€20 $26 | JULY 2008

AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING

DESIGN | PRODUCTION | SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

July 2008
2nd Anniversary Issue

INNOVATIVE
YET PROVEN
Page 121

www.aero-mag.com
THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE FOR A GLOBAL INDUSTRY

01_AM_jul08_cover.indd 1 20/6/08 08:26:27

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 21:38:06

 CONTENTS I Denotes dual language editorial feature –
English and German

English and French

5 News BCI Aerospace profile

Advanced Technology 100 Developing potential – Forum Luft- und
Raumfahrt Baden-Württemberg
11 Making new lightweight engine components a reality
– Component coatings Composites Manufacturing
Software 102 Revolutionising wing development – Next Generation
15 A digital solution for a different concept – Digital shape Composite Wing
sampling and processing 105 Group force – Composites UK
18 Enterprising choice – Enterprise simulation 106 An Italian first & Spotlight Asia – New events 2008

Event Report Manufacturing Profile

Farnborough International Airshow 2008 108 Complementary capabilities – CML Group
23 Positioned for the future – Bombardier Aerospace
Electronics Manufacturing
27 Presenting cluster capability – UK aerospace
110 Going through changes – Displays
33 Coming to the UK – German aerospace
39 A growing concern – French aerospace Supply Chain
43 The right treatment – Bodycote 115 Linking service and technology – Lean principles
46 Farnborough exhibitors
55 Blue sky thinking – Sandvik Aerospace Standards
59 Gearing up for global growth – Doncasters 118 The best of the best – Nadcap
63 Putting the pieces together – CGTech
67 Making good sense – Cranfield University
Cover story
121 Innovative yet proven – Airbus A350WXB
Special supplement
69-80 European Defence & Aerospace Manufacturing Engines
Technology Roadshow 2008 126 Production revolution – Permskij Motorny’j Zavod

Metallics Manufacturing Design Engineering

81 Stepping up production – Italy 129 Project long-term hover – Behavioural modelling
83 Incorporating complexity – Welding and joining
87 Mauritius – the offshore answer – Low cost production Industrial Strategy
90 Fastening facts – Fasteners in aerospace 133 Opportunities for SMEs with ability and vision – Boeing UK
93 Turnkey treasure – Titanium machining
97 Optimising efficiency – South America
Next issue: Green Manufacturing, Boeing 747-8,
Supply Chain Partnerships, Americas Manufacturing, Wings

EDITORIAL
Volume 3 Issue 20
Editor | Richard Burton | newsdesk@aero-mag.com
Assistant Editor | Simon Lott | slott@mitpublishing.co.uk
Consulting Editor | Richard Gardner | Richard@richardgardnerassociates.com
Technical Editor | Dr Neil Calder | neil@engineeredcapabilities.co.uk
Contributing Editor | Steed Webzell | s.webzell@virgin.net
Translation | Axis Translations | www.axistranslations.com
ADVERTISEMENT SALES
Sales Manager | Mark Deadman | mdeadman@aero-mag.com
Sales Executive | Alex Smith | asmith@aero-mag.com
Area Sales Manager | Nigel Fuller | nfuller@aero-mag.com
Business Consultant | David Holmes | m-centre@zen.co.uk
Sales Director | Andy Morley | amorley@aero-mag.com
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
Art Editor | Judy Kenny | judykenny@mac.com
Production Editor | Denise Simmons | production@aero-mag.com
CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Circulation Manager | John Slayman | circulation@aero-mag.com
Database Research | The Jamieson Consultancy | www.jamieson-consultancy.net
Financial Controller | Valerie Prentice
Business Development Director | Liam McCauley | lmfmac@btinternet.com
Publisher | David Rose
Published by | MIT Publishing Limited | Featherstone House | 375 High Street | Rochester | Kent
ME1 1DA | United Kingdom | Tel: +44 (0) 1634 830566 | Fax: +44 (0) 1634 408488
Aerospace Manufacturing is distributed free of charge to applicants within Europe meeting the
publisher’s criteria. Subscriptions are also available.
Printers: Hastings Printing
While every care is taken to provide accurate information, the publishers cannot accept liability
for errors or omissions, no matter how they may arise. Authors opinions do not necessarily
reflect those of the publisher. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without the consent of the
publisher.

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 3

03_AM_jul08_contents.indd 1 20/6/08 16:03:31

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Untitled-2 1 17/6/08 15:17:53

 NEWS
Strategic progress
for Umeco
Umeco, an international provider of supply chain and advanced
composite materials primarily to the aerospace and defence
industries, recently announced an increase in revenue for the
year to 31st March 2008 of 18.8% to £335.2 million (£282.1
million last year). Also, the resulting operating profit increased
by 26% to £27.1 million (£21.5 million last year).
Behind this success has been a strategy focused on the high
growth of Umeco’s Composites and Supply Chain businesses
following the divestment of its Repair & Overhaul and
Chemicals distribution businesses. Excellent organic growth
from continuing operations has been driven by rising levels
of demand in core markets and the further expansion of the
Composites business has been aided by acquisitions such as
that of Lincoln and Primco. The extension of Pattonair’s supply
chain contract with Rolls-Royce has had significant bearing on
the supply chain business.
“Our Composites business has shown strong organic growth
and has been considerably strengthened by two acquisitions
that are highly complementary to our existing aerospace
activities,” said Clive Snowdon, Umeco’s Chief Executive. “Our
partnership with Airbus on the Next Generation Composite
Wing research programme emphasises the technical strength
of the Advanced Composites Group and its exciting potential for
growth in the civil aerospace sector.
“Our Supply Chain business has also shown excellent organic
growth, both from existing and newly awarded contracts.
During the year, Pattonair secured a significant extension
of its major contract
with Rolls-Royce, a
relationship that has been
further strengthened by
the completion of our
new dedicated facility
in Derby,” he added.
“Recent strategic activity
and investment has
created a lean, well
focused and financially
robust Group capable
of high rates of organic
growth. With strong
forward order books, this
leaves us exceptionally
well positioned for
another successful year.”
www.umeco.com
05_AM_jul08_news.indd 5
Comment: A fond farewell
This issue of Aerospace Manufacturing
marks several milestones. As well as
being the largest and most successful
issue to date, it was also two years ago
at Farnborough 2006 that the concept for
a vertically focused technical publication
for the manufacturing sector of aerospace
first became reality. More importantly, for
me, it is my last as Editor.
I shall shortly be departing these shores
to take up a new life in Canada with my wife and son – which,
on a personal note, rouses mixed emotion. The exciting prospect
of a new and better life (not to mention the opportunity to play
ice hockey on a frozen lake with my young son), offset by the
reality of being away from family, friends and all that is familiar.
From a professional standpoint, it is a time of reflection. While
I have a great position to go to on the other side of the pond, I
am also going to miss the enthusiastic dedication and general
‘buzz’ of the European aerospace manufacturing sector which
has helped breathe life into our publication. Therefore I’d like to
take this opportunity to thank everyone that supports or reads
Aerospace Manufacturing and assure you the work will continue
through the efforts of the present team and a new and capable
editor.
RICHARD BURTON | EDITOR
rburton@aero-mag.com
Central Europe fuelling
demand
Airbus forecasts that the Central European market will need
some 460 new passenger aircraft over the next 20 years, with
a total market value of $32 billion. Single-aisle aircraft will
dominate deliveries and there is an increasing market for twin-
aisle aircraft. In particular, there will be a large replacement
opportunity in the region with nearly 90% of the current 213
in-service aircraft to be replaced by more eco-efficient models.
According to Airbus’ 2007-2026 Global Market Forecast
(GMF), Central European traffic will grow much faster than
the world average of 4.9% over the next 20 years, for example
at a yearly rate of 6.7% on average. Central Europe’s air travel
has grown by 158% since 2000, as a result of the large potential
to increase the demand to travel. The Central Europe forecast
is based on an analysis of 18 countries in which 30 airlines
operate some 213 passenger aircraft today.
www.airbus.com
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 5
20/6/08 16:04:53
Pattonair_Farnboro_ad08.fh11 16/6/08 17:59 Page 1
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not your blood pressure.
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From immediate urgent demands
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partnerships, Pattonair is dedicated
to providing the skills and resources
to dramatically improve your supply
chain performance.
We remove the complexity and
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product availability and quality, while
considerably reducing the total
Untitled-1 1
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
acquisition cost of your products. Visit us at
Giving you a supply chain you can rely Farnborough International Airshow
on to improve your business Hall 1 - Stand A12
performance.
The quality of our relationships
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As part of Umeco, Pattonair is
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17/6/08 08:07:06
 NEWS
Rapid new product
introduction
The New Product Introduction Aerospace & Defense
conference being held on September 25th and 26th in Frankfurt,
Germany will deal with the important need for technologically
superior products as well as extremely complex processes and
systems in response to the rapidly changing aerospace and
defence sector.
Aerospace and defence is, of course, facing many challenges,
such as reducing time to market, rising costs, rapid changes in
technology, faster innovation cycles, which directly affect new
product introduction (NPI). Therefore companies that serve in
a collaborative extended enterprise environment are committed
to fast ramp-up and manufacturing processes in order to stay
competitive.
Aerospace and defence companies must deploy systems
and practices that meet the need to speed up time to profit
while providing high quality and flexibility in engineering and
manufacturing processes, which is not easy when faced with
project driven manufacturing.
Attending the New Product Introduction Aerospace &
Defense conference will allow aerospace and defence industry
managers to uncover and retain the key to bring innovative
products faster to market and will provide a closer look into
major players’ success stories.
www.marcusevansde.com
Composite material joint venture
Rolls-Royce has established a joint venture company with
GKN Aerospace to carry out research and development into
the use of composite materials in aero-engine fan blades.
As part of its continuous drive to bring innovative products
to market, Rolls-Royce is researching key technologies and
alternative materials to further enhance the efficiency and
environmental performance of its products.
Funding for the research and development is expected to be
approximately £11 million. Rolls-Royce will fund and own 51%
of the venture, with GKN Aerospace responsible for 49%. The
joint venture’s activities will build upon the development of
composite blade applications undertaken during the EU-funded
VITAL programme and will combine the expertise of Rolls-
Royce advanced engine technologies with GKN Aerospace’s
composite research and automated manufacturing technologies.
Rolls-Royce Director of Research and Technology, Ric
Parker said: “Rolls-Royce has been working closely with GKN
05_AM_jul08_news.indd 7
Acquisition agreement
Boeing has finalised the agreement to acquire Vought Aircraft
Industries’ interest in Global Aeronautica, LLC, a South
Carolina fuselage sub-assembly facility for Boeing’s newest
aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner. With the completion of this
transaction, Global Aeronautica is now a 50-50 joint venture
between The Boeing Company and Alenia North America, a
subsidiary of Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica. Vought continues to
produce the aft fuselage for the 787 at its facility adjacent to
Global Aeronautica in North Charleston.
www.boeing.com
Aerospace on the latest carbon-composite technologies for
some time and we look forward to building on this relationship
with the formation of the joint venture. The composite
technology research that this organisation will undertake is
aimed at delivering light weight and low cost fan blades for
engines for the next generation of airframe applications.”
GKN Aerospace Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Bryson
added: “We have long been a pioneer and driving force in the
application of lightweight, high performance composites to
the airframe and it is one of our strategic goals to bring the
benefits of composite materials to propulsion systems. This JV
represents a critical step towards achieving that goal. Through
our partnership with Rolls-Royce, we will achieve a genuine
advance in propulsion system technology that will move us
towards a lighter, more environmentally efficient aero-engine.”
www.rolls-royce.com
www.aerospace.gknplc.com
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 7
20/6/08 11:48:54
 8 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
NEWS
Ground runs
commence
An important milestone in the Airbus Military A400M Flight
Test Bed programme was recently reached at Marshall
Aerospace, Cambridge, UK with the first ground runs of the
Europrop International (EPI) TP400-D6 engine and Ratier-
Figeac propeller installed upon the Marshall-owned C-130
test aircraft. This first run emphasises the power of the
A400M engine/prop combination which is the largest ever to
be designed and produced in the Western world. The ground
runs will enable the engineers to test and measure the engine
starts, nacelle ventilation, intake distortion, engine noise
behaviour and undertake the vibration stress survey to clear
the new Ratier-Figeac/Hamilton Sundstrand propeller.
www.marshallaerospace.com
New EMEA partnership
TTI and Tyco Electronics have entered an exclusive
partnership on the distribution of connectors for the aerospace,
defence and marine markets. The aim of the agreement is
to considerably strengthen the presence of Tyco Electronics’
products in the referred markets within the regions of Europe,
Middle East and Africa.
TTI is already a preferred distributor of Tyco Electronics
with a strong global presence. The company actively
promotes Tyco Electronics’ product portfolio, with a special
emphasis being made on demand creation and the generation
of new business. Through TTI’s committed Military, Aero
and Space team focusing on the markets in question, Tyco
Electronics expects a significant boost in activities in the
near future.
www.ttieurope.com
www.tycoelectronics.com
05_AM_jul08_news.indd 8
Expanded facility
Eurocopter Canada’s newly expanded headquarters and
manufacturing facility in Fort Erie, Ontario has grown
to 135,625ft2 and will contribute significantly to Ontario’s
aerospace industry and manufacturing base. The expansion
will also allow Eurocopter Canada to further develop its
manufacturing of composite components for its worldwide fleet
of helicopters – EC135, EC145, AS365 and EC130.
The company currently employs 200 people in skills-based
jobs, and the current growth is expected to create an additional
30 positions by the end of this year.
Eurocopter Canada, which currently has 63% market share,
is expanding within Canada with a view to continuing to
build national markets for its line of helicopters. In addition
to expanding its main facility in Fort Erie, the company is
officially opening a new logistics facility in Richmond, British
Columbia. Eurocopter
will deliver its 500th
helicopter in Canada
this autumn and will
celebrate its 25th
anniversary in Canada in
2009.
www.eurocopter.ca
Brookhouse acquired by Kaman
Brookhouse, of Darwen, the UK’s largest independent
composites manufacturing and assembly organisation, has been
acquired by Kaman Aerospace Group, a subsidiary of Kaman
Corp of Connecticut, USA. The move is seen by Brookhouse as an
important step in realising its ambitious growth strategy and by
Kaman as a means of furthering many of the Group’s goals in the
aerostructures segment, significantly enhancing its position in
the composite structures market.
Richard Thorley, Chief Exective at Brookhouse, said: “Kaman
is an excellent home for Brookhouse and we look forward to
being part of a dynamic forward-looking aerospace company
where scale and added credibility will support us as we execute
our growth strategy.
His comments are reinforced by Neal Keating, chairman
and chief executive of the Kaman Group, who added:
“Brookhouse has developed a reputation as a leading edge
technology composites company and brings with it strong
relationships with prime manufacturers in both the military
and commercial markets. The acquisition supports our strategy
of supplementing our organic growth with targeted strategic
transactions and expands our presence into a number of
additional platforms.”
www.brookhouse.net
20/6/08 16:05:51
Untitled-1 1 18/6/08 11:18:17
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Untitled-1
5 axis BRM1Aero A4-4.indd 1 16/6/08 23:05:48
10:44:51
 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY I COMPONENT COATINGS

MAKING NEW LIGHTWEIGHT ENGINE

COMPONENTS A REALITY
Professor Papken
Hovsepian of the Materials
and Engineering Research
Institute at Sheffield
Hallam University in the
UK discusses how coatings
can help release the true
potential of one of the
aerospace industry’s most
promising new materials

T
he aerospace industry is, of
course, notorious for its drive
to reduce weight in an on going
bid to reduce fuel consumption and,
by extension, operating costs. Further,
pressure for air travel to be more ‘green’
has also come to bear.
Almost since man first took to the
skies, much work has been done to Professor Papken Hovsepian | By the HIPIMS PVD chamber at Sheffield Hallam University

reduce airframe weight and today’s

civil aircraft are rich with composite
materials and lightweight alloys. Most
recently though, attention has turned to
reducing the weight of aerospace engines
and the components therein, and much
development work has been conducted
into the use of lightweight materials to
replace the traditional steels and nickel-
base alloys used in engines.
A highly promising family of materials
are the so-called titanium aluminides
(TiAl), and in particular gamma
TiAl. These materials, also known as
intermetallic compounds, boast great
strength and are lightweight. For
example, aluminide base alloys offer
superior high temperature performance
with low weight and non-burn, and
gamma aluminide turbine blades based
on Ti47Al2Cr2Ni have been proven to
be as strong as nickel based alloys up to
760°C – but at only half the weight. This
will, of course, allow for smaller engines,
reduced fuel consumption, less hazardous
emissions and will therefore be better for
the environment.
These new materials are ticking several
boxes in not only the aerospace industry
but also the automotive and industrial
sectors. However, not all boxes are
being ticked. Aluminides are difficult
to process as they have limited heat
treatability and low ductility at room
temperature. Moreover, wear and erosion
resistance are further compromised
when the operating temperature exceeds
650ºC, limiting the use of these materials
in harsh environments. Under these
conditions the material surface rapidly
fails due to the combination of intensive
oxidation and mechanical wear.
Seeking solutions and endeavouring
to harness the true potential of gamma
TiAL, is the Innovatial project (a play
on ‘innovative’ and TiAl), which started
in May 2005 and is supported by the
European Commission through the Sixth
Framework Programme for Research and
Development.
Innovatial involves 24 high profile
European partners – including Fiat
Research Centre, German Aerospace,
Siemens, General Electric, Hauzer and
IonBond – and is focused on developing

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 11

11_AM_jul08_advanced_mat.indd 11 20/6/08 11:32:03

 12 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY I
One of four | A plasma source within the High Power
Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) chamber
innovative processes and materials to
allow ultra-performance nanostructured
coatings to be applied to gamma TiAl
using physical vapour deposition (PVD).
PVD is carried out under vacuum
conditions and is a three-step process of
transferring material at atomic level.
● Evaporation – the donor material is
thermally evaporated or sputtered by
energetic ion bombardment to vaporise
(sputter) its surface atoms.
● Transfer – of the vaporised atoms.
● Deposition – the build up of a surface
coating by condensation where, for some
processes, reactions take place between
donor and recipient atoms (and, in
some instances, reactive gases are also
introduced into the mix).
Heavily involved in Innovatial,
and a world-leader in its field, is
the Nanotechnology Centre for
Physical Vapour Deposition Research
(NTCPVD), which is part of the
Materials and Engineering Research
Institute (MERI) at Sheffield Hallam
University in the UK.
The NTCPVD has a very successful
history in the research and development
of high performance functional coatings
for applications in extreme environments
and the centre has pioneered the
11_AM_jul08_advanced_mat.indd 12
COMPONENT COATINGS
deposition of several application-specific
nanoscale multilayer (superlattice)
coatings.
Coating families developed by the
centre in Sheffield include TiAlYCrN,
CrAlYN/CrN, CrN/NbN, TiAlN/VN,
TiAlCN/VCN and Me/C, which offer
greatly reduced friction, increased
wear and corrosion resistance and good
protection against high temperature
oxidation. Further, most have already
transferred to industrial applications such
as cutting tools used for dry high speed
machining, parts for textile machines,
metal forging and glass moulds protected
with the coatings developed at Sheffield
– all are available on the market, and
have been for a number of years.
These new coatings were possible
thanks to PVD technologies, such as
magnetron sputtering, cathodic arc
evaporation and hybrid technologies
such as low pressure plasma nitriding
combined with PVD. Also, the
NTCPVD has taken the lead in ground-
breaking high power impulse magnetron
sputtering (HIPIMS) PVD technology
for adhesion-enhancing substrate pre-
treatment – which many consider to be
the most significant breakthrough in
PVD in the last 30 years.
Dr A P Ehiasarian, Senior Research
Fellow of Sheffield Hallam University,
not only invented and up-scaled the
HIPIMS technology for surface pre-
treatment but also allowed the centre
Gamma TiAl turbine blades | A nanoscale multilayer
structure coating, deposited using the HIPIMS PVD
process
to patent and license the technology to
a number of world-leading PVD system
manufacturers, as well as market a
number of coating recipes for a variety of
commercial applications.
The HIPIMS technology is also
used to produce extremely dense PVD
coatings, which is a key requirement
when it comes to protection of aerospace
or automotive engine parts against
environmental attack.
In conclusion
The Innovatial project, and the
NTCPVD’s activities, will provide a
substantial increase in the durability and
performance of coated TiAl components,
and the aerospace applications envisaged
for these components will push the
material to its very limits.
At Sheffield, the NTCPVD is
equipped with unique world-class
industrial and laboratory scale PVD
systems and a large variety of advanced
systems for plasma diagnostics which
allows both fundamental and applied
research to be carried out.
The centre collaborates with a large
number of companies in Europe, USA
and the Far East, as well as leading
research organisations such as the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
the Centre for Microanalysis of
Materials, University of Illinois and the
Fraunhofer Institute. ❙
www.shu.ac.uk/meri
Cross section | A Transmission Electron Microscope
(XTEM) image of the nanoscale multilayer PVD coating
20/6/08 11:38:32
13_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 10:46
ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | AMARI
Amari opens dedicated
metal service centre
Following a major expansion and
investment in additional stock and
processing equipment, Amari
(hall 4, stand CC1 at Farnborough
International Airshow 2008) has
opened a new Aerospace Service
Unit in Southampton, UK.
Amari Aerospace ltd
0 chose this system to give 2the best
Quality Service Providers of Aerospace Metals
Page 17
rom this new facility Amari can
F
now provide rapid deliveries of cut
Aluminium Plate to British and
American Aerospace specifications, along
with its traditional range of Bar and
Sheet products.
Among the new processing equipment
is a CNC Plate saw, with an industry-
leading capacity to cut up to 8 inch thick
Aluminium. David Enright, General
Manager of Amari Aerospace, says: 2many
plate saws in our business will only cut up
to 6 inch thick, so we are very excited to
be able to offer customers our usual
quick turn-around over such a wide range
of plate gauges.3
The Plate Saw and High-Speed Bar
Saws are linked to a state-of-the-art
Vacuum Swarf Extraction System. David
working conditions for our operators,
email: sales@amari-aerospace.com
and for its reduced impact on the
environment, compared with traditional
Swarf Conveyor Systems3.
This extension to its processing
capability adds more value to the total
service package Amari can provide. Its
ability to respond quickly and offer
reliable delivery times at competitive
prices helps to reduce material cost
within the supply chain.
Amari holds comprehensive stocks of
released Aluminium Plate, Sheet, and Bar,
in addition to its strength in US
specification imports of Steels, Nickel
Alloys and Titanium. Operating daily
airfreight import consolidations from
major suppliers across the United States
guarantees on-time deliveries of
otherwise hard-to-source items to AMS,
QQ, and MIL specifications. |
www.amari-aerospace.com
For a prompt,
courteous, and
competitive quote
please contact:
Tel: 023 8074 2750
Fax: 023 8074 1947
 the world’s
aerospace materials
team

We provide many of the world’s leading aerospace

and defence companies with total material supply
chain management – from raw material supply to
finished parts kitting.

