News
(Left to Right) Mrs Renee Crawford, Prof. Roy Crawford, Mr Jim Bolger, Mrs Joan Bolger, Mr Mark Kearns, Dr Tony McNally
The PPRC played host to some international visitors in early April as former Director and current Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato, New Zealand, Prof Roy Crawford, showed University of Waikato Chancellor, Mr Jim Bolger, around the polymer research facilities on offer at Queens. Mr Jim Bolger was the Prime Minister of New Zealand for 8 years and New Zealand Ambassador to USA for 4 years.
Many Northern Ireland companies are losing out financially by not utilising the knowledge and expertise on offer in local third-level education institutions. That’s according to Dr Paul Beaney of Dungannon-based Cherry Drainage Pipes, whose turnover has trebled to £9million since first beginning work with Queen’s University.
Dr Beaney said: “Many local firms could increase their profits by an average of £270,000 and create another three jobs, through engaging with the third-level sector here in various projects.”
Cherry Pipes and Queen’s, have been engaged in various Knowledge Transfer Partnerships since 2006, and are the current holders of the UK’s Best Knowledge Transfer Partnership title, awarded by Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Dr Beaney was speaking ahead of a visit to County Tyrone today by Queen’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Peter Gregson to meet with business leaders, politicians and school principals.
As part of his visit, Professor Gregson will visit leading company Greiner Packaging Ltd. in Dungannon, accompanied by Dr Tony McNally, Director of Queen’s Polymer Processing Research Centre (PPRC). Along with Queen’s PPRC, Greiner Packaging (formerly Wilsanco) was the winner of the first national award for the Best KTP Programme in Engineering in 1997. Since then the company has continued to work alongside researchers in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, donating equipment in excess of £100k to Queen’s, engaging in several collaborative projects and helping fund four PhD students. The company is also a member of the Founders’ Club at Queen’s Postgraduate and Executive Education Centre at Riddel Hall.
Speaking ahead of his visit, Professor Sir Peter Gregson, said: “Queen’s has a proud heritage of working with local industry, and has seen the value of working with our indigenous companies to make innovation happen. Local industry should know that it has a powerful ally in Queen’s. And likewise, we value the support given to us from industry, such as our partnership in the area of advanced materials with Greiner Packaging. By working together they are now at the forefront of their business sector and we have established Queen’s as a leading centre for thermoforming research.
“On my visit to County Tyrone today I am also looking forward to hearing from local politicians and school principals on how we can continue to best serve their community. Ensuring all our brightest students continue to have access to the world-class education on offer at Queen’s is a key commitment from the University, and key for Northern Ireland.”
Dr McNally added: “Many firms in Northern Ireland could grow their business, but don’t know how to access the appropriate knowledge, technology and expertise. Many others fear an additional cost burden in doing so. I want to urge local businesses, big and small, to contact us and other third-level colleges and see how they can work alongside us, as we are more than willing to share our knowledge and research capabilities with local industry.”
Firms wishing to enquire about accessing the expertise on offer within Queen’s should contact Mary Flynn in the University’s KTP & Business Networks Centre. Tel: 028 90 97 5444 or email m.flynn@qub.ac.uk
Queen’s is currently the lead University in the United Kingdom in terms of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) with 30 partnerships currently active. Those who engage in KTPs experience increased profits, new job creation, additional training for members of staff, and further investment in plant and machinery.
Media inquiries to Lisa McElroy, Senior Communications Officer. Tel: +44 (0)28 90 97 5384 or m0781 44 22 572 email lisa.mcelroy@qub.ac.uk
Back row from left; Bronagh Millar, Denise Price, Paul Hanna and Alan Clarke (all PPRC), Daniel Vallienne (ISPA Director of Studies) Alan Reid (NRC) Dr Laurent Cauret (ISPA Head of Research). Front Row from left: Denis Jouannet (ISPA Researcher), Clare Horner (ISPA International Development)
In January 2012, PPRC travelled to France to meet with the Institut Superieur de Plasturgie d’Alencon (ISPA) to gain an understanding of the work of the Institute and, in particular, the support provided to companies in respect of training and education including full and part time study through industrially sponsored apprenticeships. During the visit the group were shown some exemplar projects and explored opportunities for collaborative research and development.
The trip was supported by the DEL funded ConnectEd project, an initiative by Queen’s University, the University of Ulster and the six Further Education Colleges, to help businesses improve their performance by providing access to a broad portfolio of knowledge and technology support.
PPRC was joined on the trip, which included factory visits to some of ISPA’s industrial partners, by a colleague from Northern Regional College (NRC).
Dr Tony McNally, Director of Polymers Research at QUB, recently welcomed Werner Pamminger from the Kunststoff-Cluster (KC) in Austria to the PPRC to tour the facilities and meet staff.
KC is a cross-industry network of plastic companies in the states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Salzburg.The Cluster promotes, initiates and coordinates the cooperation of businesses, research institutes and technology transfer organisations to enhance the innovation capacity and international competitiveness of the partners.
Werner was joined on his visit to PPRC by Pat Doyle and Keith Johnston of Invest NI and Keith Smyton of the Northern Ireland Polymers Association.
Participants at the Two Day Course.
The Polymer Processing Research Centre recently conducted an Advanced Technical Rotomoulding Training Seminar for Wavin Technology & Innovation (www.wavin.com) with delegates attending from their rotomoulding sites in Germany, Finland, The Netherlands and Denmark. The two –day packed seminar combined classroom lectures with practical hands-on demonstrations on topics including: mould pressurisation, in-mould cooling, product & material quality issues and multi-layer foaming technologies.
Delegates attending the Dissemination Days
Representatives from global rotomoulding companies met in the Polymer Processing Research Centre over two days in November 2011 to hear about the latest developments of the European Commission-backed Rotoflex Project (www.rotoflex-eu.org). Production Managers, Technicians, and Engineers from the US, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and several EU nations were updated on the work of the Project, which among other things aims to develop an automatic feed system which can be retrofitted to standard rotomoulding machines, helping to cut cycle times and energy costs.
Increasingly strict regulations, in particular in the US, are pushing rotomoulders to consider multilayer moulding technologies to reduce vapour emissions from small fuel tanks. Rotoflex’s in-oven multi-shot system was developed to specifically address production issues related to this technology.
