The Insider Made in the Midlands Awards celebrate the region’s world-class manufacturing sector. The 2023 Awards - which took place at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham on 4 May - recognise products, innovations and ideas over the past 12 months.
Food and Drink Manufacturing Award
Derbyshire-based Millitec Food Systems - a specialist in food production automation - partnered with AI specialists at Loughborough University to create a unique sandwich-making robot featuring the latest embedded artificial intelligence technology.
Professor Baihua Li, Professor of Computer Vision and Machine Learning, led a team of researchers to develop machine vision and embed artificial intelligence technology to teach AI robots how to differentiate between food items so they can make sandwiches in factory environments.
Millitec won the Food and Drink Manufacturing Award
Managing Innovation Award
The following two companies with links to Loughborough chemistry research were shortlisted in this category.
Intelligent Energy, a global leader in PEM fuel cell technology, was first launched as a Loughborough University spin-out during the 1980s. The company now has its headquarters and manufacturing base at LUSEP, with additional offices and representation in the US, Japan, South Korea and China.
Underpinned by automotive engineering and chemistry research, Intelligent Energy’s sustainable technology has been successfully deployed to power airborne and road vehicles, and has applications across the logistics, construction and communication sectors.
Plastic Energy - a world-leading chemical recycling company - which partners with Loughborough’s chemistry researchers was also shortlisted in the Manufacturing Innovation category for its work to transform the global landscape of plastic waste by converting previously difficult to recycle plastic into a recycled oil that replaces fossil oils in the production of new plastics.
Another Loughborough spinout (from Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering), Zayndu, took the award for Manufacturing Innovation.
Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation at Loughborough, commented: “I am delighted that our superb innovation ecosystem at Loughborough University has once again been recognised at The Made in Midlands Awards.
"These winners comprise a University spinout, a clean energy company originating from our research - both based on our rapidly growing Science and Enterprise Park next to our campus - and a manufacturer with whom we’ve established a product innovation track record. This success demonstrates the strength of impact we can have through effective partnerships and making progress with purpose.”
All three winning companies will now go through to the Made in the UK Manufacturing Awards which takes place on Thursday 29 June. The event - one of the largest national manufacturing Awards dinners - recognises and rewards the manufacturing heritage and capabilities within the UK.