Our team operates from 30 service centres in

13 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and
Asia Pacific. Please contact us to discover how we ALUMINIUM
can supply you with local service on a global scale.
STEEL TITANIUM
ALUMINIUM BRONZE
NICKEL

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace

www.thyssenkruppaerospace.com ThyssenKrupp
Untitled-1 1
TKA-AEROMAN-A4advert-aw.indd 1 16/6/08
11/6/08 23:08:03
14:56:44
 SOFTWARE I DIGITAL SHAPE SAMPLING AND PROCESSING

A DIGITAL SOLUTION FOR A

DIFFERENT CONCEPT
Airship | The mechanics make it nearly as intriguing as its peculiar form

In order to reconstruct better custom fan blades for its airships, aptly named US-
based blimp manufacturer American Blimp turned to Advanced Design Concepts
and the use of Geomagic DSSP (digital shape sampling and processing) software

I
magine a submarine floating through
the sky, and you’ll essentially have an
airship; or a blimp. Strange but true:
beyond a physical likeness, the design
and mechanical features of a blimp are
closer to a submarine than an airplane.
Such a melding of concepts introduces
design elements unlike those in any
other aircraft – something American
Blimp Corporation realised first hand
when the manufacturer of its custom
fan blades went defunct. The business
turned to engineering design company
Advanced Design Concepts (ADC) to
create injection moulds from the actual
part. The new process improved quality,
cut manufacturing time, and led to nearly
ten-fold cost savings.
ADC offers rapid prototyping,
reverse engineering and first-run
manufacturing services. The company
uses Geomagic DSSP (digital shape
sampling and processing) software,
in the form of Geomagic Studio for
digital reconstruction and modeling and
Geomagic Qualify for computer-aided
inspection, to automatically convert
point clouds from a scanned physical
part into accurate digital models and
to graphically compare those models
to the part for quality inspection. The
models are then used for downstream
CAD/CAM, engineering analysis, and
machining. For American Blimp, ADC
used the digital models to reconstruct
the blade, create an injection mould for
manufacturing and inspect the mould for
accuracy.
The mechanics of an airship make it
Injection moulds | Created from the actual part
nearly as intriguing as its peculiar form.
Once inflated, the airship becomes
‘alive’. An air bladder inside the envelope
– called a ballonet – is pressurised by
the blast from the engine propellers or
by electric fans incorporated into the
airbox. The pressure inside the ballonet
acts on the helium inside the envelope
to maintain the shape. The airbox has
various valves that control and regulate
the pressure semi-automatically, and
manual controls allow the pilot to
override the airbox if necessary.
As an airship rises, the helium expands
and at some point the ballonet – which
encompasses a very small percentage of
the envelope volume – becomes empty.
This condition is referred to as ‘pressure
height’. Pressure height limits the
airship’s maximum altitude, as helium
must be vented for the airship to go
higher. Helium valves can be used to
release helium manually or automatically,
but if too much helium is advertantly
released a replaceable panel in the

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 15

15_AM_jul08_geomagic.indd 15 20/6/08 11:40:24

 16 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
SOFTWARE I DIGITAL SHAPE SAMPLING AND PROCESSING
Fan blades | Providing cooling characteristics
ballonet is ripped out, allowing air into
the helium chamber. The airship can
then descend, but the contaminated
helium will have to be replaced before
flying again.
“Airships are strange beasts and are
totally different from ‘normal’ aircraft,”
says Lance Nordby, Project Engineer at
American Blimp. “They have a number
of systems on board that have no
counterpart in the airplane world.”
One distinctive design aspect of
American Blimp airships are the fan
blades, modeled after those in the
Moulton B Taylor Aerocar of the 1950s.
The car/airplane incorporated a cooling
fan that American Blimp thought
suitable for cooling the airship engines.
This is particularly important, because
the relatively low airspeeds of airships
make their engines difficult to cool.
For nearly a decade American Blimp
purchased the blades from Moulton B
Taylor’s aircraft manufacturing business.
Unfortunately, Taylor passed away in
1995, his business fizzled and the supply
of these blades eventually ran out.
With no access to the original moulds,
American Blimp had a third-party vendor
use a CNC machine to manufacture the
blades out of acetyl from a scan of an
original blade. Eventually that source
dried up as well.
“The vendor had ownership of the
scan file,” says Mr Nordby. “Suddenly
they went out of business with no notice
and we had no way to buy the scan file
15_AM_jul08_geomagic.indd 16
if we had wanted to. We were up the
proverbial creek.”
The shape of the blade – now
incorporated into all of the company’s
airship designs – had to be exact
to provide the appropriate cooling
characteristics and to fit on existing
hardware. That made designing a new
blade from scratch near impossible.
Given the reduction of cost for short-
run injection moulding, American Blimp
had already been contemplating having
moulds made for manufacturing the
blades. ADC was a company that could
do the whole job – scanning, mould-
making and production.
American Blimp sent an original fan
blade to ADC, who scanned it with a
Perceptron laser scanner mounted on
an 8ft long Romer arm. The blade was
fixtured using one of its existing holes,
so the scanner could see all of the part’s
surfaces.
“Perceptron allows you to orient the
head in many different positions to
capture every necessary angle,” says
Greg Groth, Senior Designer at ADC.
The scanner can capture more than
23,000 points per second with
50 micron accuracy. “No 2D data had to
be recorded, because the high resolution
of the scanner allowed us to capture
everything we needed to digitally
recreate the part,” he adds.
Once the data had been collected, as a
point cloud with 2.2 million points, it was
brought into Geomagic Studio software.
Mr Groth did a uniform sampling of
the individual points, using the software
to automatically convert each scan into
polygon models, and merged them into
one model. To maintain the edge on the
blade, the merged points were sampled
using a curvature-based setting in
Geomagic Studio, then polygonised again.
Mr Groth smoothed out the polygons to
remove any imperfections captured on
the original part, rebuilt the parting line
on the blade for use in the mould, filled in
existing holes, and created a reference to
be exported for future use.
“The parting line was the most
important area to define when generating
the surface,” Mr Groth says.
Once the polygon model was
finalised, Geomagic Studio was used
to automatically generate a NURBS
(non-uniform rational b-spline) surface
model. The model was imported into
Parametric Technology’s Pro/Engineer
software, where the mechanical features
were added and an injection mould
tool was built. IGES files of the tool
components were then exported to
Surfware’s Surfcam software to generate
the toolpath required to manufacture the
injection mould on a CNC machine.
In the final step, the aluminium
mould was mounted on a JSW injection-
moulding machine, and injected with
acetal to make the blade. ADC then
used Geomagic Qualify computer-aided
inspection software to automatically align
and compare measurement data from
cross-sections of the physical part with the
digital model, verifying that the moulded
blade matched the original design.
Since the final digital model shared the
same coordinate system of the original
point cloud, there was no need to
register the data sets. This allowed Greg
Groth to automatically generate a colour
plot of variation in Geomagic Qualify.
The final tolerances for the mould were
±0.005 inch.
Using the injection-mould process,
it costs American Blimp just over $5 to
make each fan blade, compared to about
$50 when the parts were manufactured
directly on a CNC machine tool. The
process allows the blades to be moulded
from glass-filled acetal, which has better
fatigue and UV resistance, as well as high
stiffness, low warpage, and low creep
– particularly in applications above room
temperature.
“The parts have a much better surface
finish and are more consistent,” Mr
Nordby says. “The smoother surface and
greater stiffness should also improve the
blade’s efficiency.” ❙
www.americanblimp.com
www.geomagic.com
www.adcinc1.com
20/6/08 11:42:25
17_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 10:45
ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | HIGAR ENGINEERING
High Technology & Dynamic skill -
Present best cost solution
igar Engineering has over 35 years
H experience as a World Leading
Tier 1 machining supplier of
complex precision machined components
and assemblies to a wide variety of
sectors. The company holds AS9100
certification and approval for most major
OE aerospace companies.
With a 30,000ft2 modern lean
Page 17
manufacturing facility based in New
Milton on the South Coast of England,
supported by a team of highly skilled
technical engineers and operations
management, the business has delivered
significant cost benefits to its customers
by successfully challenging world low
cost sourcing through the use of latest
technology and lean processes.
The business strategy has been focused
on recruitment of high end technical
engineering skill plus investment into
multi-axis machining, CATIA and
UGNX5. This allows interface with
customers at the design stage to develop
the most cost effective solutions.
Higar7s core products capability
includes; machined from solid electronic
enclosures, fuel metering and hydraulic
manifolds, aero-engine and structures.
Machining of hard metal has become a
key capability including a dedicated aero-
ducting Inconel machining cell.
The facility has four main value
streams, with dedicated areas including:
aero-ducting, 3-, 4- and 5-axis milling,
multi-axis mill/turning and a dedicated
aftermarket business benefiting from a
Formula 1 style fast track manufacture
system and technology to support small
volume production with AOG
requirements.
Higar sees its future as a World Class
supplier where the UK facility will
manufacture the highest level of
technical product; along with its
customers the company is developing
Global Lean supply strategies to provide
the lowest possible cost of acquisition. |
 18 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
SOFTWARE I ENTERPRISE SIMULATION
ENTERPRISING
CHOICE
Over the past couple of months key aircraft
manufacturers have committed to work with
MSC Software’s enterprise simulation solutions,
including Boeing and Bell Helicopter Textron
G
lobal provider of enterprise
simulation solutions, including
simulation software and services,
MSC Software, recently announced that
Boeing has entered into a new multi-year
agreement under which it will leverage
the former’s new Enterprise Advantage
system for flexible access to next
generation simulation technology across
the Boeing enterprise.
Boeing was the first company to sign a
Strategic Alliance Partnership, an MSC
Software sponsored initiative. This new
agreement builds upon the existing
environment, guarantees continued
access to the solutions already in place
and adds new technology from MSC
Software’s SimEnterprise solutions,
including the new multi-discipline solver
technology, SimXpert for advanced
simulation templating and SimManager
for process management.
“Boeing consistently strives to translate
technological innovation into product
innovation that positively influences both
customers and business value,” explains
Carol Pittman, Director of Information
Technology (IT) for Engineering Systems
and the Boeing Executive IT sponsor for
the MSC partnership. “We believe MSC
Software’s enterprise simulation solutions
will help enable this innovation as we
deploy the new technology.”
“We are pleased that major aerospace
manufacturers are increasingly adopting
18_AM_jul08_MSC.indd 18
our next generation enterprise simulation
initiative and the associated new product
portfolio,” says Bill Weyand, Chief
Executive Officer for MSC Software.
“With MD Nastran and SimEnterprise,
MSC Software is driving a new way of
developing and managing simulation
which will increase productivity gains as
well, drive first to market and right to
market, and positively impact the overall
bottom line.”
“By aligning closely with forward
looking customers like Boeing and
understanding their technology and
business needs, we are able to drive the
content of MD and SimEnterprise in
direct response to those needs,” adds
Glenn Wienkoop, President of MSC
Software.
MSC Software also recently announced
that Bell Helicopter Textron has selected
its enterprise simulation management
solution, SimManager. SimManager, a
component of SimEnterprise, is MSC
Software’s enterprise simulation data
and process management solution, and
has been selected as a key component to
support Bell Helicopter’s initiative for
accelerated new product development.
The deployment of SimManager
across Bell Helicopter’s engineering
organisation is strategic to harnessing
simulation data management and process
automation, establishing a standardised
simulation and testing knowledge
MSC Software | Driving a new
way of developing and managing simulation
database, and helping to rationalise
in-house and legacy technology into a
common integrated environment.
“SimManager will enable us to manage
simulation processes, resources and
information across our engineering
organisation,” says Christopher Spencer,
Vice President Air Vehicle Engineering,
Bell Helicopter Textron. “SimManager
drives reliable, consistent and automated
simulation methods and processes
while capturing, sharing, and enabling
reuse of engineering simulation data
and processes to speed the innovation
and product development process. This
is key to the collaborative knowledge
management environment that Bell
Helicopter Textron is creating and is a
critical factor in providing a foundation
for best practice and continuous process
improvement. Over time, simulation
methods and processes can be improved
to achieve results that can be relied on in
place of physical prototypes, accelerating
product development and reducing cost.”
“Bell Helicopter’s vision is an exciting
example of how to harmonise, manage,
and collaboratively extend engineering
lifecycle processes across the enterprise
including partners and suppliers and
provides a strong testament to the
value of the MSC Software,” adds
John Howaniec, Senior Vice President,
Americas, MSC Software. ❙
www.mscsoftware.com
20/6/08 08:27:12
19-22_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 11:03
ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | TRELLEBORG SEALING SOLUTIONS
While seals might not
be the most illustrious
aircraft components,
their critical importance
means that best practice
manufacturing has to be
the ultimate goal for all
suppliers operating in this
highly competitive arena
SEAL
OF APPROVAL
hen people think of elastomer
W seals, most imagine the humble
O-ring. And yet there is far, far
more to this engaging technology area
than typically springs to mind,
particularly within the aerospace sector.
Precision seals in elastomers, PTFE
and polyurethane materials are used
throughout modern aircraft in areas such
as hydraulic systems, fuel systems,
engines, landing gear and airframes.
Dimensions are non-standard, tolerances
are tight and quantities are relatively
small, which means that OEMs cannot
source from standard catalogue
manufacturers. Furthermore, the
elevated temperatures and pressures of
many aerospace applications require the
use of specialist polymers.
So where do aircraft manufacturers
turn to acquire seals with such high
specifications. Enter Trelleborg Sealing
Page 19
Solutions, a company with over half a
century of expertise in this demanding
technology sector.
To emphasise its market leading
credentials the company has just built a
new 5,000m2 elastomer seal
manufacturing plant in Tewkesbury,
Gloucestershire, UK, approximately one
mile from its previous site. With
occupation commencing in February
2008, this showcase facility is home to
approximately 130 employees who busy
themselves designing and producing high
specification elastomer seals for the
aerospace industry every year. Aerospace
is the primary focus for the plant7s
activity: the company supplies to all
major current aircraft platforms and
participates in a considerable number of
ongoing service programmes.
4It was the smart choice to stay local as
it meant we retained our skills base,5
explains the facility7s product manager
Guy Burridge. 4It also provided the
opportunity to 6right-size7 our business.
The previous site was huge 9 it was built
for another era whereas now we have a
different and more dynamic trading
model. We only transferred the 6best
practice7 elements from our old site,
using the new plant as a blank canvas to
design the optimum manufacturing
layout. Our customers want high quality,
high precision, traceable products
manufactured from specific materials
that will still be around in 15 years time,5
says Mr Burridge. 4Our investment in
this facility ensures we can continue to
meet our customers7 needs.5
The past legacy of Trelleborg Sealing
Solutions :originally as Dowty Seals and
Shamban Aerospace; means it owns the
intellectual property attached to over
300 material formulas specific to the
AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING 19
19-22_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 11:03 Page 20

20 AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING

ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | TRELLEBORG SEALING SOLUTIONS

environment: from goods-in at one end

of the factory, through to despatch at the
other, everything has its place.
Beginning with goods-in, raw material
arrives from the company6s polymer
suppliers in weight ranging from 1kg up to
500kg. Before entering production, each
material batch is tested for physical
properties. Tests for tensile strength,
specific gravity/density, curing properties
and temperature retraction all take place
under laboratory conditions. As virtually
all rubbers harden at minus temperatures,
the latter test is to assess how quickly the
material regains its elastic properties after
it has been subjected to aircraft
temperatures as low as -55°C.
All test information is recorded and
2008 - The new Trelleborg Sealing Solution facility in Tewkesbury, UK

samples of each batch are retained for

company6s aerospace seals. These range
from soft natural rubbers through to high
performance FFKM perfluoroelastomers,
along with unique PTFE and
polyurethane-based formulations, with
development continuing to meet the
industry6s ever changing needs.
Most of the company6s aerospace seals
are application specific. Trelleborg
Sealing Solutions has an extensive
database of applications that allow it to
interpret available data and develop
products in close liaison with customers,
from initial concept and prototypes
through to delivery of production
quantities.
Regarding production, the first factor
to strike all who enter the manufacturing
area at the new Tewkesbury facility is the
immaculately clean working
full product traceability. 4We have 100%
control over what we do and everything
is traceable,5 confirms Mr Burridge.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is
accredited to ISO9001 and AS9100
quality standards, as well as the
environmental standard ISO14001,
which it has attained for the past 12
years. Rightly proud of its sustainability
and environmental credentials, Trelleborg

