We were delighted to welcome Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, to officially open our facility yesterday.
In true ADVS style, Mr McKee performed a virtual unveiling of a plaque created using 3D visualisation software, before trying out some of the XR equipment.
Mr McKee commented:
“The Aerospace Digital Visualisation Suite (ADVS) – supported through the Scottish Government’s Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund – is an excellent addition to our well-established Prestwick aerospace cluster, demonstrating time and again the pioneering innovation taking place in Scotland.
“Through the ADVS, South Ayrshire will play a key role in supporting high growth Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), along with development of the sector, which are critical to achieving our National Strategy for Economic Transformation ambitions. These include stimulating entrepreneurship, opening new markets, increasing productivity, developing the skills we need for the decade ahead; and ensuring fairer and more equal economic opportunities.”
The event was also attended by representatives from our partner organisations including South Ayrshire Council, Ayrshire College, Scottish Enterprise and the University of Strathclyde, as well as private companies.
Councillor Martin Dowey, Leader of South Ayrshire Councillor said:
“We are delighted to celebrate the official opening of the Aerospace Digital Visualisation Suite which is arguably the leading facility of its kind in Europe. South Ayrshire is home to Scotland’s largest aerospace hub at Prestwick, which is receiving a great deal of interest due to the £80 million investment from the Ayrshire Growth Deal to establish new facilities and infrastructure. The ADVS makes Prestwick an even more attractive location to new investors who will have free access to its cutting edge technology to improve their productivity and competitiveness.”
Gavin Murray, Assistant Principal – Curriculum, Ayrshire College, said:
“Ayrshire College is delighted to host the ADVS at our Aeronautical Engineering Training Centre in Ayr. We welcome the opportunity to support this unique initiative and its fascinating, state of the art technology. Ayrshire College has a strong heritage in providing training to our industry partners around Prestwick Aerospace and beyond, and the ADVS project demonstrates how working together we can further enhance the local offering that we collectively bring to the aerospace and space sector.”
Since being operational, the ADVS team has worked with almost 50 companies, which for some, has resulted in securing lucrative contracts. In conjunction with our academic partners, including the University of Strathclyde and National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), our team works closely with companies to identify XR solutions to everyday challenges, supporting them in de-risking process improvement and design processes, achieving time and costs savings on live testing, development and training in 1:1 scale.
To see how we can help you, email advs@am-aerospace.co.uk