Sliding-headstock CNC lathe manufacturer, Star GB, has been made a Tier 1 member of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing.

The supplier has been working in association with the AMRC for more than a year, during which time a Star sliding-head CNC bar auto at the Sheffield centre has been supporting its engineering research programmes.

Bob Hunt, managing director of Star GB, said, "We are delighted to be promoted to the highest level of AMRC membership, as we will now have the opportunity to influence the direction of future research in our area of high-added-value machining."

In March 2012, a new, high specification Star mill-turning centre will replace the original one in Sheffield to assist the work carried out by industry and academia, and to strengthen the AMRC's apprentice training programmes. The SR-20RIII will have high-pressure coolant delivery, oil mist extraction and full swarf management as part of a comprehensive package.

The AMRC with Boeing is the founding member of Rolls-Royce's AxRC global network of seven research centres, five of which are in the UK, each concentrating on a different area of advanced manufacturing. The network is designed to help industrial partners to achieve best-in-class capabilities across a wide spectrum of production engineering technologies.