(De) signed, sealed, delivered
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has over 5,700 employees
based at 30 manufacturing facilities around the world,
however, it is the new site at Tewkesbury that produces the
highest concentration of aerospace-specific seals, with
approximately 80% of its output remaining in
the UK.
Additional UK sites supporting aerospace customers
include Bridgwater, which produces PTFE seals, metal O-
rings and shaft seals, and Swadlincote, where airframe
sealing solutions are manufactured. Many of the 30
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions manufacturing facilities
worldwide are involved in aerospace. In particular there is
Helsingør, Denmark and Condé, France, as well as Fort
Wayne, Indiana. Within this impressive global presence, the
company also recognises that Asia is where the most
significant future growth is likely to occur.
“The Asia-Pacific region is our fastest growing sales area
and aerospace is our fastest growing market segment,”
says UK sales director Chris Billinge. “In line with other
industries, aerospace is looking increasingly towards Asia.
For this reason we have now opened a manufacturing
facility in Shanghai to better serve a growing number of
our aerospace customers locating to the region.”
Even without this new plant, the company’s impressive
logistics capability handles the successful and on-time
delivery of any part manufactured at any of its facilities, to
any customer, wherever they are located worldwide. “We
try and make things easy for our customers,” continues
Mr Billinge. “The interface for them is with a local
marketing company. In the UK we’re based in Solihull and
provide technical support and access to the full Trelleborg
Sealing Solutions product range, advising the optimum
solution for each application. We pride ourselves on being
global but providing a local contact and back-up.”
19-22_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 11:04
5,000m2 Aerospace Seal Production Area
Group now makes it mandatory for its
manufacturing plants to be ISO14001
accredited.
When required by production,
material is retrieved from automated
tower stores before entering one of
several manufacturing cells that are based
primarily on material type. For instance
non-black silicone and fluorosilicone
seals are manufactured in a cell separate
to conventional black silicones. Other
cells exist for machined seals,
metal/rubber combination seals, Isolast®
3the company1s range of high
specification FFKM compounds4;
finishing and post-curing 3between 1 and
50 hours4; and inspection.
Once extruded cores have been
prepared, seals are produced in mould/die
style tooling mounted in presses up to
500 tonne in capacity. Even though
volumes are small, each Trelleborg seal
utilises hardened steel dies that are
maintained over the service life of the
product. Because it is unacceptable to
under-fill the mould tools with material
there will always be some excess.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions uses its
decades of experience to minimise
overspill so that material and post-
processing costs are minimised, which
can be challenging because all rubbers
Page 21
exhibit different rates of shrinkage when
vulcanised. The tiny amount of excess is
removed later using a gentle
cryogenic/tumbling process.
Where strength and structural
integrity are customer requirements,
metal/rubber combination seals provide
the solution. Metals such as steel,
aluminium, brass and stainless steel are
deployed with great effect. Again the
company uses its experience to produce
the critical bonds 3using chemical
agents4, ensuring that joints are typically
stronger than the parent materials.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has already
identified the potential trend towards
composite replacements for these metal
parts. Although most current applications
concern airframe seals 3manufactured at
the company1s Swadlincote manufacturing
plant4, the Tewkesbury site is already
developing solutions of its own and would
be keen to work with others wanting to
pursue potential for rubber-to-composite
technologies.
The Isolast® manufacturing cell
produces seals in the Trelleborg Sealing
Solutions proprietary perfluoroelastomer
material. With their outstanding sealing
properties, in an ideal world everyone
would use FFKM-based materials.
However, in many applications it would
Preferred by
aerospace engineers
The newly developed Turcon®
Variseal® SA from Trelleborg
Sealing Solutions provides a PTFE-
based sealing solution suitable for
the solid seal glands preferred by
aerospace engineers. This seal
offers easy installation combined
with high temperature operation,
chemical resistance and low
friction, making it suitable for high
frequency aerospace applications
such as flight control.
Its jacket of Turcon®, the
company’s proprietary PTFE-based
material, is capable of operating in
extremes of temperature and is
resistant to aggressive aerospace
fluids such as synthetic
hydrocarbon, petroleum base,
phosphate ester and all types of
aviation jet fuels. Turcon® also has
a very low co-efficient of friction,
which optimises sealing load,
making it suitable for the high
frequency cycling of aerospace
primary flight controls.
“The development of Turcon®
Variseal® SA represents a
significant advance, bringing real
benefits to our customers,” says
Stuart Moares, product manager
responsible for Variseal®, which is
being manufactured at the
company’s Bridgwater facility. “It
expands the use of Turcon®
Variseal® in aerospace applications
and the new product can give
improved performance in existing
housings.”
AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING 21
19-22_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 11:04 Page 22

22 AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING

ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | TRELLEBORG SEALING SOLUTIONS

Trimming and Final Inspection of the Silicone Seals Clean room Conditions

be over-specified, so the company uses
its experience to work closely with its
customers to specify the product that
gives the optimum value from the seal
without it failing.
The state-of-the-art manufacturing
cells at the new Tewkesbury facility help
the company meet its tight delivery
schedules. In fact, it has been known for
some urgent jobs to be turned around
within a 24 hour timescale , fairly
unusual for the aerospace industry.
Also located at the new Tewkesbury
site is a Class 100 clean room for
manufacturing seals where demanding
cleanliness levels are prerequisite, as well
as an extensive R&D laboratory where
new products are tested to destruction
and benchmarked against the
competition in a series of accelerated life
tests performed on bespoke machinery
and test equipment.
Any manufactured product is only as
good as its weakest component. While
sometimes the seal could potentially be
the likely weak link, Trelleborg Sealing
Solutions design products that ensure
this is not the case. After all, although it*s
a small product, it has a huge
responsibility. |

Independent tests A major chemical manufacturing company had a number of

Isolast® from Trelleborg Sealing Solutions proved to be an
outright winner in independent tests undertaken by a major
manufacturer to find the best performing
perfluoroelastomer from a range of FFKM materials.
Perfluoroelastomers were originally developed to meet
the needs of chemical processing companies seeking
sealing materials that have the elasticity of a
fluoroelastomer but the chemical resistance of a PTFE
material. Now they are used in a wide variety of industries,
including aerospace where they have the benefit of high
temperature performance required for engine applications.
Isolast® is a range of perfluoroelastomers specifically
developed by Trelleborg Sealing Solutions for the
manufacture of seals. The range is resistant to virtually all
chemicals, has operating temperatures up to 325°C and a
low, long-term compression set.
formulations to choose from and undertook independent tests
to identify the material that offered the best performance.
They involved keeping the Isolast® materials and other
competitive FFKM compounds immersed in a number of
extremely aggressive chemical media for 112 days at varying
temperatures. After this time, the material volume was
measured. A volume increase of 20% is classed as ‘critical
threshold value’ for seals in this type of experiment. Beyond
that, the sealing material would not be considered suitable for
sealing in a chemical media, at the temperatures where a
volume change of over 20% occurred.
The tests identified that Isolast® had the lowest volume
change of all perfluoroelastomer tested in all chemicals;
below 20% at all temperatures in aniline, nitrotoluene, o-
dichlorobenzene, chlorosulfonic acid, hydrochloric acid and
nitric acid. In many of these chemicals the volume change of
Isolast® was in fact, below 10%.
 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

Positioned for the future

CSeries | The launch of which is expected immintently

In the months leading up to the Farnborough International Airshow 2008, Bombardier

Aerospace (chalet C1 - 3 and OE20) released its annual aircraft market forecasts for
the business and commercial aircraft markets. The latter indicated a shift in demand
towards larger 100- to 149-seat commercial aircraft – a sector at which the company’s
proposed CSeries jetliner is aimed. Richard Burton reports

“A
s we transition to a more international customer
base that features less emphasis on the US, as well
as a structural shift towards larger and more cost-
effective aircraft, Bombardier’s key product families – business
jets and regional aircraft – are expected to continue to generate
strong interest across all markets,” says Mairead Lavery, Vice
President, Strategy and Business Development, Bombardier
Aerospace, speaking at a pre-Farnborough media briefing.
“With its comprehensive portfolio of business and commercial
aircraft that encompass state-of-the-art technologies and
innovative design solutions, and its focus on customer services,
Bombardier is well positioned for the future.”
Bombardier’s business aircraft market forecast predicts that
in the ten year period from 2008 to 2017, business aircraft
manufacturers will deliver a total of 1,320 business jets annually
in all segments in which it competes (from light to corporate
airliner segments), a substantial increase from the industry
average of over 620 business jet deliveries annually during the
1998 to 2007 period. The total forecasted 13,200 deliveries over
the ten-year period represent revenues of approximately $300
billion for the industry.
Despite strong concerns over a possible downturn in the US
and world economies that could create a decrease in overall
orders over the next two years, Bombardier believes industry
deliveries should keep increasing until 2017. In addition, based
on the important surge in orders over the last few years and
manufacturers’ solid backlogs, the business aircraft industry
is expected to maintain its positive trend in deliveries. The
sustained vigor of the European jet market has propelled
Bombardier to revise its forecast upward from 2007 levels.
Bombardier’s ten year industry delivery forecast increased from
9,950 in 2007 to 13,200 deliveries in 2008.
Bombardier’s forecast also indicates that primary market
drivers continue to be mostly positive. These include
manufacturers’ current average order backlog that is equivalent
to an estimated 29 months of production; a healthy market
for pre-owned aircraft; the number of new aircraft programs
scheduled to enter service over the next two years; and
stable fractional ownership demand. With growing demand
for business jets within its international base of customers
– representing 67% of orders for 2007 – Bombardier should be
well positioned to weather a possible recession in the US.
According to Bombardier’s Commercial Aircraft Market
Forecast, demand for 20- to 149-seat commercial aircraft is
expected to reach approximately 12,900 new aircraft in the 20
year period from 2008 to 2027, an increase in demand from last
year’s forecast. Forecasted demand is valued at approximately
$528 billion.
TheSIMMONS
SIMON trend| towards larger aircraft, coupled with sustained
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
higher fuel prices will reinforce operators’ requirement for

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 23

23_AM_jul08_bombardier.indd 23 20/6/08 11:44:21

 24 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

modern aircraft with low operating costs. The the CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000 NextGen
forecast reflects the shift in demand to larger regional jets burn less fuel, produce fewer
commercial aircraft. In the 20- to 59-seat aircraft harmful emissions and provide better economics
segment, the forecast expects a demand of than comparable regional jet aircraft.
approximately 500 aircraft; in the 60- to 99-seat To address the 100- to 149-seat segment,
aircraft segment, demand is expected to reach Bombardier has spent the last two years
approximately 6,100 aircraft; and in the 100- to refining its CSeries design incorporating the
149-seat aircraft segment, the forecast predicts a latest technology necessary to produce a game-
demand for approximately 6,300 aircraft. changing family of aircraft. This new family
One in every three commercial flights of aircraft will offer unmatched economics,
worldwide are on regional aircraft and performance, reduction of environmental
Bombardier’s latest generation of products footprint and passenger comfort to mainline
– its cost-efficient CRJ700/CRJ900/CRJ1000 Mairead Lavery | Vice President, carriers. In February 2008, the Bombardier
NextGen regional jets and Q400 turboprop Strategy and Business Development, board of directors granted Bombardier
Bombardier Aerospace
– have become the backbone of many of the Aerospace the authority to offer formal sales
world’s airlines. In a period of soaring fuel prices and growing proposals of the optimised CSeries aircraft family to airline
environmental concerns, the popular Q400 is proving to be the customers. A launch decision is expected imminently for entry
most economical and environmentally efficient regional aircraft into service in 2013. ❙
solution on short distance routes. On longer distance routes, www.aerospace.bombardier.com

Remaining at the forefront RTI, on the other hand, is a patented process developed
With composite materials to be increasingly used in the by the Belfast operation that is a hybrid of resin transfer
manufacture of future generation aircraft, including moulding and autoclave processing. It involves using dry
Bombardier’s own CSeries, the company’s Belfast operation fabrics and a resin injection technique, which results in
has been developed as a centre of excellence for composite material savings and reduced cycle times.
components. Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast has two dedicated composite
Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast has a composite manufacturing facilities – in Dunmurry and Newtownabbey
manufacturing portfolio of over 30 components covering – which together have a production area of around 400,000ft2
airframe structures including flaps, nacelles, rudders, and a clean area of 60,000ft2, employing around 870 people.
fairings, and landing gear doors. One recently developed The company is well positioned to deliver significant design
component is the monolithic fan cowl doors for the Rolls- and manufacture of composite packages over a broad spectrum
Royce BR710 nacelle, which powers ultra long range business of components and is continuing to invest in the next generation
jets such as Bombardier’s Global Express. The unit also of composite technologies to ensure it remains at the forefront
manufactures the horizontal stabiliser for the Global Express, of the application of carbon fibre reinforced structures.
which is one of the largest all-composite components to have
been certified for a civil aircraft by Bombardier.
The company is continuing to develop its composite
capabilities through technology development activities such
as the UK and European research programmes TANGO (wing
spars); ALCAS (integrally stiffened wing covers); Integrated
Wing (composite primary structure) and SILENCER (nacelle
acoustic intake liner development).
Involvement in these, and other research programmes,
is helping to enhance the operation’s skills in composite
design, materials and process development, innovative
tooling concepts, and has helped lead to the successful
implementation of resin transfer moulding (RTM) and resin
transfer infusion (RTI) processes on current production
aircraft components.
RTM is an advanced composites process which allows for
the design and manufacture of components in a much more
RTM | Allows the design and manufacture of components in a more integrated way
integrated way than the traditional process.

23_AM_jul08_bombardier.indd 24 20/6/08 11:44:50

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:12:12

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

Presenting cluster
capability
All of the UK’s aerospace regions will be well represented at this year’s
Farnborough International Airshow with members from organisations
including the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), Midlands
Aerospace Alliance, Aerospace Wales, West of England Aerospace
Forum and Farnborough Aerospace Consortium. Martin Wright, Chief
Executive Officer of the NWAA tells Richard Burton more about his
organisation’s activity and involvement with the event

its cluster organisations and expects innovative solutions to

cluster development. Consequently, the NWAA has had to
demonstrate commitment and deliver achievement and has
been rewarded with a strong relationship with the NWDA.
The Aerospace Supply Chain Excellence (ASCE) programme
is an example of an innovative ‘can do’ attitude within the
organisation.”
Mr Wright points out that there is a high number of NWAA
member companies engaged in aerospace both in and outside
the region. The recognition that there is a strategic core, the
development of which is vital to helping the ‘future proofing’ of
the cluster, is fundamental to the development of the regional
aerospace strategy and consequently the regional cluster.
“The ASCE programme is bringing about a common culture,
language and vision to the cluster, based on a close relationship
Martin Wright | NWAA Chief Executive Officer
with the regional OEMs,” he says. “The close coupling of the
OEMs and their supply chain is improving understanding,

I
n the UK, each regional aerospace cluster organisation
reflects the nature of the industry in its region and the
structure and organisation of the Regional Development
Agency under which it operates, explains Martin Wright. The
NWAA core activity, he says, is focused on supporting, shaping
and signposting.
“The NWAA has a very close relationship with the main
regional employer BAE Systems as well as the Rolls-Royce
facility at Barnoldswick and Airbus Broughton. Through
our Supply Chain Excellence programme the NWAA has
extremely close relations with the companies involved, which is
somewhat different from the SC21 programme,” he continues.
“The North West Development Agency is keen to empower
core processes and delivering greatly enhanced performance
within the supply chain. The target is for the ASCE programme
to deliver 45 companies to the programme. The total to date
is 20 and on schedule. The processes of the ASCE are being
continuously developed and the mentoring and coaching
aspects of the programme ensure the pressure to improve is
maintained. A total of 400 people will have received specialist
training by the end of the year.”
The next major milestone, he says, is the planning of phase
two of the programme which is designed to create a close
coupled, knowledge-based cluster which will include HE, FE
organisations, sharedDIRECTOR
SIMON SIMMONS | EDITORIAL services and technology development
and so on, all interacting in a cohesive way. This is what is

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 27

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 28 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

being described as the

‘extended enterprise’
concept where the cluster
SC21 push for new
is viewed as a whole,
interactive capability. The
members
planning has started and the framework should be complete in This year’s Farnborough
quarter three of this year. International Airshow marks
In terms of the region’s performance he explains that the second anniversary of
it is competing but obviously the dollar exchange is a real the launch of the Society of
issue. “The ability to compete is an ever-moving horizon and British Aerospace Companies’
the work we are doing with the cluster relates to an earlier (SBAC) Supply Chains for the
comment with respect to ‘future proofing’,” he says. “This is Twenty-first Century (SC21)
based on an understanding of the need to develop world class programme. At the event
skills and processes, move up the knowledge tree, understand the SBAC will launch on its
how to utilise and manage low cost sourcing and collaborate stand (E17 in hall 4) a new
for maximum efficiency of knowledge and resources. ‘Future information pack that will
proofing’ is not possible but mitigating the risk of shock to the detail the programme’s
industry is possible and necessary.” progress so far, as well as
In the North West, composites remain a difficult issue contain a self-starter pack
with a shortage of both manufacturing and skills capacity. and short information DVD for
“We are working with the key stakeholders to improve skills potential new signatories.
development capacity but significant investment in technology, SC21 was launched in 2006 with 19 signatories and
equipment and training is required and not only in the now has over 350 companies signed up – a joining rate of
North West,” says Mr Wright. “The workload in composites over seventeen per month. Free to join, SC21 aims to help
manufacture is increasing so the pressure to resolve these issues deliver increased competitiveness in the aerospace and
is unrelenting.” defence industry by lowering the costs of doing 2/3 business
As for the Farnborough International Airshow, he says that for companies of all sizes through its aims of removing
it is the aerospace industry showcase and it gives NWAA duplication, minimising waste and increasing co-ordination
members the opportunity to present capability as well as throughout the supply chain.
network with the key players in the extended supply chain. SC21 Chairman, Russ Armitage, explains: “We have made
“This year there are signs that companies are faced with such a great progress in two years but there is much more work
high workload that there is less pressure to sell capability in the still to be done. The aerospace and defence supply chain is
short term and some have decided not to limit commitment large and diverse so there is plenty of scope for increased
of resources to the show. What is pleasing is that a several of membership to further assist in streamlining processes.”
our members who have consistently used the NWAA as the Ian Godden, SBAC Chief Executive, adds: “SC21 is a
vehicle to exhibit at Farnborough, are now confident enough landmark change in the aerospace and defence industry
and have the resources to exhibit independently. We see this as that will allow participating firms to improve their supply
a measure of success for the NWAA.” chain performance and cut down on the number and
For the NWAA (hall 1, stands D9-12 and D14), he adds bureaucracy of supply chain audits. I would encourage
that Farnborough offers a chance to present its capability as companies that are involved in the aerospace and defence
a cluster organisation. “We will be working closely with the supply chain to engage fully in SC21 to bring major benefits
North West Development Agency in a focused process inward to their businesses.
investment targets,” Mr Wright says. “Finally, as at the 2006 This will assist
Farnborough Airshow, we will be converting all our stand and them in surviving
efforts on the public days to present the industry to young the next round
people. We will be working in conjunction with the University of expected cost
of Manchester to present a whole range of activities designed pressures and
to showcase just what an exciting career aerospace offers. The consolidation
NWAA would like to see this kind of activity form a focal trends.”
point of the open days and perhaps this is an issue the major www.sbac.co.uk
UK companies and SBAC should consider.” ❙
Progress | Ian Godden, Russ Armitage
www.aerospace.co.uk

27_AM_jul08_FIA_UK.indd 28 20/6/08 11:46:15

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:13:20

 )&7;HEIF79;C7DK<79JKH?D=

;L;DJH;FEHJ? <7HD8EHEK=>7?HI>EM(&&.

M[bi^i^em_d]
6
erospace Wales, a public private partnership between the
Welsh Assembly Government and industry through the
Aerospace Wales Forum will be exhibiting together at
Farnborough International for the third time. This partnership
is said to provide a one-stop-shop that facilitates success for
businesses.
Wales has a vibrant aerospace cluster – six of the world’s top
ten aerospace and defence companies have a base in Wales, all
Airbus wings are assembled at Broughton in the North and
British Airways maintains its fleet of Boeing 747, 767 and 777 in
Cardiff. Also, GE Aviation has a large engine MRO facility in
Wales, Hawker Beechcraft maintains several business jet fleets, stand E10 in hall 4 are ten companies: Axiom Manufacturing
including that of NetJets at Broughton. In addition, General Services, Quantom Cad, the Tritech Group, the PPA Group,
Dynamics
half page has two facilities
template:Layout near Newport
1 15/5/07 15:30in the
PageSouth
1 and Excel Electronic Assemblies, Brass Bullet, GSM Primographic,
EADS DS is also based nearby. LRTT, TT Electronics and Kintetsu World Express. Y
Exhibiting at Farnborough with Aerospace Wales this year on mmm$W[heifWY[mWb[i$Yec

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08:27:56
 WFL Millturn Technologies GmbH&Co.KG | A-4030 Linz Foundr y Road, Stamford, Lincs. PR9 2PP
Austria | Wahringerstraße 36 | Tel +43-(0)732 - 69 13-0 Tel 01780 -765965 | Fax 01780 - 765877
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:15:16

 Visit one of the UK's
leading aerospace cluster
organisations
Your link to more than 300 aerospace companies and
organisations in North West England
- Major involvement in A380, Eurofighter Typhoon, Joint Strike
Fighter, A440M & UAVs
- Almost £7 billion per annum in aerospace exports
- Over 75 per cent of sales to export markets
- Skilled aerospace workforce of almost 50,000

Farnborough International Airshow 08.

Hall 1 Stand D9-12

Make it a date!
Join us at the NWAA Supply Chain Event
‘Shaping our Industry - the next step’ to be
held at The SBAC Members Chalet, Row B,
Tuesday July 15 2008. Breakfast 8.30am
Briefing 9.30am

By invitation. Contact Lorna Campbell-Cassidy

on 01282 604444 or email
lorna.campbell-cassidy@aerospace.co.uk
to reserve your place.

