Research affiliates from The International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), travelled to the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to exchange information on some of the latest developments in their fields and develop their collaborative "Expertise Atlas" project.

CIRP is the world leading organisation in production engineering research and is at the forefront of design, optimization, control and management of processes, machines and systems.

The Academy has restricted membership based on demonstrated excellence in research and has some 600 academic and industrial members from 50 industrialized countries.

It aims to promote research and development among its members from academia and industry to contribute to the global economic growth and well-being of society.

Areas of research covered at the workshop included new ways of depositing diamond-based materials, simulating gear hobbing operations, parallel turning and milling dynamics, process simulation for grinding and multi-axis milling, robotic milling operations, thermal measurement methods in composite machining, additive manufacturing, interferometry and CONALI ontology .

During the workshop, the participants developed the first version of the Expertise Atlas which is hosted in the Googlemap platform. It will act as a tool to facilitate collaboration among researchers by providing key information to setup collaboration.

The seminar was closed by attendees voting for the CIRP UK best poster award. Petra Kersting from Institute of Machining Technology at TU Dortmund University, won with her poster about analysis and optimization of machining processes.

She received the CIRP UK best poster award certificate signed by Professor Jane Jiang, who is the chairman of CIRP UK, and a £100 prize. The certificate was presented by Rolls-Royce Machining Specialist Andy Mantle, who is a CIRP Corporate member.

The 8th CIRP Research Affiliate Workshop was co-organized by Dr Taner Tunc, Dr Erdem Ozturk and Dr Candice Majewski.