MTI '14 Takes Shape - and the PEMC will be there!

Having exhibited and spoken at this vibrant and successful event for the last three years, the PEMC is now proud to sponsor MTI '14 as we approach the final five months of our ERDF project, offering companies 12 hours of free use of the PEMC equipment.


The conference aims to bring together key industrial leaders, decision makers and investors, highlighting the excellent strength and depth of our advanced electronics, photonics, advanced engineering and manufacturing companies and excellent supply chain links with companies across the UK.

We are also showcasing GAIN's free Business Engagement Service, which is part of the new Peninsula City Deal Growth Hub, providing business support, financial options, expertise and facilities to businesses in the south west.

To register for the event, go to:
MTI '14

and then make sure that you visit us on Stand 12! If you haven't yet made use of your 12 hours of free support, now is the time ...,

Ice cream, as you've never seen it before ...,

The fourth 2014 Industrial Solutions Event at Plymouth University's Electron Microscopy Centre was a great success!

We welcomed 16 ice cream producers to the University, with their ice cream samples, to find out how using electron microscopy could help their business by looking at their products' micro-structure and therefore understanding their ice cream product better.

Steve Furzeland, former Plymouth University student, and now working for Carl Zeiss, spoke about his time at Unilever, where he spent two years looking at the Magnum ice cream range with electron microscopy to help improve taste, texture, the aging process and stabilisation.

Following a mid-morning coffee, we visited the PEMC to see some live ice cream images, courtesy of the PEMC team; Pete Bond and Dr Roy Moate

and then went onto the University's Food Science department, where Dr Victor Kuri gave us an insight into his work with a range of food companies, including Burts Crisps, Rodda's Cream and Langage Farm, using KTP.

We even had a visit from Fitz of BBC Radio Devon and were featured on drive-time at 17.20 - listen again here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p021n0th

Due to the success of this event, we are planning to hold a repeat event for ice cream and other food producers on Wednesday 12 November 2014 - just in time for planning the 2015 product range. Please contact Claire if you would like a place at this free event:

• e: claire.pearce@plymouth.ac.uk
• t: 01752 588908
• m: 07738 858494

Ice cream at x250 magnification

Do my ice crystals look big in this?

Wednesday 9 July - 10.00 - 14.00 - Plymouth University

We're extremely pleased to confirm that the next Industrial Solutions event will be focusing on using electron microscopy to analyse and image the micro-structure of ice cream. With speakers from the industry and the University, we will demonstrate what electron microscopy can tell you about your ice cream product's texture and eating experience by looking at its structure.

Find out how your company could then get free support from us following the event, which you can use to develop your ice cream product further.

We will be joined by two experienced speakers on the 9th:

Steve Furzeland of Carl Zeiss worked at Unilever for two years, where he worked with ice cream, predominantly observing the relationship between air and ice phases and how this can affect the stability of the formulations during transport to customers. He particularly focussed on the Magnum range of luxury ice creams.


There will be also be the opportunity to look around the University's food development lab where Dr Victor Kuri, a leading food scientist, will take delegates through emerging formulations, links between hydrocolloids in formulations, structure and eating quality.

To join us for this exciting event, simply follow this link to register:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EMC_workshop_9thJuly

Or contact our Events Team on:
t: 01752 586005
e: events@plymouth.ac.uk

The bottom line was boosted ...,

Last month’s third Industrial Solutions Breakfast was a well-attended success, with delegates remarking on not only the quality of the University facilities available for their use, but also the relevance of the speakers from locally-based companies Barden Corporation (UK) Ltd and Fine Tubes Ltd.

Starting with a networking breakfast, attendees, who varied from manufactures to metallic specialists to a cosmetics company, had the opportunity to meet and exchange details. Claire briefly welcomed the group, explained the background to the event and the opportunity to receive 12 hours of free support from the Electron Microscopy Centre (EMC); an opportunity available to all eligible small-to-medium sized companies in the South West (excluding Cornwall) throughout 2014.

Abdul Saeid from Fine Tubes and Gary Hughes from Barden then introduced their respective companies, giving a valuable insight to their approach to quality engineered products, their markets and their companies' objectives.

Each described how they have worked with the EMC for a number of years as an essential, readily-available 'out-sourced' part of their business, particularly looking at:

• surface quality - essential when finish-quality is intrinsic to the performance of the product
• contaminant identification - effectively reducing waste
• pressure test - identifying failures (above)
• plating consistency and thickness (right)
• new process development, validations and control
• materials and defect investigations
• new product development 

Sally Sharpe of the University's Enterprise Solutions team, highlighted other subsidised support available for business, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), Santander graduate placements and the broader GAIN Growth Hub, which was launched on 1 April 2014 (www.gaininbusiness.com) and which is part of the Plymouth and Peninsula City Deal.

To complete the event, delegates had the opportunity to visit the EMC and the University’s Materials Characterisation Lab, viewing tensile testing, electro-polishing, rapid prototyping and other optical and laser microscopy equipment.

The next event in our Industrial Solutions series will be aimed at Ice-Cream and other dessert producers and the product development/improvement opportunities offered by using electron microscopy (e.g. identifying the size of your product’s ice-crystals) – Wednesday 9 July 2014.

If you want to find out more, then please contact Claire on:

·         07738 858494

·         01752 588908

·         claire.pearce@plymouth.ac.uk