Building a World
Competitive Supply Chain

Untitled-3 11
Untitled-1 16/6/08 23:17:22
16/6/08 07:26:34
 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

Coming to the UK
20 German companies will participate at the Farnborough
International Airshow 2008. Heiko Link spoke to ten to find out more
about their presence at the event, in some cases either as well as or
instead of exhibiting at ILA Berlin

“T
he Farnborough Airshow is more international”, “it
is more focused on MRO and the supply chain”,
“we are closer to our customers and suppliers” and
“our competitors will also be there” – these are just a few of
the answers given by German companies when asked why
they particularly feel the need to take part in the Farnborough
Airshow.
“We hope that Farnborough is going to be our gateway to the
US market,” says Marketing Manager, Miriam Arnegger from
the supplier of machine tool technology Handtmann (hall 4,
stand A14d). At Farnborough Handtmann will demonstrate
the first of its the horizontal 5-axis machining centres
developed specifically for the aerospace industry – the HBZ
AeroCell. The company is one out of three that will participate
in both ILA Berlin and Farnborough this year. Handtmann | HBZ AeroCell
“We do not have the capacity to be at both exibitions,”
explains Anke Zeidler-Finsel from the Fraunhofer Institut competitiveness in European aviation. “A consortium of 86
(hall 4, stand C7), which will be making its debut at the industrial research partners from 16 nations has set itself the
event. Fraunhofer researchers want to inform the public target of reducing the pollution caused by growing air traffic
about the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) Clean Sky project. to a minimum or to keep it within acceptable limits,” she
With a budget of €1.6 billion this is the largest such EU emphasises.
research programme for the advancement of sustainability and While Fraunhofer wants to avoid environmental pollution,

DEUTSCHE AUSSTELLER IN FARNBOROUGH

Zwanzig deutsche Unternehmen sind dieses Jahr auf der Farnborough International Airshow
vertreten. Heiko Link sprach mit zehn Teilnehmern über ihre Anwesenheit bei dieser
Veranstaltung, von denen sich einige für die Teilnahme an der FIA zusätzlich zur ILA in Berlin
und andere anstelle der ILA entschieden haben.
„Die Farnborough Airshow ist internationaler”, „der Fokus liegt mehr Flugzeugindustrie entwickelt worden sind: das Horizontalbearbeitu
auf MRO und der Zulieferkette”, „wir sind näher an unseren Kunden ngszentrum HBZ AeroCell. Handtmann ist eines von insgesamt drei
und Lieferanten” und „unsere Wettbewerber werden auch da sein” - das Unternehmen, die dieses Jahr sowohl auf der ILA Berlin, als auch in
sind nur einige Antworten von deutschen Firmen auf die Frage, warum Farnborough anzutreffen sind.
sie ausgerechnet in Farnborough dabei sein wollen. „Uns fehlt die Kapazität, um auf beiden Messen auszustellen,”
„Wir hoffen, dass Farnborough uns die Türen zum amerikanischen erklärt Anke Zeidler-Finsel vom Fraunhofer-Institut (halle 4,
Markt öffnet”, so Miriam Arnegger, Leiterin der Marketingabteilung stand C7), das zum ersten Mal hier vertreten sein wird. Fraunhofer-
des Maschinen und Anlagenbauers Handtmann (halle 4, stand Forscher wollen die Öffentlichkeit über das Projekt Joint Technology
A14d). In Farnborough wird Handtmann das erste seiner Initiative (JTI) „Clean Sky” informieren. Mit einem Budget von
horizontalen 5-Achs-Bearbeitungszentren vorstellen, die speziell für die €1,6 Mrd. ist dies das größte EU-Forschungsprogramm seiner Art

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 33

33_AM_jul08_FIAGermany.indd 33 20/6/08 16:09:34

 34 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
EADS CASA | Spanish maritime surveillance
Optimare’s Remote Sensing Division (hall 2, stand C37)
develops specific sensor technology for detection, mapping,
quantification and classification of marine pollution. Within
its Autonomous Observing Systems Division the company
focuses on sensor developments and services for civilian
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). After completion of maritime
surveillance projects in Germany, Thailand, the Netherlands
and Spain Optimare will deliver three MEDUSA maritime
surveillance systems to the Spanish aeronautical sector’s leading
company EADS CASA for integration into three CASA C-295s
designated for the Portugese Airforce. “We want to raise our
international profile,” says the Head of the Remote Sensing
Division, Dr Nils Robbe.
“We will meet our important customers, like Rolls-Royce,
and mainly undertake some networking,” Michael Kirbach
zur nachhaltigen Verbesserung der Umweltverträglichkeit und
Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der europäischen Luftfahrt. „Ein europäisches
Konsortium aus 86 Industrie- und Forschungspartnern aus 16 Nationen
hat sich dabei das Ziel gesetzt, die durch den wachsenden Luftverkehr
verursachte Umweltverschmutzung zu minimieren, beziehungsweise in
vertretbaren Grenzen zu halten,” so Zeidler-Finsel.
Während das Fraunhofer-Institut Umweltverschmutzung
verhindern will, entwickelt die Remote Sensing Division von
Optimare (halle 2, stand C37) eine besondere Sensortechnologie
zur Erkennung, Kartierung, Quantifizierung und Klassifizierung von
Meeresverschmutzung. Im Bereich Autonome Beobachtungssysteme
liegen die Schwerpunkte des Unternehmens in der Produktentwicklung
und der Dienstleistung für zivile, unbemannte, autonome Fahrzeuge
(UAVs). Nach Abschluss von Meeresüberwachungsprojekten in
Deutschland, Thailand, den Niederlanden und Spanien, wird
Optimare drei Meeresüberwachungssysteme vom Typ MEDUSA an
den führenden spanischen Flugzeughersteller EADS CASA liefern.
Die Systeme sollen in drei CASA C-295 Flugzeuge eingebaut werden,
33_AM_jul08_FIAGermany.indd 34
from Aerotech Peissenberg (hall 4, stand A14e), points out.
The Vice President of Materials Management explains that
his company will display some of the turbine discs, rotating
and static air seals, casings, hubs and shafts it manufactures.
“We produce parts according to drawings we receive from
our customers. At Farnborough we want to show what we can
do, that our products are of a good quality and that we are a
reliable partner,” he continues.
Gedore (hall 3, stand D16a), a producer of hand tools with
several branches in Germany, will present its first catalogue
for the aviation industry. “It contains some new products,”
says Sandra Berkard. However, exactly what type of tools
couldn’t be revealed at the time of writing due to impending
certification.
PFERD tools (hall 4, stand D17) has 6,500 different tools
in stock and specialises in cut-off wheels. “For individual and
difficult processes, we develop special versions of our tools
toghether with the aviation industry,” Udo Schnauder points
out. “We will participate at the Farnborough Airshow to
particularly meet the MRO sector.”
Meanwhile the Interturbine Group (hall 4, stand C12a) will
Aerotech | Turbine disc and compressor parts
die für die portugiesische Luftwaffe bestimmt sind. „Wir wollen damit
unseren internationalen Bekanntheitsgrad steigern “, so Dr. Nils Robbe,
Leiter der Abteilung Fernerkundung.
„Wir werden einige unserer wichtigsten Kunden, wie z.B. Rolls-
Royce, treffen und die Zeit hauptsächlich dazu benutzen, Netzwerke
aufzubauen “, sagt Michael Kirbach von der Aerotech Peißenberg
(halle 4, stand A14e). Der Leiter der Materialbeschaffung erklärt,
dass seine Firma eine Auswahl an Turbinenscheiben, rotierenden
und statischen Dichtringen, Gehäusen, Wellen und Naben aus ihrer
Produktion zeigen wird. „Wir stellen Bauteile nach den technischen
Zeichnungen unserer Kunden her. In Farnborough wollen wir zeigen
was wir können; dass unsere Produkte von hoher Qualität und wir ein
verlässlicher Partner sind”, erklärt Kirbach.
Gedore (halle 3, stand D16a), Hersteller von Handwerkzeugen
mit mehreren Produktionsstätten in Deutschland, stellt seinen ersten
Katalog für die Luftfahrtindustrie vor. „Der Katalog enthält einige
neue Produkte”, sagt Sandra Berkard. Um welche Werkzeuge es sich
hier genau handelt, konnte zu diesem Zeitpunkt aber noch nicht
20/6/08 16:10:07
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Untitled-1 1
GEIT_NGOGxlgo_ad_A4_Aerosp-Manu_UK.indd 1 16/6/08 23:18:56
16-06-2008 11:43:07
 Flexible Automation Solutions for Aerospace

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• Engineering

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:25:03

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
PFERD tools | MRO contacts at Farnborough
present its whole product range, which comprises more than
500,000 products, including chemicals, composites standard
hardware, raw materials and semi-finished products. “Our
‘one stop source’ concept offers a lot of advantages to our
customers,” explains Marketing Manager Iris Teichmann. “It
reduces procurement and storage costs. Furthermore you get all
articles from one supplier, which also has a positive effect on
the environment because there are less deliveries.”
The headquarters of the Stuttgart-based division of
Infotech (hall 4, stand G7) in the south of Germany is
located in Hyderabad, India, the official partner country of
bekannt gegeben werden, da die Zertifizierung noch bevorsteht.
PFERD Tools (halle 4, stand D17) hat 6.500 verschiedene
Werkzeuge auf Lager und ist spezialisiert auf Trennschleifscheiben.
„Für individuelle und schwierige Prozesse entwickeln wir spezielle
Ausführungen unserer Produkte in Zusammenarbeit mit der
Luftfahrtindustrie”, erklärt Udo Schnauder. „Auf der Messe in
Farnborough wollen wir vor allem Leute aus dem Bereich MRO
treffen.”
Die Interturbine Group (halle 4, stand C12a) wird ihre gesamte
Produktpalette präsentieren - mehr als 500.000 Produkte, darunter
Chemikalien, Verbundwerkstoffe, Standard-Eisenteile, Rohmaterialien
und Halbfabrikate. „Unser Konzept ‚alles aus einer Hand’ bietet
unseren Kunden eine Menge Vorteile”, erklärt Marketing-Leiterin Iris
Teichmann. „Dadurch verringeren sich der Beschaffungsaufwand und
die Lagerkosten, Außerdem erhält man alle Waren von nur einem
Zulieferer, was sich auch positiv auf die Umwelt auswirkt, da weniger
Transporte erforderlich sind .”
Der Hauptgeschäftssitz der bei Stuttgart ansässigen Infotech (halle
33_AM_jul08_FIAGermany.indd 37
the ILA Berlin. Infotech exhibited in Berlin but will also
be at Farnborough, as Kerstin Neumann of the company’s
marketing department explains: “Farnborough is one of the
most important international aviation fairs. We hope to gain a
lot of new contacts in our branch.” Infotech offers construction
services and analysis, avionics software, electronics,
construction process automation, MRO services, IT support
and technical documentation.
Thielert Aircraft Engines (hall 3, stand B10a) participated
at ILA and will also be at Farnborough where the company will
display the Centurion 2.0 and 4.0 engines.
Finally, at Farnborough for the second time will be the
organisors of Airtec, the international aerospace supply fair
(hall 2, stand C32) being held in Frankfurt, Germany in
November, who be looking forward to plenty of visitors. ❙
Centurion | 4.0 aircraft engine
4, stand G7) befindet sich in Hyderabad in Indien, dem offiziellen
Partnerland der ILA Berlin. Infotech hat in Berlin ausgestellt und
wird auch in Farnborough anwesend sein, erklärt Kerstin Neumann
von der Marketing-Abteilung des Unternehmens: „Farnborough ist
eine der wichtigsten internationalen Luftfahrtsmessen. Wir hoffen
viele neue Kontakte in unserer Branche herstellen zu können.”
Infotech bietet seinen Kunden Engineering-Dienstleistungen und
Analysen, Software für Luft- und Raumfahrt , Elektronik-Designs,
Prozessautomatisierung, MRO-Services, IT-Support und technische
Dokumentation.
Thielert Aircraft Engines GmbH (halle 3, stand B10a) hat
schon an der ILA teilgenommen und wird auch in Farnborough
vertreten sein, wo die Firma ihre Motoren Centurion 2.0 und 4.0
ausstellen wird. Schließlich freuen sich auch die Organisatoren
von Airtec - zum zweiten Mal in Farnborough dabei – auf hohe
Besucherzahlen. Airtec (Halle 2, Stand C32), die internationale
Zuliefermesse für Luft- und Raumfahrt, findet im November in
Frankfurt statt. ❙
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 37
20/6/08 16:10:36
38_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 19/6/08 10:49 Page 38

38 AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING

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 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

A growing concern
As the French aerospace industry readies itself for Farnborough
2008, Charles Edelstenne, Chairman of Groupement des Industries
Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS) warns of increasingly
tough times ahead despite improved results year-on-year

W
ith the announcement by with the share generated by the civil
GIFAS in 2007 that trading sector increasing by 10.8% to 69%.
remained consistent with the More significant to the industy’s
steady increase in air traffic, Chairman stability however, is that exports
Charles Edelstenne announced that increased by €21.5 billion, the highest
this was hiding a worrying reality. With level ever achieved, representing 75%
the Euro currently valued at $1.50 of estimated consolidated turnover,
orders are becoming increasingly less heightening sensitivity to exchange
profitable, and while strategies such rate fluctuations. In 2007 export
as currency hedging and improved orders increased by 24% to 78%,
productivity are compensating for the with the majority being in the civil
falling dollar, the task is becoming Launched in 2007 | The Falcon 2000 LX sector. Considering the major issues
increasingly difficult. for the coming years, Mr Edelstenne
In strict terms of turnover and orders, 2007 was a year of identified two areas that will underlie the industry’s ability to
breakthroughs and records. The first A380 and Falcon 7X retain its position on the economic map and remain a priority
successfully entered service and the A350 XWB, Falcon SMS for French presidency of the European Union: respect for the
and Falcon 2000 LX were launched. The association reported environment and defence.
that unconsolidated turnover was up by 6.9% to €34.6 billion, He explains: “A sustained drive for innovation has enabled

UNE SITUATION PRÉOCCUPANTE

Tandis que l’industrie aérospatiale française se prépare pour le salon de Farnborough 2008,
Charles Edelstenne, président du Groupement des industries françaises aéronautiques et
spatiales (GIFAS) prévoit des difficultés à venir, en dépit des résultats annuels en hausse

S
uite aux déclarations de 2007 du GIFAS, selon lesquelles le
commerce a suivi l’augmentation régulière du trafic aérien, le
président Charles Edelstenne a annoncé que cela cachait une
réalité inquiétante. Avec le cours de l’euro actuellement fixé à 1,50
dollars, les commandes sont de moins en moins rentables, et malgré le
recours à des stratégies telles la couverture de risque de change et la
productivité accrue, qui compensent la chute du dollar, la tâche devient
néanmoins de plus en plus difficile.
En termes stricts de chiffre d’affaire et de commandes, l’année 2007
a été synonyme d’avancées et de records. Les premiers A380 et Falcon
7X ont été mis en service avec succès et l’A350 XWB, Falcon SMS et
Falcon 2000 LX ont été lancés. L’association a déclaré que le chiffre
d’affaire non consolidé était en augmentation de 6,9%, soit 34,6
milliards d’euros, et que la part du secteur civil avait augmenté de
10,8%, atteignant 69%.
L’aspect le plus significatif de la stabilité de l’industrie est
l’augmentation des exportations de 21,5 milliards d’euros, soit le plus
haut niveau jamais atteint, représentant 75% du chiffre d’affaire
consolidé estimé, donnant plus d’impact aux fluctuations du taux de
change. En 2007, les commandes à l’exportation ont augmentées de
24%, atteignant 78%, la majorité concernant le secteur civil. Au vu
des problèmes majeurs prévus pour les années à venir, M. Edelstenne a

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 39

39_AM_jul08_FIAFrance.indd 39 20/6/08 08:28:29

 40 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

that he would like to see the development of a real policy of

partnership between state and industry, and the Ministry of
Defence’s research and technology budget increased to
€1 billion in order to develop tomorrow’s equipment and to
pursue indispensable research into basic technologies and
technological breakthroughs that will benefit both the defence
and civil spheres. In explaining the importance of the export
market, he concluded: “A country whose trade balance is in
structural deficit must support its champions where it has them,
and we [aerospace] are one. We are an industry that creates
value and wins exports, proving the quality of its products, and
taking advantage of global growth, but the pressure from the
dollar on our profitability and our ability to self-finance research
and technology is putting our future in danger.” ❙
www.gifas.asso.fr

Exhibiting on the GIFAS stand (H1/B18) at

GIFAS Chairman | Charles Edelstenne
Farnborough will be:
● ADR ● Enertec
our industry to reduce fuel consumption in terms of kg/ ● Air Liquide ● Eurep Industries
km/passenger by a factor of almost five in 50 years, but the ● Alkan ● Icore International
projected growth in air traffic gives us new responsibilities to ● Ateliers de la Haute ● Idd Aerospace Corporation
keep the industry’s environmental impact at current levels, Garonne ● In-Lhc
for example less than 3% of total greenhouse gas emissions. ● Aubert & Duval ● Intertechnique
To meet this challenge the industry players have joined forces ● Avox Systems ● Leguellec SAS
through two ambitious research programmes: at the European ● Composite Industrie ● Novae Developpement
level with Clean Sky, with assistance from the European ● Comptoir General du ● Novintec
Commission, and in France with the signing of an agreement Ressort ● Precilec
with the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development and ● Creuzet Aeronautique ● Titeflex Europe
Planning to establish a Civil Aeronautics Research Council. The ● DGA – Direction des ● Ulmer Aeronautique
space sector is also a major player in environmental protection Essais ● Zodiac
and is served by real political ambition.” ● Ece
As far as defence is concerned, Mr Edelstenne also stated

identifié deux secteurs qui détermineront la capacité de l’industrie à
retrouver sa place au plan économique et qui devront être prioritaires
pour la présidence française à l’Union européenne : le respect de
l’environnement et la défense.
M. Edelstenne explique : « Une recherche constante d’innovation
a permis à notre industrie de réduire les consommations de
carburant en termes de kg/km/passager par presque 5 en 50 ans, mais
l’augmentation prévue du trafic aérien nous attribue de nouvelles
responsabilités afin de maintenir l’impact sur l’environnement aux
niveaux actuels, à savoir moins de 3% d’émissions totales de gaz à
effet de serre. Pour répondre à ce défi, les acteurs de l’industrie se sont
unis dans deux programmes de recherches ambitieux : au niveau
européen avec Clean Sky, et l’aide de la Commission européenne,
et en France avec la signature d’un accord avec le Ministère de
l’écologie et du développement durable ainsi que le projet de mettre au
point un Conseil de recherche aéronautique civil. Le secteur spatial
joue également un rôle déterminant en matière de protection de
l’environnement et est soutenu par une véritable ambition politique. »
En ce qui concerne la défense, M. Edelstenne a également déclaré qu’il
souhaite voir s’instaurer une véritable politique de partenariat entre
l’Etat et l’industrie, et que le budget du Ministère de la défense pour
la recherche et la technologie sera augmenté d’un miliard d’euros afin
de développer les équipements de demain et de continuer les recherches
indispensables en technologies de base et les avancées technologiques
qui profiteront toutes deux aux domaines de la défense et du civil. En
expliquant l’importance du marché d’exportation, il conclut : « Un
pays dont la balance commerciale est structurellement déficitaire doit
soutenir ses champions là ou ils se trouvent, ce qui est notre cas. Nous
sommes une industrie qui créée de la valeur et remporte des marchés
à l’exportation, ce qui prouve la qualité de nos produits. Nous tirons
également des avantages de la croissance mondiale, mais la pression du
dollar sur notre rentabilité et notre capacité à autofinancer la R&T met
notre futur en danger. » ❙
www.gifas.asso.fr

39_AM_jul08_FIAFrance.indd 40 20/6/08 11:49:54

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:29:29

 INTELLIGENT, TECHNICAL, CUTTING SOLUTIONS

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or email sales@itc-ltd.co.uk

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T 01827 304500 • F 01827 304501 • E sales@itc-ltd.co.uk • W www.itc-ltd.co.uk

42_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 05:23:33

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

The right treatment

Founded in 1923 as a textile manufacturer, Bodycote transformed itself during the
1980s into a highly successful provider of thermal processing and testing services,
beginning a process of rapid growth that continues today. Simon Lott talks to
UK New Business Development Manager, Andrew Corless, about the company’s
development and its presence at this year’s Farnborough Airshow

