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Tom Abram

Formerly at Lancaster University

Tom Abram

My Role

Tom is the Senior Project Engineer in the Engagement team within the Department of Engineering at Lancaster University. He is primarily responsible for the management of the technical delivery of assistance to industrial collaborators as well as managing the additive manufacturing laboratory and equipment.  This includes mentoring and managing the project engineers, technology access consultants and graduate engineers working within the Engagement team. He helps to enable access to facilities, expertise, R&D, talent (student and graduate) and networks to support business growth.  

Profile

Tom has been working in this area since 2002 helping businesses of all shapes and sizes to grow through accelerating R&D. Previously he worked in industry for many years as a design and development engineer in the automotive sector, designing powertrains, gearboxes and high performance engines. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering Designers.   

Business and Enterprise

The Engineering Engagement team is a small, friendly group focussed towards helping businesses (particularly SMEs) to collaborate with the university primarily in designing, building and testing new products. The team’s expertise lies broadly within mechanical design, design for manufacture, rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and a range of additive technologies (or 3D printing) to support fabrication. The team are also able to draw on broader Engineering skills, expertise and facilities to collaborate with industry partners, depending on specific needs.  

The Engineering Engagement team is part of a wider partnerships function, encompassing Physical Sciences, which includes the Departments of Chemistry and Physics as well as interdisciplinary centres of excellence (such as Energy Lancaster, Materials Science Institute and the Cockcroft Institute). We collaborate regularly with other faculties and departments as well as external organisations to undertake interdisciplinary research and benefit from synergistic approaches to problem solving.  

Since the establishment of the Engineering Engagement team in 2002, we have undertaken more than 1200 collaborative projects with external partners, including SMEs, large enterprises, public bodies and charitable organisations.  

Research Interests

Tom’s research interests are in the area of the use of additive manufacturing processes for tooling application, primarily injection moulding. He is undertaking a part-time PhD with the Department of Engineeringfocussing on the use of selective laser sintering for manufacture of injection mould tools. In conjunction with this he is heavily involved in other areas of research assisting academics, post and undergraduates and businesses in their research activities when additive manufacturing or mechanical design is required. This ranges from manufacture of new machines to material research.  

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