Apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article from powder material

A method of manufacturing an article from powder material comprising

• forming a hollow canister,
• supplying powder material into the hollow canister,
• vibrating the canister and/or rotating the canister about a first axis and/or rotating the canister about a second axis while the powder material is supplied into the canister, and controlling the flow of powder material into the canister, the vibrating of the hollow canister, the rotating of the canister about the first axis and the rotating of the canister about the second axis to control the filling of the canister,
• sealing the filled canister,
• evacuating the sealed canister to remove gases from the sealed canister,
• heating and pressing the canister to consolidate the powder material in the canister to form the powder material article and
• removing the canister from the powder material article,
• wherein the method further comprises measuring the weight of any powder material in the canister, measuring the depth of any powder material in the canister, analysing the measured depth of any powder material in the canister, determining if the measured depth of any powder material in the canister corresponds to the measured eight of any powder material in the canister and vibrating the canister and/or rotating the canister about the first axis and/or rotating the canister about the second axis if the measured depth of power material in the canister is greater than the depth of powder material corresponding to the weight of powder material in the canister to redistribute any powder material in the canister.