Miscellaneous general and special-purpose machinery

Tender description

Multi-Axial Forming Station to be located in the Automated Preforming Cell at the National Composites Centre (NCC). The University of Bristol will run this procurement on behalf the NCC. The National Composites Centre intends to procure a multi-axial forming station to be installed in the existing Automated Preforming Cell to be used for manufacturing research and development purposes. The multi-axial forming station will provide the capability to form dry fibre fabric preforms in the Automated Preforming Cell, the requirement is driven by demand from industry. The equipment will comprise capability to apply pressing force sequentially, together with fibre tensioning applied to a ply or plies of dry fabric material. The concept for the equipment is to form material using a solid lower forming tool and partitioned upper forming tool. The equipment will have the capability to apply pressing force on the upper tooling at varying angles away from vertical, in order to apply force perpendicular to the moulding surface. The equipment will be adaptable to form any geometry within a 1.5 m x 3 m x 1.5 m envelope. The equipment will be positioned in the Automated Preforming Cell in the NCC and has an operational envelope of 2.5 m x 7 m with potential to extend to 2.5 m x 14 m. The equipment will be operated through the Beckhoff plc currently operation in the cell. The equipment will be used to form dry fabric with an amount of binder. The equipment will therefore be able to provide heating and withstand temperature of up to 180ºC required to activate the binder material. The equipment will be controlled by pre-programmed operations and also by decisions based on in-process sensor feedback. A key feature of the capability is to provide the platform for forming process development, which is measured and responsive to in-process data, and the requirement to be adaptable to allow manufacture of future geometries. This Prior Information Notice (PIN) serves to alert the marketplace to this opportunity and the NCC invites interested contractors to lodge an initial expression of interest as detailed herein. Contractors may also provide any other information which they feel may support the NCC with scoping and planning for this exercise. Following receipt of Expressions of Interest, it is currently the intention of the NCC to utilise an Open Procedure route under the Public Procurement Regulations 2015, although this may be reviewed following the outcome of this PIN. Details and guidance on the procurement process will be provided within the tender documentation, including help and support in responding via the e-tendering portal. In order to express an interest in this opportunity please contact helen.kendall@nccuk.com Please register on the University of Bristol’s tender portal https://tenders.bris.ac.uk in order to view and to tender for this opportunity. The tender documents will be finalised following supplier feedback and issued thereafter. (Note: There are currently no tender documents at this stage — this stage is to understand market interest via expressions of interest only). Please note, the NCC intends to use the information gathered to shape the proposed procurement process and specification for this project. Commercially confidential information should therefore be marked accordingly. Following consideration of responses the NCC may wish to engage in further discussions with the respondents which may also further help to inform any subsequent Tender documentation. Participating in this market sounding exercise will not guarantee short-listing at a later stage in the procurement, nor will non-participation in this market sounding exercise restrict access to the tender opportunity. As a result of feedback or for any other reason, the NCC may make the decision not to go ahead with any proposed procurement exercise. The NCC will not meet any costs incurred by any party in responding to this notice. The NCC reserves the right to award all, none, or part of the business.