Working within our digital manufacturing team, Richard develops connectivity solutions for manufacturing machines and processes to support cyber physical systems, and is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult digital manufacturing technology group developing the technology and strategic roadmaps to support UK Industry.

Before working at the AFRC, Richard spent nearly 10 years in a senior manufacturing engineering role for Spirit AeroSystems Europe where he was responsible for the qualification and industrialisation of automated manufacturing systems of large aero structure assemblies.

Jaffar is the ERP Lead in the Digital Manufacturing team at NMIS.  He is responsible for ensuring the effective implementation and testing of a bespoke ERP system with a view to further enhance the system to fulfil various manufacturing requirements.

Having graduated with a bachelors in Mechanical and Electronic Systems Engineering, Jaffar pursued a Master’s degree in international operations and supply chain management providing him with a better understanding of how businesses operate and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Following a graduate program in operations management that was mostly spent on improving shop floor activities, Jaffar was also involved in implementing an ERP system in his previous role and his experience has been most useful in implementing BitzList at NMIS.

John Reilly is a research and development engineer within the NMIS digital manufacturing team where he is focused on developing technologies for digital transformation of manufacturing processes in partnership with industry and academia.

Working for NMIS since January 2020, John has created a learning series on Python for data analysis for NMIS and their partners, additionally he leads the 5G networking and storage work packages for the RESuME testbed.

Thomas McMaster is a member of the Digital Visualisation team within NMIS. He is at the concluding stage of his EngD degree which focused on lightweight design of robotic arm link components, having spent his earlier years studying mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Glasgow. As part of the automation them within the team, he is involved in a wide spectrum of projects, from sprayed metallic coatings in the manufacturing industry to identification, manipulation and cooling of products in the food and drink industry.