ITP Group

Company/Client

ITP Group is a Warwickshire firm that specialises in the design and manufacture of hi-tech multi-coordinate machinery on a new project that will help boost the company’s competiveness while strengthening the University’s research profile.

The Challenge

To develop a measuring and control system for measurement in open space.

ITP Group manufactures specialist multi-coordinate milling machines and coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), largely for the production of full-scale automotive models produced in clay or foam which allow major automotive clients to effectively evaluate their designs. But the company is also in the business of producing similar equipment for other sectors, for example designing and manufacturing multi-coordinate machinery used in the aerospace and satellite industries.

The large-scale machines required for such work require careful calibration and achieving precision movement with this equipment is difficult. Generally speaking, the larger the machine the greater the challenge in ensuring precise positions. This is where the partnership with Coventry University comes into play

The Solution

The University will be joining forces with the Rugby-based ITP Group through a government-backed Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), which will see academics from its Centre for Manufacturing and Materials (MME) working with engineers at the company to develop a measuring and control system for measurement in open space.

The 31-month project, worth almost £200,000, will see the University’s experts in metrology - the science of measurement - work with ITP in the development of a new multi-coordinate control and measuring system for large machine tools and measuring machines.

Combining engineering excellence with the latest knowledge and research in modern metrology and control instrumentation, the aim of the project is to help ITP achieve greater penetration of the existing automotive market and increase its reach in other sectors within the aerospace, rail transport and marine technologies.