New toolkit to accelerate Certification by Analysis
A selection of experts from industry, regulation, and academia backgrounds, have created a toolkit with the support from the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult. The project also received a grant worth £950,000 from Innovate UK. Engineers from the National Composites Centre, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, were all involved in the creation of the toolkit.
Key information:
- High Value Manufacturing (HVM) and experts from various backgrounds have come together to create a new toolkit set to accelerate Certification by Analysis capabilities in the UK.
- Also, the project received a £950,000 grant from Innovate UK.
- The toolkit aims to help manufacturers reduce costs and time during product testing.
The new toolkit will aim to accelerate the UK’s capabilities in Certification by Analysis, as it claims to help manufacturers reduce costs and cut times during product testing. The term Certification by Analysis relates to the use of digital technologies and data-led processes (like simulation and modelling) to reduce the amount of physical product testing needed for product certification. This testing process is traditionally both costly and time-consuming.
“The new tools we have developed draw on the experience and knowledge of a broad team of experts and will enable manufacturers to take steps now to increase their Certification by Analysis understanding,” said Marc Funnell, Chief Engineer for Smart Design at the HVM Catapult. “This will help them build new partnerships and develop future strategies with analysts, regulators and test houses.”
What does the new toolkit include?
- A new assessment framework – The new framework will work as a ‘proof of concept’ assessment with the aim to support the reviewing process of existing frameworks and discussions with certification bodies to improve the certification process. Additionally, the new assessment should assess the ‘readiness’ levels of the workforce, product standards, and the benefits of testing techniques.
- Roadmap for pressure vessel use cases – There have been two successful trials of the assessment framework evaluating two pressure vessels (Type 1 metallic and Type IV and V composite). This has created a roadmap that outlines the process of delivering Certification by Analysis for hydrogen pressure vessels. This also presents the opportunity for the assessment to be used in other pressure vessel applications.
- Creation of an in-process measurement handbook – The handbook aims to assess the relative maturity of new measurement techniques for Certification by Analysis during manufacturing. The document remains ‘live’, which will update manufacturers on technical developments.
- Provides IT infrastructure recommendations – The developers have created a selection of papers that provide a clear guide to building an agile, secure, and scalable IT system suitable for Certification by Analysis.
- Skills scoping – Two specific use cases were investigated to try and understand the future skill challenges for Certification by Analysis. During each scenario, tools, technologies, and techniques were identified and ranked by priority using the new assessment framework. Then these items were mapped across educational provision data to identify gaps in training.
“The UK has a real chance to lead innovation in transforming certification approaches and, by doing so, get novel net zero products into the market, quicker. We have taken the first critical steps along this path,” concluded Funnell.