Coatings are key to the performance of most products and they contribute to sustainability by enhancing the efficiency and extending the life of the products that they protect, as well as by enabling the reduced use of scarce bulk materials. Therefore, coatings are a vital part of the nation’s manufacturing industry, contributing to many sectors, including aerospace, energy, automotive and construction. In this webinar, Professor Allan Matthews explained how the coatings industry has been lagging behind compared to High Value Manufacturing sectors in terms of all aspects of design, development, manufacture, and implementation into products, particularly in terms of the degree of digitalisation achieved. Professor Matthews presented a vision of bringing together the diverse expertise and capabilities in academia to enhance digitalisation in surface manufacturing and to move the sector forward to meet the Industry 4.0 challenges. He provided information about the plans to engage coatings community through the Digitalised Surface Manufacturing NetworkPlus, which is a £1million investment (including £270k biddable research funds) by the UK Research Council.
About the speaker
Professor Allan Matthews, University of Manchester
Allan Matthews is Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology in the School of Materials and Director of the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He has had a central role in many professional and learned societies, including the British Vacuum Council, the American Vacuum Society and the Society of Vacuum Coaters. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier journal Surface and Coatings Technology.
