The bold strategic decisions with the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) are paying off
vendredi, 12 février 2010
Although it received little attention from the local and regional media, Lord Mandelson’s visit to South Yorkshire last month was of seismic importance for the region – if not the country. It marked the coming of age of the Advanced Manufacturing Park, with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at its heart.
In the six years since the AMRC opened its hangar-like doors, this research institute has acted as an irresistible magnet attracting not only the best and brightest brains to its own research projects, but also the world’s leading lights in advanced manufacturing. With the likes of Castings Technology International (Cti), TWI (formerly known as the Welding Institute), Bromley Technologies and, more recently, Dormer Tools, setting up camp on the 100 acre site, this former colliery is symbolic of the radical transformation of the South Yorkshire economy.
From the corridors of Whitehall, to the boardrooms of Boeing and Rolls-Royce, the AMRC and the AMP are changing the perception of our region from one which was in terminal decline, to one which is ready for take-off. We now have a story to tell – and it is a story of a knowledge economy, one which is building on the traditions of shaping and cutting metals and materials, with an inventiveness and creativity of purpose which has put this region at the heart of so many industrial ‘revolutions.’
Advanced Manufacturing is now a vital part of the South Yorkshire story. We should feel proud of it – and shout it from the rooftops. The pity is that it has taken a global catastrophe – the meltdown of the financial markets – to alert those who make the decisions in Westminster to the enduring value of manufacturing to a balanced economy: better late than never.
But we must say here that Yorkshire Forward, and more locally, Rotherham investment and Development Office (RiDO), were bold and brave enough more than a decade ago to put advanced manufacturing at the heart of their strategies for our region. They deserve praise for this. RiDO and Yorkshire Forward championed advanced manufacturing when it was unfashionable; and they put the public’s money into ventures that the banks would never have backed. By nature a conservative and cautious beast, Yorkshire Forward backed the AMRC and helped fund its incredible expansion, with the building of the Factory of the Future.
This decision signalled to the likes of Rolls-Royce that South Yorkshire was serious, and deserved to become a serious player in the world of advanced manufacturing. It was, we believe, pivotal in persuading Rolls-Royce to favour our region, rather than the North West, when it came to deciding where its civil nuclear research and manufacturing base should be located. But as one very senior Yorkshire Forward official told this magazine, the real heroes of this piece are Keith Ridgway and Adrian Allen – and a woman who is rarely mentioned, but without whom this operation would founder, Christine Ridgway. It is Christine who keeps Professor Ridgway’s one suit sufficiently tidy for him to go out and impress the world’s biggest hitters that there is something special going on in South Yorkshire.
Their monument is now in its third phase – following on from the original building and the Factory of the Future – and shows.
You can downalod the full article from South Yorkshire Business Magazine here.