The University of East Anglia is home to Productivity East, a new regional hub for engineering technology and management. Launched in 2021 the £7.3 million facility boasts state of the art teaching and research facilities designed to create the engineers of the future. The initiative also works closely with local engineering businesses to form projects that co-create solutions to real-world industry problems. The facilities at Productivity East include everything in the product development lifecycle. A fully equipped CAD studio supports new product design and simulation workflows, an impressive manufacturing suite offers the latest in both subtractive and additive production technologies, and a materials testing laboratory allows for accurate material characterisation. In order to enhance its technology offering, the centre recently invested in an Indentation Plastometer from Plastometrex. The bench-top device measures accurate metal strength properties (stress-strain curves) from an automated 3-minute indentation test. The technology uses a novel “accelerated” inverse finite element method in order to do this. The system is being used globally by leading universities and companies such as The University of Oxford and Element Materials Technology. Read More