Businesses invited to tour PEMC

Businesses in the South West are being invited to tour a Plymouth University centre of expertise to see for themselves how it could benefit their manufacturing and enhance profitability.

A breakfast seminar for manufacturers is being held on Thursday 3 April at the Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre (PEMC), where businesses will be able to see for themselves how the technique can help identify manufacturing flaws, quality issues and identify potentially costly contamination.

Delegates will be able to meet the team at the centre, discuss specific projects and see the equipment in action. This is the third in a series of Industrial Solutions breakfasts being organised by the University to demonstrate the relevance of electron microscopy to every business, with the first events focussing on geology, mining, recycling and engineering.

Claire Pearce, Project Manager for the PEMC, said: “The capability and versatility of this equipment is immense. Since the project was launched, we have discussed the relevance of EM with business owners of precision engineering companies through to cream manufacturers. Being able to offer South West companies free use of the equipment until March 2015 represents a fantastic opportunity for us and the region’s business community as a whole.”

Electron microscopy enables items and materials to be viewed in high magnification, providing unique information of micro-structure and micro-composition. This allows users to: investigate the causes and effects of failures; identify contamination; identify corrosion; investigate defects and fatigue; develop new and improved products; develop new processes and materials, and enhance quality control and monitoring.

The Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre was transformed as part of a £1.3million three-year project, jointly funded by the University, JEOL (UK) Ltd and a £579,960 grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The funding established a world-class centre for materials characterisation and analysis in the city, which can be accessed for free by ERDF-eligible companies, and houses three state-of-the-art electron microscopes.

Since its inception over 25 years ago, the EMC has been used by companies of all sizes, regional health trusts and for university research initiatives, and recent work by the ERDF project team has seen the funded project for businesses extended from October 2014 to March 2015.

For more information about PEMC, or to book a place at the breakfast, contact Claire Pearce on claire.pearce@plymouth.ac.uk or call 01752 588908.