The Government’s new South East Action Plan for Jobs, launched on Monday 7th Sept. 2015 by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Ricard Bruton, T.D., is aimed at delivering 10-15 per cent employment growth in the region over the coming years, and is part of the € 250m regional jobs strategy.
Actions are set out to accelerate the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies in the region, including in research and deployment of 3D and additive manufacturing, supporting enterprise investment and deployment and research in higher education institutions.
3D printing and additive manufacturing have been identified to have the potential to revolutionise the factories of the future. The SEAM Research Centre (an EI Technology Gateway centre) based within Waterford Institute of Technology has taken the lead and have begun working in this emerging technology. SEAM is leading a multi-party Innovation partnership project that comprises Boston Scientific (MNC), Schivo (Indigenous SME) and Lisnabrin (LEO client) to develop components whose geometry is sufficiently complex that they do not lend themselves to conventional machining.
SEAM possess vast industrial collaborative experience (currently serving over 100 industries). Combined with its 3D metal printing and design capability as well as through its CAD, FEA and other wide ranging materials engineering capability and expertise, is positioning itself to offer a design to prototype fabrication and optimization processes for a range of Irish based Engineering companies in the not too distant future. Through access to additional research infrastructure investment SEAM can develop its capabilities and drive the adoption of leading edge technologies in the region, to create the region as a centre of excellence in Additive Manufacturing. This has the potential to significantly contribute to enterprise growth and create jobs in the region and beyond.
The prime focus of SEAM is to serve the ever changing needs of Irish industry and provide assistance to solving everyday problems such as failure analysis, product yield improvement and quality control issues. As a result, the technical issues that SEAM deals with in its everyday operation, are real world problems that have a real effect on a company’s profit margin and ability to survive in the modern, highly competitive world of technological innovation. Regarded as Ireland’s leading Technology Gateway Centre, SEAM facilitates the development of technology solutions through collaboration and access to expertise in the Irish research infrastructure. It also provides assistance in new product development and product design optimisation.
The South East Action Plan for Jobs is available at www.djei.ie/en/Publications/Publication-files/South-East-Action-Plan-for-Jobs.pdf