T
he aerospace sector is an important area of business for
Macclesfield-based subcontractor, Bodycote. Though the
company provides heat treatments, metal joining, hot
isostatic pressing, metallurgical coatings and testing services
to a whole spectrum of industries, the company recognises the
growth potential which lies in the aerospace sector. Underlining spending less time within the heat source, which thanks to the
its commitment to the market, Bodycote has recently invested
in the acquisition of a second Nadcap-approved thermal
coating facility, Plasma & Thermal Coatings, in Newport, South very quickly, with high bond strength and to thicknesses of
Wales. In addition to this core service, the facility also offers
testing and precision engineering services for components.
“Currently, Plasma & Thermal’s aerospace business accounts
for around a fifth of its turnover,” explains UK New Business
Development Manager Andrew Corless, “and we aim to double
that over the next five years as we open up new markets. In the efficient power level, a second gas (usually hydrogen) is often
UK, Bodycote handles a substantial volume of aerospace work
and, with development of the Asian markets and the orders
that Airbus and Boeing have, this is likely to increase. Since
Plasma & Thermal there has already been a further acquisition
which we’re currently seeking Nadcap accreditation for.”
Industry growth is not the only reason behind increased
demand for services. Different material applications and
improving safety standards require different treatments.
Thermal spraying is commonly used in the combustion areas
of engines to provide temperature
resistance, and on nozzle guide vanes
and blades to provide wear resistance,
though the applications are much
wider. The improvement in component
integrity can potentially increase
lifespan several times over.
Currently, thermal spray coatings
(high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and
plasma) are the biggest growth areas,
followed by hot isostatic pressing
and testing. In HVOF spraying, fuel
and oxygen mix and atomise within
Growth area | Thermal spray coatings
a combustion area under a certain
mode and pressure. This process then propels the particles at
near supersonic speeds onto the substrate, with the equation
essentially being the higher the combustion pressure and
subsequent velocity, the higher the quality and density of the
coating. Low oxide content is also achieved due to the particles
technology used, functions at a lower temperature than similar
processes. This allows materials such as carbide to be applied
over 6mm.
Plasma spraying involves the latent heat of ionised inert gas
(usually argon) to generate the heat source. A high frequency or
high voltage alternating electric arc is struck between the nozzle
and the electrode, which ionises the gas stream. To maintain an
added, with the feed stock then injected into the gas stream.
Other services that have already matured in the aerospace sector
include heat treatments and metal joining processes such as
electron beam welding, vacuum brazing and nitriding.
Practical considerations
The popularity of Bodycote’s services frequently comes down
to a matter of capacity and the best technology. With the rate
of growth expected, there are many companies that, despite
having in-house capability, cannot
deal with demand or cannot achieve
such processes with the same level
of efficiency. This business model is
widespread, with over 300 Bodycote
facilities now operating in over 30
countries. “It’s also significant,” Mr
Corless adds, “that we can offer
any level of service. For example,
Bodycote’s relationships with its
customers range from conventional
subcontracting to long term agreements
to full strategic partnerships. As well as
technological strength and expertise,

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 43

43_AM_jul08_bodycote.indd 43 20/6/08 11:50:43

 **7;HEIF79;C7DK<79JKH?D=
;L;DJH;FEHJ? <7HD8EHEK=>7?HI>EM(&&.
such arrangements offer logistical support
and guarantee capacity. This is something
we advocate to all companies regardless of
market sector and geography.
“The big primes are responding to the call
in Asia, so we’re developing there too. In
addition to our existing Asian presence, we’ve
recently recruited a Business Development
Manager in Japan and in the next two years
we’ll have established a facility there.”
He adds: “With our recent acquisitions,
we will be using Farnborough as a platform
to promote the metallurgical coating side of
business and make people aware that we have
extended our thermal spray offering in the
UK. Our Testing Group is also expanding at a
rapid rate and has recently acquired Centech
in Toulouse, which is a very important
supplier of testing services to Airbus.
“Of course, we will be representing all
Redcliffe Precision have been manufacturing all
types of components to the aircraft industry for
over 30 years.This includes CNC Milling,
CNC Turning, Centreless/Cylindrical Grinding,
Tooling and Assembly.
A full quality system, which includes an approved
laboratory with test facilities for examination of
Rolled Threads and Hardness Checks,Thread
Rolling, Milling & Turning.
Be Precise... Contact Redcliffe Precision
www.redcliffeprecision.co.uk
44_AM_July_08.indd 1
43_AM_jul08_bodycote.indd 44
CWjkh[fheY[iir;b[YjhedX[Wcm[bZ_d]
Precision matters
Unit 1, 46 Ashton Vale Road
Bristol, UK. BS3 2HQ
t: +44 (0)117 9635616
f: +44 (0)117 9635674
e: kevin@redcliffeprecision.co.uk
our business areas at the airshow and will
have colleagues coming from North and
South America, Asia and Europe to join our
team from the UK. This will be our biggest
presence to date at the airshow and we have
invested in a new 48m2 two-tier stand in the
international hall which will enable us to
better accommodate our visitors.
“What I’d also like to remind people,” he
concludes, “is that we have a wide range of
services and a diverse customer base in excess
of 60,000 across the various market sectors,
with a group turnover of over £640 million.
But what really drives the company is that we
still aim to be a local, friendly business, the
preferred supplier of choice and continue to
develop close partnerships.”
Bodycote Thermal Processing and Testing will be
in Hall 4, Stand F8. Y
mmm$XeZoYej[$Yec
Redcliffe Precision Ltd
Precision Machinists
& Thread Rolling
Specialists to the
Aerospace Industry
15:09:15
20/6/08 11:51:09
 Houghton Fluidcare provides cost saving
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Fax: +44(0) 161 874 5001
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Web: www.houghtoneurope.com

Untitled-2 1 17/6/08 13:40:55

 46 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH EXHIBITORS
Simulating success
At Farnborough in
hall 1, stand A30 CGTech
will exhibit the latest
version of its Vericut CNC
machine simulation and
optimisation software.
Version 6.2 features
enhancements that
increase the ability of
manufacturing engineers
to develop, analyse, inspect
and document the CNC programming and machining processes
used in the aerospace and defence industries.
The stand will feature the Vericut Aerospace Simulation
Gallery showing simulation of aerospace component machining
including turbine blades and wing ribs. In addition to 5-axis
machining the gallery will feature examples of other CNC
processes including waterjet cutting, riveting assembly, robots
and parallel kinematics machines.
Thermal insulation
Farnborough 2008 exhibitor Beldam Crossley (hall 1, stand
D12) has added a new product to its range of aerospace sealing
technology solutions.
To give maximum insulation to pipe work and exhausts,
insulation can be applied in various materials directly onto
components, even after they have been formed and the end
fittings attached. This can then be overbraided again to further
protect the insulation from damage. Braided insulation is
consistent over the length and breadth of the component and
remains in situ, over its full working life, unlike conventional
techniques which suffer degradation over time.
To protect critical and sensitive components such as wiring
harnesses, expansion bellows, oil, hydraulic and pneumatic
hoses from damage, Beldam Crossley can also supply protection
in the form of wire and polypropylene overbraid. The company
also offers a full range of gaskets, braiding, packings, engineered
polymer/PTFE products and elastomeric components.
46_AM_jul08_FIA_general.indd 46
Getting set
With a rapidly expanding aerospace customer base, Blum
NovoTest will be exhibiting at the Farnborough Airshow on
the GTMA stand (hall 4, E13) where it will demonstrate
the capabilities of its LaserControl NT-H 3D and the
multidirectional TC50 touch probe.
Developed to support the growing trend in multifunctional
mill/turn machine tools, Blum NovoTest will highlight the
benefits of the LaserControl NT-H 3D for tool setting on
multipurpose machine tools. An adaptation of the already
established Blum LaserControl non-contact tool setting
technology, the new LaserControl NT-H 3D provides
non-contact measurement of rotating tools as well as the
mechanical measurement of non-rotating tools in five approach
directions.
Used to determine workpiece position, the exceptional
probes also calculate tolerance deviations and thermal drift
in machining centres.
The TC50 workpiece
touch probe is one of
a number of probes in
the range that has been
designed for different
applications yet share
characteristics such
as repeatable trigger
generation in all
directions and signal
generation via the non-
contact optoelectronic
measurement principle.
Showcasing expertise
Electronics manufacturing services specialist Plexus (hall 1,
stand A11) is using this year’s Farnborough Airshow to highlight
its experience and capabilities as a global supplier to the
defence and aerospace industries.
Plexus offers its global customer base experience in the
design and manufacture of safety and mission critical products
for many of the world’s leading companies in the defence,
security, and aerospace industries such as General Dynamics,
Honeywell, BAE Systems, GE Security and Rockwell Collins.
Through Plexus’ global facilities it provides ITAR compliance,
IPC Class II/III and AS9100 design and manufacturing capability.
Plexus design engineers have developed a wide variety of
specialist devices including, munitions guidance and controls,
weather radar, black box applications, secure communication
systems, collision avoidance systems and rugged computing
modules.
20/6/08 16:12:51
403793 AEROSPACE_210x297mm 17/6/08 09:44 Page 2

Your manufacturing partner for the aerospace industry.

See us at Farnborough International Airshow

14-20 July 2008, Hall 4, Stand E17

As your manufacturing partner, we can help you

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Untitled-2 1 17/6/08 15:16:44

 48 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH EXHIBITORS

Group demonstration
On stand C22 in hall 3 at Farnborough,
MAG Industrial Automation
Systems group members
MAG Cincinnati and MAG
Giddings & Lewis will be
demonstrating a broad
range of products for
metal cutting as well as
automated composites
processing. MAG Giddings
& Lewis has delivered
tailored vertical turning
and mill-turning solutions to jet engine manufacturers for
decades and will also promote its horizontal boring centres
at the event.
Delivering speed, precision and agility for maximum
throughput in the aerospace market, meanwhile, MAG
Cincinnati machines are used for processing thin walled
aluminium components and general aerospace parts of all
shapes and sizes by the likes of Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GE,
GKN Aerospace, Boeing and EADS.
MAG Cincinnati machining centres such as the fixed table
FTV 5 with full 5-axis, 5-sided large capacity machining
capability have proven successful due to their ability
to heavy duty mill multiple components and aerospace
materials such as titanium, aluminium, steels and inconel.
At Farnborough the company will promote its new
HyperMach H4000, the latest in the range of HyperMach
linear motor profilers – a range that achieves high metal
removal rates of up to 7538 cm3/min. The HyperMach H4000
is designed for high throughput, precision machining of next
generation aircraft components.
Teaming up to
secure business
Over the past year, NWAA (North West Aerospace Alliance)
member Merc Engineering UK has invested much to secure
new aerospace orders. In order to speed up its expansion in
the aerospace sector, Merc recently acquired another NWAA
company, Bright Spark Engineering for £1.2 million.
Bright Spark Engineering has significant expertise in 5-axis
horizontal machining and it counts the aerospace industry
as one of its most prolific markets. Bright Spark has been
responsible for producing components for all manner of
aerospace parts and aircraft interior devices including military
seating, commercial seating, and bed seats for first class cabins.
Merc has manufactured parts for Rolls-Royce for over
15 years and specialises in military aerospace, having been
involved in the prototyping and development of projects such
as the ASRAAM missile and the 1,000lb bomb for Royal
Ordnance. Merc is currently going through the process of
getting approved to AS9100 in order to secure more aerospace
contracts for flying parts.
In addition to the purchase of Bright Spark, Merc
Engineering has invested heavily in state-of-the-art machinery
over the past 15 months with a total of six new CNC machines
worth a total of £766,000 and will also install a second Doosan
Puma MX2000 ST 13-axis Mill-Turn Centre to produce
complex parts in one hit.
The combination of the EDM Charmilles section at Merc
Engineering with the Mazak Integrex and horizontal machining
centres at Bright Spark has boosted the group’s performance
and productivity. Merc will be showcasing its recent success at
Farnborough 2008 on the NWAA pavilion, hall 1, stand D14.

Offering a total solution

Contract electronics manufacturer, Axiom Manufacturing
Services (hall 4, stand E10), will be presenting its ‘total
manufacturing solution’ aimed specifically at the aerospace
industry at Farnborough 2008. This is the first time Axiom has
participated in the show and during the event senior directors
will be sharing with aerospace equipment manufacturers the
economic, quality and logistical benefits of working with a UK-
based contract electronics manufacturer.
Axiom has collaborated with design partner Quantum CAD to
develop an integrated design-for-manufacture service. This allows
for close collaboration between the partners during any stage of
the product development lifecycle to ensure that products are
designed in the most efficient way for manufacture. Ultimately
this can save valuable time and money, two major concerns for
businesses operating in the aerospace industry.

46_AM_jul08_FIA_general.indd 48 20/6/08 11:52:36

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Untitled-1
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Aerospace Manufacturing_85x267_July08.indd 1 17.06.2008 16:47:52

50_AM_July_08.indd 1 18/6/08 10:37:13

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH EXHIBITORS
Machining engine parts and structures
The NCMT stand (hall 4, stand E8) at Farnborough will
feature the milling of aircraft structural parts and the grinding
of engine components using the VIPER process developed by
Rolls-Royce on Makino machining centres, for which NCMT is
sole UK agent.
An Airbus A380 wing rib measuring 3m by 1.75m, milled from
solid aluminium to close tolerance at Filton on Makino MAG-
Series horizontal, 5-axis machining centres, will be available for
inspection. On display also will be a rib for the A320. These
are representative
of the wide range of
aluminium structural
parts for aircraft
being machined on
high speed Makino
machines, which
offer flexible and cost
effective production.
The machines can
produce large, complex components to very high accuracy
in a single set-up, eliminating the need to make two or more
sub-assemblies and so dramatically reducing manufacturing
leadtime and cost.
Emphasis will also be on parts machined from titanium.
According to NCMT, there are a number of developments in
the pipeline from Makino specifically targeted at this material
and innovations will include completely new machines and
spindles, including a high torque (1,050Nm) gearless spindle.
For producing engine parts, VIPER creep-feed grinding
is capable of stock removal rates up to eight times those
achievable when conventionally grinding.
£3 million investment
Farnborough exhibitor Brookhouse (hall 1, stand D10), said
to be the UK’s largest independent composites manufacturing
and assembly organisation, has recently completed a £3 million
investment in an in-house facility, dedicated to resin infusion
(RI)/resin transfer moulding (RTM) technologies. Located in
the company’s extensive India Mill building, the new facility
will help the company provide state-of-the-art capability in
RI/RTM to meet the increasing challenges and opportunities
offered by these technologies in the aerospace sector.
The new facility provides a total resource for the
manufacture of composite components. It features the latest
profile cutters, a clean room, computer controlled resin
injection equipment, modern temperature- and vacuum-
regulated ovens, NDT scanning, a 5-axis router and CMM
capability.
46_AM_jul08_FIA_general.indd 51
Automating advantage
Visitors to Farnborough 2008 will be able to learn more
about the advantages of automation at Kuka’s stand
(hall 4, stand A4) and ride the Robocoaster, the world’s first
passenger carrying robot, which will make its Farnborough
debut on stand OE19, near hall 1.
Of course, aerospace component manufacturers need
to invest in automation if they want to maintain their
competitiveness by achieving higher levels of productivity
and quality while lowering costs. According to Kuka
Automation + Robotics, there has never been a better time
to invest in robotic production systems as they are not only
more flexible and reliable, but also more affordable.
“There are no barriers to automation especially as
improved software, vision systems and mobility mean the
latest generation of robots and systems are even more
flexible. The trend towards shorter product life cycles
has dictated better flexibility for equipment. In response,
manufacturers such as Kuka have developed robots that
can be reprogrammed and redeployed any number of
times,” explains Gary Taylor, Kuka’s Aerospace Sales
Manager. “Emerging technologies such as adaptive control
also make it possible to use 6-axis robots for drilling and
machining processes that were previously the domain of
CNC machines.
“Automation offers a raft of value-added benefits
including higher productivity rates, rapid payback, better
quality, fewer wasted consumables and the removal of
downstream corrective rework or rejects. Robots also
improve working environments by undertaking routine or
repetitive tasks, removing employees from the presence of
heavy machinery, hand tools and the risk of handling heavy
weights,” he adds.
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 51
20/6/08 11:54:20
 52 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH EXHIBITORS
Laser sintering on show
Additive layer manufacturing applications in rapid
manufacturing and prototyping are being continually extended
with the introduction by EOS (hall 4, stand A2) of new
powders for laser sintering in its EOSINT metal and plastic
processing machines. Components made from the latest
materials will be on show at Farnborough Airshow 2008.
For example, EOS MaragingSteel MS1 is a new, martensite-
hardening steel of high strength and toughness, suited to
production of high performance parts for the aerospace
industry. It is at least on a par with, or even superior to,
conventional tool steels.
Also, a polyamide powder has been introduced by EOS that
is claimed to be the first ever flame retardant plastic material
for laser sintering. Designated PA2200FR, it complies with
relevant aerospace regulations such as JAR/FAR 25, Appendix F,
Part 1 for flammability and Part 5 for smoke density as well as
ABD0031/AITM 3.0005(2) (Airbus) and BSS 7239 (Boeing) for
smoke toxicity.
Details will be available on the latest laser sintering machine
introductions, including the EOSINT M 270, which uses a 200
watt Yb fibre laser, the EOSINT P 730 plastic laser sintering
machine and the entry-level FORMIGA P 100.
Coatings on show
AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings (hall 3, stand C6) will
feature its latest aerospace and military grade coatings at
Farnborough 2008. These include the Aerowave series; a
new generation of structural coatings for use on internal
structures that features exceptional toughness and
flexibility with big improvements in handling, application
and environmental properties.
Others include the Eclipse exterior polyurethane topcoat,
the Aviox Advanced range and the large family of Special
Effect Coatings. Also, for military applications, Aerodur
5000, which is a high performance military aircraft
camouflage coating that can be applied in one coat on
new builds, in routine maintenance or for quick in-field
camouflage repairs.
52_AM_jul08_FIA_general.indd 52
Intelligent tool control
Zeroshift (hall4, stand E17) will be demonstrating the
second generation of its Intelligent Tool Control (ITC)
product at this year’s Farnborough Airshow. The control
architecture – now available in a separate slot-in module
– allows users to schedule maintenance without removing
the entire tool cabinet from the production environment.
In operation, the ITC controller is paired to a cabinet
which incorporates tool-silhouette foam cut outs. Each tool
cavity is further equipped with an optical sensor, which
automatically detects the removal or replacement of a tool,
without the need to modify the tool in any way. To access a
tool, users enter a PIN via either a swipe card or a keypad.
The first target sector, aerospace – where FOD (Foreign
Object Debris/Damage) is a real and palpable risk – is
where ITC expects to revolutionise the way companies
address increasingly demanding FOD compliance practices
and routines. Boeing has stated that the cost of one FOD
damage incident to an engine can easily exceed 20% of its
new cost (an MD 11 engine costs $8-10 million).
Mini giveaway
UK-based press tool and
machining company, Clifton
Precision Tools, is preparing
for its debut at the
Farnborough Airshow where
it will be giving away two
miniature motorbikes to
lucky visitors who visit the
company’s stand or leave
their business cards.
Clifton Precision (hall 1,
stand D10) specialises in
machining, tooling and the reverse engineering of components
and will be showcasing its extensive capabilities in aerospace
manufacture. The company deals with several major customers
in the aerospace sector, recently completing projects on
the Rolls-Royce BR725 and several new tools for JSF and
Eurofighter.
Clifton’s commitment to invest is evident in a recent
£600,000 investment in a new Correa FP40 machining centre.
In operation on the stand at Farnborough will be the company’s
laser arm scanner alongside a series of machined components.
The company has equipment that can handle large and
heavy components, milling up to 4.5m in length, along with
the machining capacity of eight Hurco machining centres and
experience in heavy machining castings, aluminium, tool steel
and other aerospace materials.
20/6/08 16:02:22
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:30:49

 CML_Advert 16/5/08 13:12 Page 1

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54_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 05:38:27

