The U.K.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s (EPSRC) Future Manufacturing Hub for advanced powder processes (MAPP) has launched at the University of Sheffield. Professor Iain Todd, director of MAPP, addresses delegates. Courtesy of Helena Marie. MAPP aims to realize the potential of advanced powder processes to provide low-energy, low-cost and low-waste high-value manufacturing routes and products to secure U.K. manufacturing productivity and growth. "It's an exciting time for powder-based processes with new opportunities opening up rapidly in a range of key sectors including aerospace, energy, automotive and health care,” said Professor Iain Todd at the University of Sheffield. “However, there are still some fundamental scientific issues to be addressed before these technologies can be adopted more widely. MAPP brings together leading U.K. researchers, industry and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult to achieve right first-time manufacturing for advanced powder processes and develop the next generation of manufacturing technologies. The EPSRC Future Manufacturing Hubs are key element in our approach to tackling the U.K.'s productivity gap and solving some of the longer-term challenges faced by the U.K.'s manufacturing industry.”