Sigmatex Gets Funding to Accelerate Vehicle Light-Weighting

Sigmatex has been awarded Government Funding through the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) for a project that aims to produce higher volumes of composites in the UK to accelerate vehicle light-weighting.

The Sigmatex Light-weighting Excellence Programme (LX) has been given £3.8 million from the latest AMSCI round of funding. The consortium will address the lack of capability in the automotive sector to manufacture composite components at high volumes of scale in the UK by connecting the key elements of designing, manufacturing and creating capacity for production.

The programme is a strategic cooperation led by Sigmatex in partnership with Caparo Advanced Composites, Cranfield University, Expert Tooling & Automation, Granta Design, Group Rhodes, LMAT, Surface Generation, Tilsatec and with support from Axillium Research and Axillium Lightfellows. Three UK-based automotive OEMs will work closely with the LX manufacturing and technical partners.

The LX Consortium has been developed in line with the industrial strategy of BIS and it is aligned with the Automotive Council’s lightweight technology strategy. LX partners will work to understand the challenges for vehicle OEMs in the areas of lightweight design, manufacturing and production growth to meet a high volume UK capability.

Working together, LX partners and OEMs will share internal and external challenges through a platform of strategic R&D with a common purpose and focus on scaling, rapid application, designing excellence and strategic re-shoring. A total project value of £7.15 million of joint funding from AMSCI and industry will support the creation of 238 new jobs and safeguard 144 existing jobs between 2015 and 2021.

The Sigmatex LX Programme is one of twenty supply chain projects from across the country announced by BIS that will benefit from a total of £67 million of government investment through the AMSCI programme, with £109 million being invested in the same projects by industry.