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Blue sky thinking
With many commercial aircraft
programmes ramping up to meet
increased demand for air travel, never
has manufacturing solutions selection
been more critical in maximising machine
shop productivity. Strategic Project
Manager for Aerospace Applications at
Sandvik Coromant UK (hall 4, stand F12
at Farnborough), Ken Williams explains
A
ircraft production is at bursting point. According to
Boeing, in the next 12-15 years 27,000 cargo and large
passenger aircraft will be built. Boeing broke its own
order record in 2007 with five weeks to spare, and its current
list of orders stands at approximately 3,000 commercial
airliners. At present production rates that’s over five years of
737 production, four years of 777 production and nearly six
years of 787 production.
Airbus has also scaled-up production recently from 32 aircraft
per month to 44, and yet more orders are waiting in the wings
for Airbus or Boeing to seal. Air France/KLM, British Airways
and Air India will all be in the market for more aircraft in 2008,
and this doesn’t even consider the established US carriers such
as American, Delta and United, which are sitting on huge fleets
of older planes that will have to be replaced sooner rather than
later if they want to remain competitive.
In an era where fuel prices are hitting unprecedented highs,
OEMs and their supply chain partners are under pressure from
airlines to constantly review costs so that fares can be kept as
low as possible.
The manufacturing challenge
To help manufacturers meet growing order schedules with
minimum capital outlay, Sandvik Coromant has been working
hard to develop products for specific aerospace machining
applications.
Sandvik Coromant is a partner company of the Advanced
Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in Sheffield, UK,
a £45 million collaboration between world leaders in the
aerospace supply chain and international academic institutions.
Boeing has a 10 year commitment of involvement to invest
in research and development at the AMRC, to aid the
development of value-added manufacturing solutions.
55_AM_jul08_sandvik.indd 55
Machining titanium | With a CoroMill Plura tool
Sandvik Coromant uses the AMRC to prove certain concepts
and provide confirmed data that is used by the company’s
personnel to help solve real customer applications. A recent
example concerns the machining of structural aircraft parts, all
of which feature pockets. Sandvik Coromant and the AMRC
came up with as many as 25 practical ways of generating some
of these pockets before further development identified the
most feasible five methods in terms of productivity, efficiency
and tool life. These were transferred to Sandvik Coromant’s
Application Research Centre in Sweden and finessed to
produce the company’s application guide to titanium milling
machining.
Sandvik Coromant has had an Application Research Centre
in Sweden for many years, but since the UK’s aerospace
industry has grown to become the largest in the world outside
the US – now employing over 120,000 skilled workers – the
company has also established a specialised facility at its
UK headquarters in Halesowen, West Midlands, called the
Aerospace Application Centre (AAC).
As a result of different research programmes conducted at
the two centres, Sandvik Coromant has developed application
guides for machining heat-resistant superalloys (HRSA) such
as Inconel 718, and blade machining (the Aerospace Engine
guide), as well as many ongoing studies regarding composites.
These application
SIMON SIMMONS guides
| EDITORIAL can be downloaded through Sandvik
DIRECTOR
Coromant’s website.
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 55
20/6/08 11:55:01
 56 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Aerospace part | Being machined with a Coromant Capto tool
Regarding HRSAs, one of the crucial factors is tool material.
For example, the company now offers two Sialon (silicon,
aluminium, oxygen, nitrogen) ceramic grades for profiling
and pocketing HRSAs: tough and predictable CC6065 is an
economic alternative to whisker ceramics in intermediate stage
machining, while CC6060 is the notch-resistant first choice for
open profile machining.
The extensive research platform adopted by Sandvik
Coromant is a differentiating factor in the marketplace,
bringing consistency and robustness to the manufacturing
process. Sandvik engineers can state with confidence the
expected tool life for individual aerospace applications in
line with specified depths of cut and feed rates. From this
information, accurate job costing can be achieved.
And it’s not just the cutting tool that is assessed. The size
and shape of toolholders also have to be carefully considered
to avoid any collisions with the workpiece or workholding
equipment. This is particularly important to consider, as the
scrapping of components can cost as much as £60,000.
Sandvik Coromant’s Aerospace Application Centre
allows the company to prove to its customers how they can
significantly reduce machine time on the actual part they want
to manufacture, or are already making, and as a result make
significant business and cost savings in the process.
The overall evaluation process
allows both Sandvik Coromant and the
customer to take a fresh look at existing
or new components, and in every single
case savings can be found. Component
machining can be optimised using the
latest techniques, tools and toolholding
systems with optimum tool path, feed
and rotational speeds to minimise the
cycle time. Even help with machine
programming is available. The process is
applied in five stages:
● Customer provision of drawings
and information such as plant list and
materials used
● Development by Sandvik Coromant of Machining of HRSA | With a turning tool and ceramic insert www.sandvik.com
55_AM_jul08_sandvik.indd 56
an optimised tool layout, application methods and the business
case to proceed
● Development by Sandvik Coromant of the programming
strategies based on customer machines
● Process simulation and verification
● Actual machining of customer components and confirmation
of savings specified in the business case
The entire process is self-funding whereby Sandvik Coromant
uses its resources to come up with savings in parallel with the
customer’s existing operation. Typically the cost will be no
more than a single figure percentage of the overall saving.
Recent AAC success stories in the aerospace sector are
plentiful. For example, a titanium fitting that previously
required two operations to produce in a combined machining
cycle time of 614 minutes, now only takes 199 minutes. The
solution has since been applied to 10 component variants
offering annual savings of £230,000 for an implementation cost
of around 3%.
Similarly, multiple operations on an engine component that
were resulting in a combined cycle time of 480 minutes have
been reduced to a single operation that takes just 53 minutes
to complete. Elsewhere, an airframe structural component
has seen cycle times cut from 1,030 minutes to 350 minutes,
delivering savings worth £70,000 a year.
Ultimately, tooling and tooling solutions mean a better return
on investment.
Innovations at Farnborough
Many recently introduced Sandvik Coromant developments
for the aerospace sector will be on show at the forthcoming
Farnborough Air Show.
These will include the CoroDrill Delta-C R846, a new drill
for HRSA machining in aerospace applications, such as the
production of turbine casings. The new drill is designed for
the continuous and reliable production of holes in demanding
HRSA materials, which place heavy demands on the cutting
edge.
For enhanced performance in turning
operations, the company will present
CoroTurn HP, a recently introduced
toolholding system that is especially
suited to high pressure coolant
applications performed on multi-tasking
machines, vertical lathes and turning
centres. The toolholder is equipped with
two or three nozzles positioned and
directed depending upon tool type and
application. It connects to the machine
tool or extra pump equipment for
supplying coolant at pressures around 70
bar. ❙
20/6/08 11:55:26
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 Hall 1 Stand A30

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58_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 05:56:52

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008

Doncasters' product | ‘Six-pack’ combustor

Gearing up for global growth

It has been a busy couple of years for Doncasters Group. Visitors to the Group’s stand at
Farnborough (hall 4, G10) will be able to find out more about how recent developments
have strengthened its standing in the US and a programme of self-funded capital
expenditure continues to expand its product range and manufacturing capacity

A
fter its sale to Dubai International Capital (DIC) in
2006, the Doncasters Group went on to acquire US
fasteners and precision components manufacturer,
FastenTech in May 2007 for $492 million, significantly
strengthening its presence in North America.
The acquisition of FastenTech saw Doncasters add gas
turbine combustors to its capability, allowing it to establish
itself as a premier global supplier of tolerance critical precision
engineering components right throughout the turbine.
Eric Lewis, CEO of Doncasters Group, explains: “Following
the acquisition, the combustion systems businesses have
reformatted into our Power Systems division and we have
created two new divisions: Fastener Systems and Precision
Engineered Technologies.
The Fastener System division, number one in its own
market, gives us an advantageous position from which to grow
our aerospace fastener capabilities over the next few years;
60% of our Precision Engineered Technologies division serves
the aerospace and industrial gas turbine sectors.
“We had been looking to expand our presence in the US for
some time and FastenTech provided a strategically attractive
proposition from which we could build our expertise in the
engine combustor segment while bringing on board a successful
fastener business and a range of other specialised engineering
expertise.
“In its first 12 months, the acquisition has lived up to all of
our expectations and more. We now have access to a range of
new market sectors and so far, the integration has run smoothly
and all five synergy opportunities resulting from the acquisition
are on schedule to be completed by the end of the year.”
As well as expanding its product range and manufacturing
capacity over the last 12 months, Doncasters has been focusing
its efforts on developing inter-company sales within the Group,
extending its ability to provide engine-ready components for its
customers.
SIMON SIMMONS | EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
The recently announced £16 million investment in a new hot

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 59

59_AM_jul08_doncasters.indd 59 20/6/08 11:56:08

 60 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Manufactured | Investment cast and precision forged blades, along with an investment
cast turbine exhaust case; Eric Lewis | Chief Executive of Doncasters Group
isostatic pressing (HIP) plant at the Group’s Blaenavon facility,
supported by the Welsh Assembly, is typical of this shift,
enabling the Group to undertake post-cast processing work in
Wales that was previously subcontracted to a specialist supplier.
By combining these economies of scale with its capability to
provide ‘dollarisation’ to customers, Doncasters has further
strengthened its position in the aerospace market, becoming a
genuine market leader.
Mr Lewis continues: “Aerospace is a truly global industry
and, as a leading supplier to this sector, Doncasters has a
strong presence throughout the world. As a result, we are well
placed to realise a number of benefits, including less exposure
to economic conditions in any single market and an ability to
make the most of the potential of lower cost economies.
“Over the coming years, I would envisage that core
technologies and intellectual property will remain in traditional
manufacturing countries. However, it would not be surprising
if the manufacture of more commoditised products was
increasingly moved overseas, largely driven by customer
demand.”
Moving forward, Doncasters shows no sign of slowing down
and there are ongoing plans for further significant expansion
despite the general downturn in global financial markets.
“While I cannot predict the future,” says Mr Lewis, “as far
as we are concerned the credit crunch has, so far, shown no
signs of denting what continues to be a very positive time in
the aerospace and industrial gas turbine sectors. In fact, many
OEMs are already sold out for the next few years meaning
suppliers such as ourselves will need to increase capacity to
ensure we can service growing demand and increase our market
share.
“In order to meet a significant increase in demand,
Doncasters has put significant capital expenditure (CapEx)
plans in place across the Group, with spend expected to
increase four-fold over the next few years. There is currently
real potential within the airfoils and superalloys markets and
we have identified and subsequently launched a £205 million
59_AM_jul08_doncasters.indd 60
programme of investment across the company that will see us
through to 2011.
“This investment will ensure we can service existing
orders but we also have significant plans on top of this to
drive forward the areas of the business we plan to grow as
part of our longer term strategy. Expanding our capability
to deliver engine-ready components is likely to be a major
area for development, so we will be reviewing our machining
programmes as a significant part of this process.”
In addition to the HIP project mentioned previously, plans
are also in place to develop facilities for non-destructive testing
(NDT), welding and heat treatment for the post processing of
cast turbine airfoils.
Doncasters is also investing in state-of-the-art technology
to create a world beating capability for forged and rolled large
rings and casings. These plans currently see a new facility in
operation by 2010, as a direct result of further significant
capital expenditure.
Mr Lewis concludes: “The challenges of growth are very
different to the cost reduction challenges I faced when I
originally joined the company in 2001. Looking towards the
next few years, the market seems genuinely positive, with the
power systems sector remaining buoyant and I believe that
Doncasters is increasingly well placed to make the most of the
opportunities that exist.
“The fact that our CapEx plans, while ambitious, are self-
funding gives us a sound platform for growth. Combine this
with the fact that our relationship with DIC continues to
flourish and they have proved to be supportive of all our
investment programmes to date and it is clear that exciting
times are ahead.” ❙
www.doncasters.com
About Doncasters
The Doncasters Group is a fast growing leading international
manufacturer of performance and tolerance critical
engineering components. Doncasters specialises in working
with alloys and metals that are difficult to shape and form, and
that are required to operate in demanding ambient conditions.
Core manufacturing processes include precision casting,
forging, fabrication, machining and production of superalloys.
Key products include turbine airfoils, rings and casings,
structural castings, compressor airfoils, combustion
components and fabrications and exhausts for applications
in gas turbine engines, aerostructures and components for
airframe applications, compressor and turbine wheels.
The company offers well-developed supply chain integration
solutions and employs some 7,100 people across USA,
Europe, China and Mexico. The Group has institutionalised
Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma principles throughout its
operations.
20/6/08 11:56:42
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:33:52

 Award winning suppliers
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ad_AerospaceManufacturing_130x85.indd 1 16-06-2008 13:50:23

62_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:04:15

 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Putting
the pieces
together
Visitors to CGTech (hall 1, stand A4)
at Farnborough 2008 will be able to
learn more about exciting new software
developments for programming and
simulating automated composite lay-up
machines
O
ne can hardly escape the deluge of recent articles and
conferences focused on composites and the excitement
around the latest advances in automated composite
fabrication machines: commonly called automated fiber
placement (AFP) and automated tape laying (ATL) machines.
Driven mostly by aerospace, but with technology quickly
transferring to other industries, the race is on to develop
productive automated composite lay-up machinery. In the
same way cutting speeds in ‘inches per minute’ is boasted
by manufacturers of high speed CNC milling machines,
manufactures of ATL and AFP machines promote composite
material application rates of ‘pounds per hour’, while often
ignoring other significant process complexities that must be
addressed in order to produce parts quickly. The parallels don’t
end there however; just as CAD/CAM must continually evolve
63_AM_jul08_CGtech.indd 63
Vericut composite simulation | Part of the Vericut composite applications suite
with new machining techniques, the software for programming
AFP and ATL machines must also evolve to handle advances in
technology.
Today’s automated composite lay-up machinery and software
has many similarities with the state of the CNC metalcutting
industry of the 1950s and 60s. The technology is difficult
to adopt for all but the largest manufacturers because of
the high infrastructure costs. The process technology is
complex and only understood by few, and software is generally
provided by machine manufacturers, with different software
required for each machine brand, resulting in limited software
implementation and advances.
“There is a clear need for programming software to be
provided by an industry recognised software provider as part of
a standard suite of regularly updated and maintained software,”
says Peter Vogeli of Electroimpact, a designer and manufacturer
of aerospace tooling and automation solutions. “The delivery
of machines by competent machine tool vendors, with the
delivery of programming systems by competent software
vendors, mirrors practices in the mature metal removal
industry. In that industry machine tool vendors generally
no longer attempt to compete with far more competent
programming companies.”
Vericut composite programming and simulation software
is designed to be independent of any specific CNC fiber-
placement machine, in the same way a modern CAD/CAM
application
SIMON SIMMONS supports CNC machining. “When a machine tool
| EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
builder is also developing the software to program its machines,
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 63
20/6/08 16:13:51
 64 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
VC | reads CAD models and NC programs
the software tends to be restricted to the technology of the
machine,” says CGTech Product Marketing Manager, Bill
Hasenjaeger. “When software is separate from the machine and
applied in a variety of applications, the software and underlying
technology expands. The metal cutting industry has seen the
same happen with advances in CAD/CAM.”
For over 20 years CGTech has been constantly improving its
Vericut suite of software for metalcutting, but it was in 2004
that CGTech thrust full speed into the world of composites,
after being contacted by Boeing (a CGTech customer since
1989) to develop a program for AFP machine simulation for
787 fabrication. This project progressed in 2005 to include the
development of a programming solution for AFP machines.
In 2006 Electroimpact was selected to supply Spirit
Aerosystems with a multiple machine AFP lay-up cell for the
Boeing 787 fuselage section 41. The composite lay-up cell
features multiple independent machines each with automatic
head changers, resulting in a high continuous lay-down rate,
with no head service downtime. Electroimpact recognised that
CGTech is very capable of providing machine independent AFP
programming and simulation software. For nearly three years
Electroimpact has been in a non-exclusive cooperation with
CGTech to develop AFP programming and simulation software.
Following more than two years testing and development, this
software will be used by Spirit Aerosystems to program the new
Electroimpact AFP machines being installed. The software will
be updated and maintained by CGTech.
CGTech has also recently partnered with AFPT, a Dutch
company developing a remarkable new thermoplastic fiber-
placement head. AFPT uses carbon reinforced thermoplastic
material (tape) that is instantly bonded when applied. Major
aerospace and automotive companies are interested in
thermoplastic materials because they require no, or at least
much less, autoclave time compared to thermoset material.
Where Electroimpact has designed AFP heads and
machines for large aerospace parts, AFPT focuses on solutions
63_AM_jul08_CGtech.indd 64
to fabricate small
composite parts
using thermoplastic
materials. AFPT has
a 15 year history in
filament-winding and
considerable expertise
in various composite
materials. It has been
developing its fiber-placement head for over three years and is
using an industrial diode laser to cure/bond the thermoplastic
material as it is applied by the head. Its head is packaged to
attach to a standard industrial robot such as Kuka or ABB. It is
designed for ‘small’ part production, with typically less than a
three metre span. CGTech will be working closely with AFPT
to apply Vericut composite software to meet thermoplastic lay-
up requirements.
The Vericut composite applications suite is machine-
independent off-line programming and simulation software for
automated composite tape and fiber-placement CNC machines.
It consists of two separate applications: Vericut composite
programming (VCP) and Vericut composite simulation (VCS).
VCP reads CAD surfaces and ply boundary information
and adds material to fill the plies according to user specified
manufacturing standards and requirements. Lay-up paths are
linked together to form specific lay-up sequences and output as
NC programs for the automated lay-up machine.
VCS reads CAD models and NC programs, either from
VCP or other composite lay-up path-generation applications,
and simulates the sequence of NC programs on a virtual
machine. Material is applied to the lay-up form via NC program
instructions in a virtual CNC simulation environment. The
simulated material applied to the form can be measured and
inspected to ensure the NC program follows manufacturing
standards and requirements. A report showing simulation results
and statistical information can be automatically created. ❙
www.cgtech.com
VCP | Vericut composite programming
20/6/08 16:16:04
w page template:Layout 1 22/5/08 12:25 Page 1

schmidtroeder
innovation

New ideas expand new horizons. The Airbus A380, the world’s most spacious aircraft, introduces
a new era of airline transportation by offering long range travel in maximum comfort. This sophisticated
aircraft utilizes advanced manufacturing processes to achieve more efficient flight. MAG Cincinnati
and MAG Giddings & Lewis partner with Airbus and other leading aircraft producers to supply the innovative
products and technologies that help new ideas take flight.

More about MAG: www.mag-ias.com

Visit
Moreus about
in Hall 15, C 35
MAG: www.mag-ias.com
Visit us in Hall 1.2, S 63
 Chemical Analysis
Metallography
Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics
Physical Testing
Mechanical Testing
Pilot Scale Vacuum Melting
Creep and Stress Rupture Tests
Corrosion Testing
Test Specimen and Equipment Manufacture
Thermocouple Calibration
Laboratory Scale Heat Treatment
Hydrogen Embrittlement Test Specialists
Approvals Include: Rolls-Royce, Honeywell
Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, SNECMA
IncoTest
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:36:38

AD 255 X 180.indd 1 9/6/08 17:23:48
 EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 | One of the first engines to utilise health monitoring technology
Making good sense
With the business model for civil air travel changing from a product-based to a
service-based structure, Boeing is embarking on a joint project with Cranfield
University (hall 4, stand E13 at Farnborough 2008) and several other core partners
to explore the technologies and practical applications of Integrated Vehicle Health
Management (IVHM) in a new Centre of Excellence. Simon Lott spoke to Professor
of Strategic Manufacture Tim Baines and Centre Director Professor Ian Jennions
W
ith an initial budget of £7.5 million and opening next
November, the new centre at Cranfield University
will be a hub of activity covering the complete
application of IVHM technologies for the development of
MRO in order to deal with the changing face of OEM and
airline business practices. With the investment Boeing and its
partners BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Meggitt (Vibro-Meter)
have placed in the centre, the manufacturer aims to speed the
development of this technology in order to improve the level
of efficiency in its service contracts. The relevance of such
technology is increasing as airlines increasingly look towards
leasing rather than purchasing aircraft as an ever more viable
business strategy. Consequently, time out of service can now be
directly correlated to lost earnings for OEMs. However, with
IVHM technology, being able to monitor the development
of faults and the patterns in which they occur will change the
whole nature of MRO operations.
The business side of the project will take its lead from
67_AM_jul08_cranfield.indd 67
Courtesy of Rolls-Royce
previous product service systems (PSS) projects conducted
at the university, which were a significant factor in
Boeing’s commitment to the project. Professor of Strategic
Manufacture, Tim Baines explains: “When we speak to
customers, the area of immediate interest is always with the
justification of the business model and the first project will
address this. A lot of the technology already exists in one
form or another so understanding it and the opportunity it
represents is the challenge. It’s unusual that a technological
subject is so close to the business model but in this case it is
crucial to moving up the value chain to remain competitive.”
The centre will be utilised for all aspects of IVHM, including
measuring the performance of an asset in the field, such as a
gas turbine engine. This breaks down into five key areas: where
and how to effectively take measurements, how to record them,
how to transmit data from the sensors, how to analyse this
information
SIMON SIMMONS | and howDIRECTOR
EDITORIAL to use it to predict and prevent problems
for single components and across a fleet. Among the launch
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 67
20/6/08 11:57:32
 68 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
EVENT REPORT I FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2008
Courtesy of Boeing
Boeing 787 | Product life algorithms will offer prognosis for service and replacement
projects will be development of a ‘demonstrator’ and a business
case, which will be fundamental to the development of the
systems themselves, explaining clearly to businesses the value of
IVHM and how to capture best practice. The most extensive
area for the IVHM centre however will be in developing the
data link between the sensor and the company about the
performance of an asset. Other launch projects will involve
understanding the architecture and design systems and a
further project will look at technology road mapping of IVHM
and understanding where future development lies.
As Centre Director, Professor Ian Jennions is in charge of
establishing the key projects: “Between now and November,
we’ll be getting the technical proposals up and running and
expect to be at full speed within three years. The five steps of
data usage are being mirrored in the centre and we will have
a laboratory capable of receiving live data from our industrial
partners. Significantly, there is already a strong centre at
Cranfield for small, MEMS-type technology, and we can use
that to develop accelerometers and other sensors. Research into
architecture is also crucial as it can affect development of the
rest of an aircraft. We also want to expand systems to include
data from other sources such as the avionics and landing gear.
From Boeing’s perspective, it wants an environment where it
can be more knowledgeable, engaged with the supply chain and
generate new ideas for future projects.
“Historically, engine sensors are kept on-board to supply the
control system with information and it’s only recently that
IVHM specific sensors have appeared on engines like the
Rolls-Royce Trent 900 and 1000. We want to find practical
ways of putting sensors that measure temperature, pressure
and vibration closer to components to achieve a higher quality
of information. In doing so, much of our work will revolve
around dealing with the proliferation of data that this will
produce. The sensor is the tip of the iceberg and the system
below becomes ever more complex. For example, there will be
problems transmitting such amounts of data from aircraft to
the ground so we’re going to look at real-time algorithms that
67_AM_jul08_cranfield.indd 68
can process data in-flight, particularly on detecting vibration
anomalies. We have to do a great deal of testing as only a tiny
percentage of false positives (the system incorrectly diagnosing
an anomaly) and false negatives (failure to record an anomaly)
can cause serious havoc when you are monitoring a whole fleet.
Essentially, the dynamic view offers much improved awareness
of engine status, but its accuracy must be very high.
“As we move forward we want to put sensors into far more
hostile environments. For example you might want to monitor
frequencies produced by an individual bearing. Though we have
an idea of these from accelerometer signals on the carcass of
the engine, we would like to push towards advanced MEMS-
type sensors in the bearing itself. We will also then have to
look at transmission, which given the hostile conditions will
inevitably involve wireless, and this is another thing we plan to
investigate.”
From the business perspective, what IVHM will also offer is
the development of product life algorithms. Being able to take
into account the conditions an asset is operating in and being
able to say with a degree of precision what its lifespan will
be will allow for much more precise business models not just
in improving MRO but in determining the feasibility of new
products. The centre plans, with this knowledge, to produce
‘predicted availability’ plans that define whether and when an
engine will be available, allowing for more efficient organisation
of fleets. With marginal leeway for unscheduled maintenance,
being able to predict potential faults accurately will become a
valuable benefit.
Professor Baines concludes: “While we are aerospace
focused right now, the technology is easily adapted for other
industries such as power generation, automotive, construction
and agriculture where assets are exposed to stresses, and as
companies seek to move up the value chain, health monitoring
becomes ever more relevant.” ❙
www.cranfield.ac.uk
www.boeing.com
Courtesy of Neil Jones/Angels-20 Photography
Boeing C-17ER | Predicting remaining useful life will be key to defence systems
20/6/08 11:59:24
001_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 16:03 Page 1

European Defence
& Aerospace
Manufacturing
Technology
Roadshow
2008

in association with
002_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:41 Page 78

Bringing the defence and aerospace

market to your doorstep
The 2008 European Defence & Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow kicks
off this September on a one month tour across the UK and France visiting many of
the industries major design/development and research facilities across those
territories. Included on the itinerary will be visits to BAE Systems, Selex, Airbus,
Thales, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, EADS, MBDA among many others.

