Smart Manufacturing comprises systems that are “fully- integrated, collaborative manufacturing systems that respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the factory, in the supply network, and in customer needs.” The merger of the physical and virtual worlds (cyber physical systems) opens up new areas of innovation enabling optimisation of the entire manufacturing supply chain to create higher quality products, improve productivity, increased energy efficiency involving real-time data collection and analysis.

 

In the past three years, MTU has invested circa €1.5 million in bringing its CNC machining and CMM inspection equipment up to a standard comparable to that in manufacturing industry. The University also has access to the most up-to-date CAD/CAM software. Participants on the programme will thus be exposed to the current state-of-the- art technologies and to the emerging developments and trends. The University has also invested in staff training so that the potential offered by the new equipment/software is fully realised.

 

It is envisaged that the topics in this programme will be developed to a more advanced level in the following academic year leading to an additional 15 credits for those wishing to progress further.