Discussion session during the seminar
Exploiting Multi-Material Micro Injection Moulding for Enhancing Manufacturing Competitiveness
A half-day seminar on multi-material micro injection moulding was recently organised by the University of Malta’s Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (DIME), in collaboration with the project industrial partners, namely, Tek-Moulds Precision Engineering Ltd, Techniplast Ltd and Playmobil Malta Ltd. The seminar, held at the Malta Council for Science & Technology (MCST) premises in Kalkara, was well attended by people from academia and different industrial sectors. The seminar was one of the deliverables of the project titled “Exploiting Multi-Material Micro Injection Moulding for Enhancing Manufacturing Competitiveness (EX-MMIM)", funded by MCST under the R&I 2012 programme with the support of the Ministry for Education and Employment and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport.
The seminar was addressed by a number of speakers, who treated various aspects related to high-value added manufacturing, micro fabrication and the EX-MMIM project in general. Dr Pullicino Orlando, Executive Chairman of MCST formally opened the seminar. This was followed by an address by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport, the Hon. Chris Agius. The Hon. Chris Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, delivered a speech on high-value added manufacturing in Malta.
Dr Ing. Philip Farrugia, Project Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer at DIME, gave an overview of the EX-MMIM project. The key project experts, Dr Ing. Vella and Dr Rochman, lecturers at DIME, spoke respectively about micro and nano manufacturing processes and micro injection moulding. Mr Chris Camilleri, Research Support Officer presented the research results generated in this project. Mr Kevin Busuttil, managing director of Tek-Moulds Precision Eng. Ltd. spoke about the lessons learnt by industry as a result of participating in funded research projects. Ing. Andreas Striegel, researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, delivered a presentation on applied research in micro and nano replication. After the presentations two working groups discussed the benefits of amplifying micro manufacturing in Malta and the challenged faced by industry concerning micro injection moulding. Prof. Jonathan Borg, from the University of Malta’s Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering moderated the discussion.
Learn more about the EX-MMIM project from our recent research interview.
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