On board the exhibition vehicle will be a group of 18 suppliers demonstrating

leading edge technologies in the defence and aerospace sector directly on the
customer’s premises and meeting many of the engineers and developers who
don’t always manage to get to the more traditional trade shows.

Tour organiser John Aldridge, Managing Director of Dream Marketing

International, explains: “I honestly believe that our tour represents a fantastic
opportunity, not only for the exhibiting companies that come with us, but also
for the engineers, purchasing and senior management staff who visit the vehicle
whilst it’s on their premises. People can spend half an hour or so looking around
the vehicle and talking with the companies and their representatives on board at
their leisure during the day. This doesn’t cost them anything and hopefully we can
expose them to some new organisations and technologies that they have not
previously been aware of. From an exhibitors point of view it’s a great opportunity to
spend valuable time in front of customers meeting very high quality engineers who are
the lifeblood of the industry.”

Any company interested in taking one of the last stands available should contact
John Aldridge at Dream Marketing Intl. +44 (0) 1189 886823 or E-Mail him at
john@dream-marketing.co.uk

Contents
AEROSP CE MANUFACTURING
AVX Corporation 3
Aerospace Manufacturing is distributed free of charge to Axon’ Cable 3
applicants within Europe meeting the publisher’s criteria. Bustec 4
To subscribe please visit the web site.
Delcam 4
For more information please contact:
Mark Deadman – Sales Manager: mdeadman@aero-mag.com
Goodridge 5
Simon Lott – Assistant Editor: slott@mitpublishing.co.uk LynuxWorks, Inc 5
MIT Publishing Limited Measurement Devices Ltd 6
Featherstone House, 375 High Street, NDT Services 6
Rochester, Kent, ME1 1DA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1634 830566 Nye Lubricants, Inc. 7
Fax: +44 (0)1634 408488
Paramount Panels 7
www.aero-mag.com
PDS Instruments Ltd 8
Dream Marketing
For more information please contact:
PrismTech 8
John Aldridge at Dream Marketing. R.A Rodriguez (UK) Ltd 9
Tel +44 (0)1189 886823
Fax +44 (0)1189 887235 Spur Electron Ltd 9
E-mail john@dream-marketing.co.uk Surface Technology International Ltd 10
Teledyne 10
Tescom Europe GmbH 11
TEST-FUCHS 11

2 2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow

003_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 18:03 Page 1

AVX Corporation
AVX – a leading supplier of hirel passives and connectors
for the military sector

AVX Corporation is a leading international supplier of advanced passive

components and interconnect solutions with worldwide manufacturing
facilities, offering the world’s broadest selection of passive electronic
components and connectors. The company has over 30 years experience
in producing industry-leading, high-reliability passive components,
offering an expanding range of products including capacitors, filters,
timing devices, connectors and circuit protection devices which have
been designed to provide industry-leading performance and quality.

AVX currently has 11 factories in Europe and USA qualified to AS9100,

IECQ-CECC, TS16949-2002 and ISO9001-2000 standards. The company
also has a number of products qualified to COTS +, ESCC, SRC, MIL and
DSCC drawings, as well as optional custom screening and test service
capabilities.

AVX is honoured to have been involved in some of the world’s most

AVX is the leading manufacturer
with over 30 years experience
in producing established and
high reliability passive
components and interconnect
solutions for the most
challenging applications.
Advanced components for
generations to come
prestigious programs such as Airbus A380, Mars Rover, Galileo,
Eurofighter and Bowman, as well as working with all major design centres
on future developments. It is the company’s long term policy to continue
to support all legacy projects as well as continuing to develop and offer
designers innovative, new, state-of-the-art technologies and products.
More details can be found at www.avx.com.
The company is traded on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE: AVX).
More details can be found at www.avx.com.
The company is traded on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE: AVX).
www.avx.com

Axon’ Cable
Axon’ Cable is a specialist in the field of mil-aero cable and interconnect
solutions. Headquartered in France and with bases all over the world,
Axon’ is renowned for its expertise in EMC shielding and testing, micro-
minature cable, connector and harness solutions and its pro-active .JM
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Vertically integrated to a high degree, Axon’ incorporates the design and
manufacture of virtually all aspects of complex interconnect systems
under one roof, including; the inner conductors, insulated cables – both
round and flat, connectors for various applications including MIL-STD
1553B databus and a full range of micro-D connectors, EMC shielding
and custom overmoulding.

The company manufactures a huge range of assemblies of varying

complexities, and caters to all volume requirements from the one-off
prototype to mass manufacture.

Axon’ boasts comprehensive test facilities, including EMC, full @H[SHUW

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2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow 3

004_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:44 Page 72

bustec’s products combine
the highest measurement
precision with the capability
of online monitoring of large
amounts of synchronous data
Bustec
Bustec is a leading supplier of high-performance data acquisition and
test products. The products are all based on computer independent and
open platform standards. They offer the highest density available in the
market and have brought modularity to a new level. Typical applications
range from airframe, jet-engine and rocket testing to wind tunnel
applications. Bustec products excel in measurement accuracy and data
throughput and are an ideal solution for your data-acquisition and Test
& Measurement applications.
Bustec is exhibiting together with HGL, a leading supplier of Aerospace
software solutions. HGL software’s unique strength is its real-time
monitoring and data-throughput to storage devices. This comes
together with the ease-of-use of the programs.
Bustec with their state of the art measurement hardware and HGL with
their software and system integration capabilities together are the ideal
partners to solve your measurement requirements.

| Mechanical Airframe Testing | Bustec

| Wind Tunnel Applications | Shannon, Co. Clare
Ireland
| Turbine and Engine Testing | Tel: +353-61-707100
Email: sales@bustec.com
bustec - the Leader in High Precision Data Aquisition Web: www.bustec.com

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Delcam
Delcam is the world’s leading specialist supplier of machining and
inspection software. The company has grown since being founded in
1977 and is the largest developer of product design and manufacturing
software in the UK, with subsidiaries in North America, Europe and Asia.
The company currently supplies to 25,000 organisations in 90 countries
ranging from multinational corporations to independent designers, part
manufacturers and subcontractors.

With a wealth of knowledge and experience in the aerospace sector

Delcam has established two consultancy groups. The Professional
Services Group offers process consultancy and the Custom Software
Group, which offers process automation services.

Delcam has long been recognised as an innovative developer of high

speed and 5-axis machining software. It’s PowerMILL CAM solution
includes a dedicated module for machining of blades, blisks, and
impellers. With PowerSHAPE’s unique hybrid design capabilities,
companies can optimise detailed designs and reduce component
weight. PowerMILL and PowerSHAPE’s fully integrated design and
manufacturing means that files can be converted rapidly into
manufacturing data for machining.

Delcam’s PowerINSPECT inspection software has been rapidly established

as the world’s leading hardware independent inspection system. The
FeatureCAM range adds similar leadership in highly automated, feature-
based machining, and PartMaker provides the world’s leading software for
programming turn-mill equipment and Swiss-type lathes.

Altogether, PowerMILL, PowerSHAPE, FeatureCAM, PowerINSPECT and

PartMaker comprise the world’s most comprehensive collection of
CADCAM systems from a single developer.

4 2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow

005_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:45 Page 1

Goodridge
competitive Goodridge – High performance fluid transfer and brake hoses

advantage through Goodridge is the world's leading manufacturer of high performance fluid
transfer systems and with continuous design and development, remains at
innovation the cutting edge of technology. Working closely with clients also provides
an unparalleled customer service via a network of 10 strategically placed
locations, with 350+ employees, worldwide.

The company has taken existing material technologies, and modified, re-
designed and re-engineered to produce application-specific hose
assemblies, supplying to diverse customers, including Military, Automotive,
Motorcycle, Marine & Mountain Bike.

Lightweight PTFE hose (available with Stainless Steel or Aramid over-braid)

offers excellent pressure and temperature characteristics with almost all
t #3",*/( fluid mediums including Brake, Engine & Transmission oils, Fuel, Water, Air &
Nitrogen in temperatures from -70°C to +260°C, in MWP to 500 bar, and can
t &/(*/& be crimp fitted to hard-line using our unique crimp tails and collars.
t $-65$)
Goodridge offers a complete hard-line range of products for Fuel, Oil and
t 1"4
Water transfer in Mild Steel, Stainless Steel or Aluminium. All hard-line from
t 53"/4.*44*0/ 4mm to 40mm is manipulated and end formed on CNC bending machinery
t ):%3"6-*$ $00-*/( and finished in a number of different protective coatings including CARC or
Hexavalent plating. Silicon hose can be supplied in straight or pre-formed
shapes from 4mm to 50mm ID in various colours. Goodridge also offers a
comprehensive range of Oil Coolers, Fuel Filters & Caps, Fireproofing and
ancillary items. Our dedicated Class A clean room operates to NAS Level 1.
UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES FRANCE
Goodridge (UK) Ltd, Exeter Airport Business Park
GOODRIDGE (UK) LTD GOODRIDGE(USA) INC GOODRIDGE FRANCE SARL
EXETER AIRPORT BUSINESS 529 VAN NESS AVENUE, ZA LES PRES D’ ANDY, Exeter, Devon. EX5 2UP
PARK, EXETER, TORRANCE, 77950 ST GERMAIN LAXIS,
EX5 2UP, UK CA 90501, USA FRANCE T: +441392 369090
T.+44 (0)1392 369090
F.+44 (0)1392 441780
T. +1 (310) 533 1924
F. +1 (310) 618 0909
T.+33 (1) 64 38 44 44
F.+33 (1) 60 68 96 74
F:+441392 441780
E: oem@goodridge.net
www.goodridge.net oem@goodridge.net www.goodridge.net

LynuxWorks, Inc.
Oh yes, we’re

SECURE
LynuxWorks, leader in the embedded software market, is committed to
providing open and reliable real-time operating systems (RTOS) and
software tools to embedded developers.

The LynxOS RTOS family offers open standards with the highest level of
safety and security features, enabling many mission-critical systems in
defense, avionics and other industries. LynxOS offers the most
inherently secure and reliable design of any commercial off-the-shelf
OS. LynxOS also offers the Linux/Unix processing model, POSIX
conformance and open, standard application programming interfaces
(APIs).

LynxOS-178 is the first DO-178B and EUROCAE/ED-12B certifiable,

POSIX-compatible RTOS solution. The COTS package includes the most
robust feature set of any DO-178B level A certifiable RTOS kernel
available. It serves as foundation software for numerous DO-178B
certified deployments, including multiple mil/aero systems certified to
DO-178B, up to and including level A and is the first and only OS to
receive FAA Reusable Software Component (RSC) Acceptance for Safety-
Critical Software.

LynxSecure® separation kernel meets the needs for the highest level of
embedded software security. LynxSecure uses the space and time
partitioning features of LynxOS-178® safety-critical RTOS to provide the
foundation for building highly secure systems utilizing the MILS
(Multiple Independent Levels of Security) architecture and is designed
for certification to Common Criteria EAL-7 as well as DO-178B level A.
Military-grade security & non-secure applications working
side-by-side from LynuxWorks
LynuxWorks has a proven legacy of meeting rigidly mandated military and aerospace software systems
throughout the world. Now, with the LynxSecure separation kernel, the highest levels of security can
be met by taking advantage of hypervisor and virtualization technologies while embracing open stan-
dards.
Offering Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) LynxSecure can be designed into environments
where secure applications need to run on the same hardware as, but be securely partitioned away from,
Open.Reliable.Safe.Secure.
non-secure applications and operating systems.

LynuxWorks, Inc. Ultimate flexibility, yet maximum security partitioning is what sets LynxSecure apart for the new genera-

Tel: 011-44-14-8329-5929 tion of secure embedded systems for the military, industrial, medical and other industries.

Fax: 011-44-14-8357-3704 Download the whitepaper at http://www.lynuxworks.com/security to learn more about

working side-by-side with the LynxSecure separation kernel.

email: inside@lnxw.com

2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow 5

006_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 18/6/08 09:36 Page 74

Measurement Devices Ltd (MDL)

WELCOME TO MDL

If you could carry out your work safely and cleanly at the speed of light, you’d
jump at the opportunity……

Now’s your chance:

With more than 25 years’ experience, MDL is a global pioneer

and world leader in laser measurement technology and positioning
and navigation systems.

MDL will be showcasing its rugged class 1 eye safe, laser distance meters
for integration into OEM applications.

We can provide you with

• Fixed laser modules for ranges up to 700m (2300ft)

Applications include
• Security monitoring
• Perimeter protection
• Collision avoidance and profiling

• Rotating lasers to form 2D and 3D OEM scanners

Applications include
• Low level altimeters as part of automatic landing systems in a UAV
• Fixed height control in crop spraying
• Speed measurement for vehicle or rates of decent in aircrafts

For more information visit

www.mdl.co.uk/oem or call
Dr Paul Rivers on +44 (0) 1904 791 139

NDT Services
World Class Non Destructive and Materials Testing Services

NDT Services has been established for over 20 years and is a major
service provider to the Aerospace manufacturing sector, both in the UK
and Europe. We are a specialist non destructive and materials testing
company with offices and laboratories around the East Midlands area of
the UK.

All forms of non destructive testing disciplines, plus specialist

capabilities in ultrasonic immersion testing, are available. These are
complemented by the availability of materials testing and metallurgical :25/' &/$66 1'7
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6 2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow

007_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:45 Page 75

Nye Lubricants, Inc.

Nye Lubricants, Inc., founded in 1844 and headquartered in Fairhaven,
Massachusetts, USA, has been designing innovative synthetic lubricant
solutions for leaders in aviation and aerospace for more than 50 years.

Nye’s synthetic oils and greases are specified for extreme-temperature

fighter jet engine components; cargo aircraft landing gear; aircraft controls;
precision bearings in navigational instruments and space suits; wide-
temperature avionics connectors; linear actuators for satellites; and many
other critical components, including vacuum environment applications.

Nye’s technologically advanced oils and greases are
specified for extreme-temperature fighter jet engine
components; cargo aircraft landing gear; aircraft
controls; precision bearings in navigational instru-
ments and space suits; wide-temperature avionics
connectors; linear actuators for satellite antennas; and
many other critical applications in the commercial,
government, and military sectors.
nyeaerospace.com/EU
©2008 Nye Lubricants, Inc.
Nye works with all standard base fluids including synthetic hydrocarbons,
esters, polyglycols, silicones, polyphenylethers, as well as proprietary fluids
such as chlorophenylpolydimethylsiloxanes, and, through an agreement
with Shell Global Solutions, Nye is the exclusive global distributor of
Pennzane® multiplyalkylated cyclopentane fluids. Nye also formulates with
all four types of perfluoropolyether fluids. This unparalleled range of
chemistries — coupled with our experience in selecting and blending
fluids for specific applications — ensures that each Nye customer gets the
best lubricant for their application.
Nye maintains an Ultrafiltration Lab where oils and greases can be filtered
to precise cleanliness levels and Nye certifies oils to Mil-Std 1246. Nye also
customizes lubricants with rust inhibitors, antioxidants, fortifiers, and other
additives to enhance performance or extend service life.
Nye Lubricants, Inc.
12 Howland Rd., Fairhaven, MA USA 02719
Phone: +508-996-6721 Fax: +508-997-5285
Bill O’Hearn, Aerospace Industry Manager
bpo@nyelubricants.com
Jay Weikel, European Engineering
& Business Development Manager
jweikel@nyelubricants.com
www.nyeaerospace.com

Paramount Panels
Paramount Panels are a specialist manufacture of illuminated
information panels (Light-plates), Integrated keyboards, push-button
bezels and lighting components, with over 50 years experience in
providing lighting equipment to the air and defence markets. With design
and manufacturing facilities located in the North London, UK and in
California, USA. We offer solutions for all lighting requirements whether
your operational requirement is airborne, ground based, fighting vehicles
or shipboard. Lighting sources include; LED’s, filament lamps and
electroluminescent, and our full range of products are offered in NVG
compatible versions.

Our product portfolio includes panels with integral

annunciators/Indicators, which are innovative in design, and offer unique
space and weight savings. We also offer a comprehensive range of control
knobs for aircraft crew stations and related equipment, many of which
meet the requirements of MIL standards.

We can also offer the full capability of building complete panel

assemblies. From initial inception to critical design review, where our
committed group allows us to deliver a complete panel assembly that
meets or exceeds your design requirement.

Quality assurance and control is strictly enforced at all stages of

manufacture. Such quality assurance meets and exceeds the stringent
demands of our ISO 9001:2000 and EASA approvals.

Please contact the office for additional details:

Mr David Roke, General Manager.
d.roke@paramount-panels.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 8805 8538.
www.paramountpanels.com

2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow 7

008_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:46 Page 76

PDS Instruments Ltd

PDS Instruments is a technical distribution company which supplies
power sources and test and measurement equipment. PDS supply many of
the UK’s leading aerospace companies and provide them with technical
and sales support for a wide range of equipment including everything
from AC power sources to Z analysers. With a strong line up of products
aimed at aerospace test and a highly experienced team PDS are able to
offer advice on the best solution for specific test applications. Established
just over two years ago PDS is a growing company and is keen to provide
solutions for design and development projects right through to
production test systems.

PDS Instruments represent: -

AOIP (calibration equipment, data loggers and microhmmeters)
AFJ International (AC & DC current sources)
Argantix (DC power supplies)
California Instruments (AC & DC power sources with aerospace test packages)
ETPS (DC power supplies)
Krohn-Hite (filters, DC sources/calibrators & wideband amplifiers)
LeCroy (oscilloscopes)
NEC (data acquisition and chart recorders)
Rotek (power calibrators)
Tabor (waveform generators)
Voltech (power analysers & transformer testers)
Wayne Kerr (LCR meters)

Contact: David Sheath

PDS Instruments Ltd
Unit 7, Broadmarsh Business Centre
Harts Farm Way,
Havant,
Hampshire. PO9 1HS
T: 0800 043 0831
E: aerospace@pdsinstruments.co.uk
www.pdsinstruments.co.uk

PrismTech
Founded in 1992, PrismTech is a privately-held company with European
operations in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, and, US operations
in Boston, MA and Saddle Brook, NJ.

PrismTech is an acknowledged leader in advanced software integration

solutions and provides a wide range of standards-compliant, high-
performance middleware products whose quality-of-service (QoS)
properties significantly exceed those offered by conventional
middleware. PrismTech also offers developer productivity tools and a
comprehensive range of professional services.

