FutureForge, funded by the UK Aerospace Research and Technology Programme (delivered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Innovate UK and the Aerospace Technology Institute), Scottish Enterprise and the AFRC’s High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult funding, will adjoin the world-renowned Renfrewshire-based centre and will revolutionise the global hot forging sector.

Set to begin operating in 2020, FutureForge will be the world’s most advanced hot forging research platform and will include a one-of-a-kind, industry 4.0 ready, demonstrator.

It will see the AFRC work with companies in the aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, energy, nuclear and rail industries helping companies to increase their global competitiveness. The facility will help generate around £40 million of new collaborative R&D projects over 10 years, creating up to 34 new jobs.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, said: “This new facility will be a real asset for the AFRC and its business partners, bolstering its already impressive capabilities and enabling further research collaborations to produce tangible impact for industry.

“It demonstrates Strathclyde’s commitment to working together with industry on research, development and innovation and making Scotland a leading centre of manufacturing excellence.”

Professor Keith Ridgway, executive chair at the AFRC, said: “This is an exciting time for advanced engineering and manufacturing in Scotland. “This is the third big announcement in the past year and the country’s reputation as being the go-to place for the development of the next generation of manufacturing technologies is strengthening.

“I’m thrilled that the Advanced Forming Research Centre is at the heart of all manufacturing R&D in the country and the FutureForge facility will see us transform the $268billion global forging supply chain. Taking it from a black-art with centuries of tradition and turning it into a competitive industry with advanced digitised capabilities fit for centuries to come. This project really will help secure the future of an industry that is vitally important to the wider manufacturing sector across the globe.”

Managing director of Strategy and Sectors at Scottish Enterprise, Linda Hanna, said: “Scotland is already leading the way across the UK in metal forming research, manufacturing technology and innovation. This investment, however, will develop a unique forging capability, not available anywhere else in the world. It will help companies across Scotland develop next generation light weight products and give them increased competitive advantage in a global market place.

“Together with the AFRC, we are focussed on achieving the ambition to grow Scotland’s high value manufacturing sector through increased innovation, productivity and investment. Today’s announcement forms a key part of that action plan.”