^th March at the AMRC Knowledge Transfer Centre in Sheffield.

‘Manufacturing’ comes from the Latin words ‘manū’, meaning to use your hands and ‘factūra’: to make things. In other words, manufacturing means making things with your hands. Thus, robotics and automation really are transforming the face of future manufacturing.

The first robot, installed over 50 years ago, was used by General Motors for material handling. Robots were introduced to bring speed, consistency and precision, which increases factory productivity, efficiency and quality. There are now over 1,500,000 robots in the world, most of which are being used in the automotive sector. Due to advances in research and development, robotics are now being converged with a range of complementary technologies, such as machine vision, which is increasing the functionality and flexibility that they offer. It is this functionality and flexibility that will see robotics adopted more widely across a variety of industries, and the IFR predicts robotic installations to rise by 12% on average per year between now and 2017.

At the forum, Pryor Marking Technology will provide insight into how robotics have been applied to the aerospace industry, where low volume production has meant that they have been slower to be adopted.

The Robotic Assisted Manufacturing Forum will be the first forum of 2015. The event will discuss the extent to which robotics and automation are being used in high value sectors, the challenges involved, and trends and experiences of vendors and users.

The AMRC Knowledge Transfer Centre (KTC), opened in May 2012 by the Duke of York as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, provides a dedicated facility to help share expertise with manufacturing businesses. By sharing knowledge with leading companies in aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors, the centre aims help UK manufacturers develop their own capabilities and competitiveness.