Digital Engineering

Digital Engineering

The need to embrace digital transformation has never been stronger. The challenge is how to harness digital technology to fuel innovation, agility and growth.

At the National Composites Centre, we work with engineering and manufacturing companies and digital technology providers of all sizes to develop innovative and impactful digital solutions. Working across industry, we help organisations to reduce costs, enhance their productivity, reduce time to market and develop sustainable products.

Through a collaborative approach, we bring together and partner with some of the best minds and brands in business, technology and engineering, inspiring new ideas and stimulating innovation.

Providing access to a range of 5G-enabled state-of-the-art industrial test beds we can test early-stage technologies and validate engineering transformation concepts, identifying efficiencies in product, process and technology development.

From Quantum to 5G through to composites and smart manufacturing, with so many new digital technologies to consider, we demystify and de-risk potential investment helping you to accelerate sustainable product innovation and engineering leadership.

 

Major programmes

Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI)

Read more about Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI)

Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation (DETI)

DETI is a research, innovation and skills programme that enables organisations to address the barriers to digital transformation, inspiring the next generation of digital engineers. It will help companies identify and develop the tools, technologies and processes they need to rapidly accelerate digital engineering capabilities and identify the skills needed to embed digital.

NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

Read more about NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

This programme provides a secure, state-of-the-art industry environment for manufacturers, technology providers and SMEs, to explore and digitally investigate how to de-risk transformation projects. Targeted towards manufacturers, technology organisations, SME’s and academia, organisations can use existing cell hardware and/or provide their own technology which can be integrated and tested through industry use cases. 

Made Smarter West of England

Delivered in partnership with the NCC and UWE, Made Smarter West of England is a West of England Combined Authority Programme designed to assist local manufacturing SME’s to understand and overcome operational challenges through digital technologies. This will help them to innovate, create new opportunities in the process, boosting productivity, and more customer value.

Digital Supply Chain Innovation Hub

Read more about Digital Supply Chain Innovation Hub

Digital Supply Chain Innovation Hub

The hub is digitally enabling the supply chain in the UK to ensure resilience and reshoring of capabilities. Secure enterprise systems and IOT technologies will be baselined and supplier trained and integrated into systems which enhance operational efficiency and sustainability to services.  

Digital Learning Factories

Hands-on learning to help you prepare for a digital future.

Funded places available for SMEs in the region to develop your digital capability as part of the West of England Combined Authority's Workforce for the Future programme.

Smart Design - Product Certification by Analysis

Read more about Smart Design - Product Certification by Analysis

Smart Design - Product Certification by Analysis

Towards Product Certification by Analysis is a collaborative project that aims to identify and take critical early steps towards accelerating these capabilities in the UK.  At its heart is a unique team of experts from industry, regulators, universities and the HVM Catapult network and Catapult Centres, tasked with developing an innovative overall product certification framework to feed into a roadmap, collating best practice, and identifying the digital ecosystem needed to deliver this transformation.

5G-Encode

5G-Encode explores the use of 5G applications in the manufacturing industry. The NCC hosts a state-of-the-art, private 5G-enabled network. The project is partially funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of the UK Government as part of their 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme. The project is one of the UK Government’s biggest investment in 5G for manufacturing to date. 

 

Quantum Key Distribution Trial

Quantum Data Centre of the Future

Read more about Quantum Data Centre of the Future

Quantum Data Centre of the Future

Developing quantum-safe communications solutions for modern data centres that enable users to securely and remotely access data, secured against computing attacks. Within the programme, the NCC’s state-of-the-art 5G enabled industrial test beds will be used to generate real-world data to test and demonstrate how a quantum computer could be used to solve industrial challenges.

Latest case studies

Optimising the design of a composite hydrogen pressure vessel

Read more about Optimising the design of a composite hydrogen pressure vessel

Optimising the design of a composite hydrogen pressure vessel

As hydrogen has emerged as one of the most promising solutions for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the design of pressure vessels for transport and storage has been drawing increasing interest within industry. The NCC is advancing the knowledge required to establish a dynamic UK supply chain, investing in hydrogen pressure vessel research and development to seed manufacture in the
UK, progressing the technology to help it to remain competitive in the future. 

NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

Read more about NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub Pilot

The NCC selected INSPHERE to be a participant in the NCC Smart Factory Innovation Hub (SFIH) programme. Providing the company with access to its state-of-the art, secure 5G enabled virtual and physical test bed and sandpit environment, the NCC worked with Insphere to test its newly launched IONA System in the Smart Factory Innovation Hub Test Bed which concentrates on the Automated Preforming Cell (APC).

 

Digital Now - DETI delivers pioneering results in its first year

Read more about Digital Now - DETI delivers pioneering results in its first year

Digital Now - DETI delivers pioneering results in its first year

Presenting nine key results, Digital Now introduces industry firsts including the DETI digital eco-meter which allows engineers to visualise the carbon footprint during manufacture of a composite product, such as a carbon fibre aircraft wing or car component.

 

Latest news

Keep up to date

Sign up to receive the latest updates, news and events from
the National Composites Centre