Thales in the UK wins Made in Northern Ireland Award for the Connected Re-configurable Factory

Thales in Northern Ireland have won the Manufacturing Innovation Award at the Made in Northern Ireland Awards 2024, for their work in developing the Connected Re-configurable Factory (COREF).

The multi-million pound initiative is funded by Innovate UK and led by Thales in the UK alongside key technology partners. Two open-access digitally connected Demonstrator labs have been established between our Crawley and Belfast sites.  The open-access labs provide an accessible environment for companies to develop and test business cases for innovative technologies to meet their production needs. Focusing on Industry 4.0 ‘smart’ tools, the labs allow SMEs to understand and embrace automation and digital technologies, revolutionising their manufacturing processes. The benefits to productivity, quality control, manufacturing agility and cost-efficiency are substantial. COREF is a significant extension to the innovation and technology eco-system that Thales is creating across the UK. There is now a network of COREF Demonstrator Cells in all 4 nations of the UK and several PhD research projects have been launched as a result of work on COREF.