HVMC’s million pound push for 4.0 product testing

It will devote some £950,000 to invest in boosting the UK’s capabilities in ‘Certification by Analysis’ in order to expand the availability of digital and computer based testing methods in place of relying on traditional manual stress testing alone.

Certification by analysis focuses on the testing of goods and products using techniques including computer modelling, digital tech and mathematical advances in preference to standard physical testing. Used effectively this can significantly reduce time and money spent on methods that can be costly, slow and destructive.

In a statement, the HVMC announced: “Digital technologies, simulation and advances in mathematics offer significant opportunities to optimise the use of physical testing, cutting development costs and time to market.”

However, transitioning to a certification by analysis approach remained a major challenge requiring input from industry and certification organisations. Catapult CEO Katherine Bennett cautioned against simplistic expectations about what was involved in the process.

“Certification for the net zero world is not simply a case of ‘digitising’ today’s processes – we need to define a new way whereby complex products are validated and regulated. The UK has an opportunity to lead in this area, accelerating pathways to certification by developing new UK standards that encourage the use of analysis techniques,” said Bennett.

The Catapult project will employ an expert panel recruited from industry, academia and regulators tasked with identifying the necessary steps for implementation.

Any nationwide implementation would require new regulatory and certification frameworks and techniques says the HVMC, in order to consider new methods of manufacturing, greater product complexity and the pressures to reduce development timescales and cost. Net zero implications would also need to be factored in, it says.

Case studies will be employed to test the framework and an engineering IT test environment will be developed in order to assess digital needs for implementation. An assessment of training needs will also be made. 

The High Value Manufacturing Catapult consists of seven sector focused centres across the UK. These include the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland; University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre; the Centre for Process Innovation in Redcar; the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, Liverpool and Oxford; National Composites Centre, Bristol; Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Rotherham; and Warwick Manufacturing Group.