To stay at the cutting edge of innovation, LPW Technology reinvests 10% of its annual sales revenue into research and development (R&D) activities. R&D forms a substantive part of our business model, dedicated to lead innovation and advancement in additive layer manufacturing technology that is set to play a significant role in the industry of tomorrow.
Research has always been an important part of LPW’s commitment to take academic prototyping into stable component production, making use of, and extending the body of knowledge that exists and continually informing best practice. LPW’s partnership with the University of Liverpool is the latest example of LPW’s commitment to supporting the growth of next generation industry through innovation and collaboration with a variety of organisations and universities.
In partnership with The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation, LPW has embarked on a pioneering programme of collaborative research and development with the University Of Liverpool School Of Engineering. The centre’s graduate programme, designed to give outstanding graduates opportunities within research-intensive growth sectors, allows LPW to undertake a focused R&D project centring on ‘improving selective laser melting methods for reduced materials use’.
LPW offers the combination of scientific expertise with the hands-on technical support providing a necessary combination to turn innovative concepts into reality. This early adoption of emerging ideas in metal additive manufacturing technology ensures the relevance of our R&D investment, and through our academic partnerships encourages knowledge exchange between academia and business providing an essential platform for cutting-edge research.
Dr Chris Sutcliffe, at the University of Liverpool Manufacturing Science and Engineering Research Centre, identified the importance of a collaboration which brings together academia with high tech business scientific and technical capability, benefiting both the academic community and aerospace and transportation industry;
The calibre of the project with LPW represents a tremendous opportunity that will enable access to both the cutting edge technology and industry expertise with which LPW is associated. In particular the partnership will provide a platform to develop new materials and efficient processes specifically in the field of Selective Laser Melting. If we succeed our enabling materials science technologies will have significant environmental impact, as we believe we can reduce the weight of some structural components by 50%, whilst at the same time reducing their carbon footprint.
It is intended that LPW’s research and development agenda will exist to meet the needs of all stakeholders enhancing crucial functions of the business and provide customers with the most efficient and advanced products and service through the application of existing and emerging technologies.