PrismTech's solutions are "Powering Netcentricity" for mission-critical

defence and aerospace distributed computing environments and
communication systems and include.
• OpenSplice DDS an extremely high performance, real-time
publish/subscribe middleware designed to provide low-latency,
high-throughput data dissemination across mission-critical defence
and aerospace distributed systems.
• OpenFusion CORBA and CORBA Component Model (CCM) the most
comprehensive, innovative and cost-effective CORBA portfolio to
underpin warfare systems from ultra-low-profile ORBs for embedded
systems, to fully-featured real-time platforms and component
frameworks for mission-critical applications.
• Spectra SDR used by leading radio manufactures and system
integrators to rapidly design, develop, validate and deploy
SCA-compliant waveforms, operating environments and radio
platforms, leveraging the newest processor technologies including
SWaP-constrained small form factor SDRs.

Contact: Ian Thomas

VP Sales EMEA
ian.thomas@prismtech.com
t: +44 (0) 1189 828980
www.prismtech.com

8 2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow

009_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:48 Page 1

R.A. Rodriguez (UK) Ltd

Based in Letchworth, R. A. Rodriguez acts as factory representative for a
number of leading manufacturers of bearings, linear bearings and
precision components and offers extensive local stock and high level of
technical support. For more than 40 years small, large and custom
KAYDON® bearings have formed the core of its business, a range that is
unique in its breadth of capability.

KAYDON® Reali-Slim bearings are ideal for applications where space is at

a premium and weight needs to be minimised. These bearings are
available in both Imperial and metric ranges and in different radial
sections up to 1m diameter from stock - larger to order. Turntable
bearings are a KAYDON® speciality. There are models to suit every need
from light to extreme heavy duty. There is also a Reali-Slim® version of
this range too offering the benefits of small size and minimum weight.

The success of equipment designed for use in special applications can

often rest with one or a combination of bearing features and that’s
where KAYDON® custom bearings score highly. Manufactured and
tested to the highest quality standards, special attention is paid to balls,
bearing raceway geometry, finish and retainer design resulting in
optimum bearing performance.

R. A Rodriguez (UK) Ltd

28 Campus Five,
Letchworth Business Park,
Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2JF
T: 01462 670044
F: 01462-670880
E: info@raruk.com
www.rarodriguez.co.uk

Spur Electron Ltd

Spur Electron provides High Reliability solutions to the Defence,
Aerospace and Space sectors. With over 25 years of experience, Spur has
become a name synonymous with the very highest standards and a
leader in projects demanding innovation and reliability. Spur's highly
trained personnel are accredited and qualified to IPC, ESA (European
Space Agency) and NASA standards.

Spur’s capabilities include:

High-Rel Component Engineering and Procurement
Obsolescence Management & Consultancy, Screening & Up-screening,
Environmental & Radiation Testing, Wafer Lot Acceptance, Worldwide
Component Procurement & Kitting, Import & Export Management,
Pre-cap & Final Source Inspection
Laboratory Services
Destructive Physical Analysis, Failure Analysis, Materials Analysis
(EDX)/SEM Inspection, Fine & Gross Leak Detection, PIND Testing, X-Ray,
Micro Section
Assembly & Manufacturing
A Cleanroom Class 10,000 ESA Approved Facility, Humidity controlled
and ESD safe, IPC/ESA/NASA Qualified Instructors and Technicians,
Manual & Auto-Assembly of Mixed Technology PCB’s, Wiring of modules
Design and Test
Bare Board/PEC Design/Development, Flying Probe Testing, Functional
Testing, RF Testing

Based in Havant, Hampshire (UK) the company is housed in a modern,

purpose built facility incorporating specially designed clean room, SMT
line and a component laboratory, providing a high quality environment
for a high quality work force.
For an initial discussion on how we can help you contact:
Paul Evans
Tel: +44(0)2392457140
Email: pevans@spurelectron.com
www.spurelectron.com

2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow 9

010_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 18/6/08 09:11 Page 78

Surface Technology International Ltd

Surface Technology International, based in Hook Hampshire started
business in 1989 developing into a leading supplier of Electronic
Contract Manufacturing services to the Aerospace, Defence and other
High technology industry sectors.

STI provided a full range of in house services, beginning with a

complete DFM (Design to Manufacture) and DFT (Design for Test)
service, through a full range of assembly and Test options to fully
released Box Build assembly. Product development is through a
dedicated NPI facility, allowing rapid time to market and allowing
for a seamless route to full production.

Our technology centre allows for specialist research, product

development and can be used for complex rework and modifications.
This service can be used in conjunction with our long term product
support and repair centre.

The STI Alliance a group of like minded leading experts in their sphere
Surface Technology International Ltd off influence, coupled with a full range of Low Cost geography options
allow STI to deliver all types of customer requirements.

Delivering High Quality, Contract Electronics For more information contact:-

Manufacturing solutions, offering Project Gary Allen-Commercial Director
Surface Technology International Limited
Management for high profile, strategically
important aerospace programmes Tel +44 1256 768070
gary-allen@sti-limited.com

www.sti-limited.com

www.sti-limited.com

Teledyne
Teledyne Relays, Teledyne Coax Switches and Teledyne Microelectronics,
manufacturing companies within the Electronics and Communications
Segment of Teledyne Technologies Inc., have joined forces to present
the best of their new products and some well established industry
standards to the audience of the Defence and Aerospace Roadshow.

Teledyne Coax Switches is showing their extensive range of coaxial RF

switches available in ranges from DC to 33GHz. With single pole, multi-
pole and transfer switch configurations in latching and non-latching
versions, these switches are used in RF applications such as missiles,
airborne communications, satcom up and down links, radars, sensor
suites and test equipment. Hi-Rel versions of the switches are also used
in space flight applications for transponder switching and signal routing
within the spacecraft.

Teledyne Microelectronics Optoelectronics Group has on display

their fibre optic transmitters, receivers and transceivers for data rates up
to 4Gbps. The Power Devices Group is introducing the latest in Smart
Solid State Power Controllers and Relays, some being shown for the first
time in Europe. The range includes both hermetic and plastic packages
aimed at power management applications in environments where
robust, high performance packages are vital.

Teledyne Relays are promoting their hermetically sealed sub-miniature

relays used extensively in defence, aviation, communications and space
programmes. Featured products are the well established TO5 style relays
and the latest MIL Qualified Teledyne Relay, a latching half crystal can,
the only MIL version of this relay type available.

For more information please visit our website

www.teledyne-europe.com, email to sales_europe@teledyne.com
or call Gordon Fagg, Regional Sales Manager, at +44 (0)1202 604040.

10 2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow

011_Aerospace_0708:Layout 1 17/6/08 15:49 Page 79

Tescom Europe GmbH

For many decades renowned manufacturers within the Aerospace
industry have relied on Tescom to provide pressure & flow control
solutions for critical applications. Our portfolio includes customer
specific, turn-key test rigs for gaseous or fluid media e.g. systems for
leak testing aircraft pipework (oxygen, fuel, bleed air & hydraulic lines).
Tescom designs, engineers, manufactures & installs automated units
suitable for pressures from vacuum up to 60,000 psig and a wide range
of flows, temperatures & media. Calibration modules for pressure
sensors, manifold blocks, mobile charging carts and mixing systems for
gaseous and liquid media complement Tescom’s solutions which are all
designed to meet the high demands of the Aerospace industry.

Tescom Europe was formed in 1991 as Dräger Tescom, a joint venture

between Drägerwerk AG, Lübeck (Germany) and Tescom Corporation,
Elk River, Minnesota (USA). The company was re-established as a wholly
owned subsidiary of Tescom Corporation in 2000 and became part of
the Fisher Regulator Division, owned by the internationally renowned
Emerson Electric, in May 2005. The European headquarters are located
in Selmsdorf, Germany, close to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg.

Web: www.Tescom-Europe.com

Your contacts:
UK: Shona Fergusson, +44 (0)1296 711798,
Shona.Fergusson@Emerson.com
Europe: Christian Leonard, +49 (0)511-6064460,
Christian.Leonard@Emerson.com

TEST-FUCHS
TEST-FUCHS was founded in 1946 in Austria by Ing. Fritz Fuchs as a
repair company for electrical equipment and cooling systems. Already in
1955 TEST-FUCHS started to design and manufacture test equipment.

In 1960 in conjunction with the rebirth of the German aviation industry,

TEST-FUCHS began designing ground support and test equipment for
the aviation industry. This activity has continued to the present and to
the high technical standards required to parallel industry progress.

Test equipment is also built for the motor industry together with design,
development, qualification and manufacture of cryogenic valves for the
Ariane V, as well as aircraft fuel and lubricating pumps.

The long year experience has been used in the creation of a range of
commercial off the shelf equipment (3000psi to 5000psi) e.g.
Hydraulic Servicing Trolleys and a modular system for Hydraulic Test
Benches as well as on aircraft Ram Air Turbine test equipment.

Today TEST-FUCHS can count on a staff of 300 in 5 different locations in

Austria, Germany, Italy and the UK. The after sales activities include
maintenance, repair and overhaul service for all our customers where
required and the company also performs engine component overhaul
and repair as well as calibration.

For more information please contact the head of the Marketing and Sales
department Mr. Hans Sarnow under h.sarnow@test-fuchs.com, alternatively
under +43 2847 9001 0, or visit our website under www.test-fuchs.com

Contact details:
Mr. Hans J. Sarnow
General Manager Marketing and Sales
h.sarno@test-fuchs.com
Tel: +43 2847 9001 0
www.test-fuchs.com

2008 European Defence and Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Roadshow 11

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GOODRIDGE (UK) LTD
EXETER AIRPORT BUSINESS
PARK, EXETER,
EX5 2UP, UK
T.+44 (0)1392 369090
F.+44 (0)1392 441780
GOODRIDGE(USA) INC GOODRIDGE FRANCE SARL GOODRIDGE GERMANY,
529 VAN NESS AVENUE, ZA LES PRES D’ ANDY, TALSTRASSE 227,
TORRANCE, 77950 ST GERMAIN LAXIS, D-67434 NEUSTADT,
CA 90501, USA FRANCE GERMANY.
T. +1 (310) 533 1924 T.+33 (1) 64 38 44 44 T. +49 (0) 6321 484 47-0
F. +1 (310) 618 0909 F.+33 (1) 60 68 96 74 F. +49 (0) 6321 484 47-99

www.goodridge.net oem@goodridge.net

Defence_Aerospace_A4 advert.indd 1 10/6/08 13:57:03

 METALLICS MANUFACTURING I
STEPPING UP
PRODUCTION
To accommodate increasing production demands, Alenia Aermacchi has now
incorporated into its production line a new machine tool from the Breton Flymill range
W
ith the goal of modernising
and increasing productivity,
Venegono Superiore, Italy-based
Alenia Aermacchi, which specialises in
the design, production and technical
support of military training aircraft,
decided to purchase a 5-axis Breton
Flymill for contouring and boring to
be incorporated into its sheetmetal
machining and milling line.
With a component line that ranges
from small hatches to large fuselages and
wings, and from engine nacelle leading
edges to parts for anti-icing systems, the
company needed a machine tool with
a machining area able to accommodate
its intense production requirements and
provide improved machine flexibility
through the use of two work stations.
It also had to be able to handle an
ever-increasing range of materials and
component features that require high
precision.
Designed to satisfy such requirements,
Breton’s Flymill is a gantry milling
machine that provides high speed
machining specifically for aerospace
industry applications and is ideal for
producing complex large size workpieces
in general.
Rigidity and high dynamics are a key
feature of the range, in turn providing
maximum milling performance. The
Flymill’s high speed linear axes can
attain speeds of up to 60m/min and the
direct drive head has a rotational speed
of up to 100rpm. The C axis offers a
specific continuous 5-axis machining
81_AM_jul08_breton.indd 81
ITALY
capacity for complex profiling with
maximum precision and dynamics.
The direct drive head, which can be
positioned at any angle within the
working range and locked in place by
powerful hydraulic brakes, offers the
option of spindles with up to 40kW of
continuous power and 28,000rpm for
greater milling performance, making it
ideal for machining both light alloy and
other special alloys materials used in the
aerospace industry.
Various machine configurations and
the wide range of Flymills available
provide axes travels from 2,500mm
up to 4,000mm in X, 2,000mm up to
8,000mm in Y and 1,000mm up to
2,000mm in Z, meeting high speed
machining requirements for medium and
large size workpieces in all special alloy,
steel, aluminium, resin and composite
materials. Flymill | The gantry high speed milling machine from
Breton offers rigidity and high dynamics
The closed structure and drive
assemblies mounted on the top part of
the machine ensure maximum operator elements ensuring ultimate strength,
safety and maximum machining precision geometric accuracy and stability when
and reliability. Machining precision machining at high speeds. The gantry
and quality are further enhanced by structure with a moving cross beam
the thermal symmetry of the machine makes Flymill an extremely compact
structure, and by the thermal stabilising milling centre that requires limited
system which maintains the temperature factory space yet has a working area
of the balls, nuts and bearings on the Z equal to its overall size. It is also easily
axis, axis drives and machine structure accessible when loading and unloading
during high speed machining operations. even large size workpieces, as well as
Also, a sophisticated finite element for setup operations and in-process
method (FEM) for part dimensioning inspection. ❙
integrated with 3D dynamic simulation www.aermacchi.it
has allowed Breton to design structural www.breton.it
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 81
20/6/08 12:00:08
 Carlton_with_award_flash_judge:Layout 1 23/5/08 17:11 Page 1

Subcon Drilling amended ad:PES Ad template Tab 28/3/08 21

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082_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:42:18

 METALLICS MANUFACTURING I WELDING AND JOINING

INCORPORATING

COMPLEXITY
In order to incorporate complex technologies into the manufacture of future
airframes and engines, significant developments are currently taking place

T
he developments now underway to
incorporate complex technologies
into the manufacture of future
airframes and engines will help to reduce
raw material costs, control operating and
maintenance costs, and reduce fuel burn
and environmental impact. In the UK,
the £38 million, three year Integrated
Wing programme brings together 21
leading UK organisations with the
objective of integrating and validating
the most promising combination of
technologies related to development of
wings, wing systems, landing gear and
fuel systems. Led by Airbus, it involves
companies such as Messier Dowty,
Bombardier, Smiths, GKN Aerospace, Figure 1 | Nd:YAG laser welding of titanium structure
Goodrich, Ultra Electronics and Eaton,
alongside UK research and technology production methods and Boeing has be welded and then hot formed to bend
organisations such as TWI and QinetiQ applied for a patent in this area (Pat. the structure to its finished complex
and several UK universities. This No. US2005127140). A large programme shape and simultaneously stress relieve
programme is supported by the UK of work has resulted in the saving of a the structure. This provides a repeatable
Technology Strategy Board, and TWI considerable amount of titanium and a product in an inert condition. TWI
is working on two large joining projects subsequent reduction in machining costs. developed a technique to Nd:YAG laser
from its Cambridge and Rotherham In another development with Boeing, weld a titanium structure (figure 1),
facilities to support the partnership. TWI worked with Aeromet in the meeting the Class A acceptance criteria
TWI is also working with Boeing on UK to develop a low-cost titanium of AWS D17.1 (Specification for Fusion
the demonstration of the capability of structure by the use of laser welding and Welding for Aerospace Applications),
linear friction welding in fabricating subsequent hot forming. Laser welding before Aeromet subsequently hot formed
titanium alloy preforms to near net offers a number of advantages over the structure meeting the dimensional
shape. The technique involves holding other welding processes including low requirements set by Boeing.
an oscillating component against a distortion and high joint completion In the aircraft engine market, TWI
stationary block. Frictional heating is rates. In addition, the smaller molten has been working closely with a leading
generated by linear motion and the pool makes shielding and control of engine manufacturer to develop direct
two blocks are forged together to oxidation easier in atmosphere with local metal laser deposition (DMLD) for
produce a strong solid phase joint. This shielding. By coupling hot forming with repair of blades and seal segments (figure
technique is regarded as a cost-effective the laser welding process, simple net 2). In the DMLD process, a laser beam
fabrication route to conventional thickness plate and sheet structures can is used to form a melt pool on a metallic

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 83

83_AM_jul08_TWI.indd 83 20/6/08 08:28:53

 84 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
METALLICS MANUFACTURING I
Figure 2 | Seal segment repair using DMLD
substrate, into which powder is fed. The
powder melts to form a deposit that is
fusion bonded to the substrate. Both the
laser and nozzle from which the powder
is delivered are manipulated using a CNC
robot or gantry system. The process
is also known as laser cladding, laser
deposition, laser engineering net shape
(LENS) and laser additive manufacture
(LAM).
PRECISION WELDING CRITICAL PARTS
W
eldlogic Europe’s service
combines metal fusion with
the ‘black art’ of creating
the near perfect welding environment.
High end users, including those in the
aero-engine industry, are said to have
benefited from this approach to raising
standards of welding. This is achieved
by a combination of understanding a
customer’s production concerns and
providing the necessary advice and
equipment, as well as tuition.
The OEM says that the key to
performance is the precise control of
parameters that affect the end result.
In welding this is the ability to control
current down to 0.1 amps, within a glove
box environment of inert gas, which
can be reduced to less than one part per
million oxygen and moisture.
A well-defined procedure will ensure
weld defects are zero, or significantly
reduced. Though the introduction of
83_AM_jul08_TWI.indd 84
WELDING AND JOINING
At TWI Wales in Port Talbot, the
NDT group is working with leading
aircraft engine manufacturers to develop
phased array ultrasonic inspection of
titanium billets. Phased array ultrasonic
systems utilise multi-element probes
which are individually excited under
computer control. By exciting each
piezo-composite element in a controlled
manner a focused beam of ultrasound
can be generated.
This beam can be steered by use of
the software. Linear and sectorial scans
are possible, and, in conjunction with
probe scanners, 2D and 3D views can
be generated showing the sizes and
locations of any flaws detected. Current
production billet inspection systems
are either ‘conventional’, using single
transducers, or multizone (MZI), using
a number of probes focused at different
depths in the material.
The conventional systems achieve
relatively low sensitivity, especially on
improved techniques has a capital cost
and requires added expenditure on
labour, this needs to be assessed against
the high cost of rework, where welding
is below an acceptable level, as well as
the cost of post weld cleaning, which is
routinely needed in open air welding.
Doing the work twice can quadruple
the cost of a NDT reject weld and
rectification work nearly always leaves
tell-tale marks. Time spent on decision
making of marginal weld quality not only
adds to the labour bill but also places
the quality of work at a low level of
acceptability. In organisations where QA
requires a paper trail, non-compliance
can send the costs soaring.
These costs in total must be assessed
in relation to present weld quality
and perceived against the package of
improvements that will lead to raising
standard to a point where the question
is not whether the weld is good enough,
large diameter billets. MZI achieves
higher sensitivity than the conventional
method, but previous studies have shown
that large variations in response are
exhibited.
TWI has made significant progress
in developing phased array inspection
in this area to improve on sensitivity,
reliability and repeatability, and further
work is planned with this multi-partner
consortium. ❙
www.twi.co.uk
The Technology Strategy Board is a business-
led executive non-departmental public body,
established by the government. Its mission
is to promote and support research into, and
development and exploitation of, technology
and innovation for the benefit of UK business,
in order to increase economic growth and
improve quality of life. It is sponsored by the
Department for Innovation, Universities and
Skills (DIUS).
www.innovateuk.org
but whether it is perfect.
However, direct costs comparisons are
not the only consideration, as Health and
Safety issues are increasingly focusing on
equipment availability and risk aversion.
A glove box weld chamber will contain
all the potentially harmful by-products
of the fusion process including harmful
ultra violet radiation. ❙
www.weldlogic.co.uk
20/6/08 12:01:58
AIR_Anz_Vorlage_08_eng_rz2 05.06.2008 17:06 Uhr Seite 3

ENGINEERING

PRODUCTION

COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS

LIFECYCLE SUPPORT

RUNWAY TO TOMORROW’S SUPPLY CHAIN!

how
h Airs
ou g
n bor 32
t F a r
a n dC
a St
i s i t us a l l2
V H
NOVEMBER 11 - 14, 2008
EXHIBITION CENTER
FRANKFURT / MAIN, GERMANY
www.airtec.aero

Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:37:47

 ENGINEER – Suppliers design the engine assembly
CONCEPT – The initial designs for in Autodesk®Inventor™ software, which can then
ed with
the vehicle are developed bee easily incorporated
incorp into the final prototype.
pro
Autodesk® AliasStudio™™ software.
COLL ABOR ATE – With integrated
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be shared easily from concept
through manufacturing.

HOW DIGITAL PR
PROTOTYPING
ROTOTY
DRIVES THIS NEXT-GENE
NEXT-GENERATION
RACER TO THE FINISH LINE.
L

autodesk.co.uk/digitalprototyping Image courtesy of Daniel Simon, Cosmic-Motors

Cadspec For more information on how you can benefit

Worcester from using Autodesk's Digital Prototyping
Solutions, contact Cadspec today, or go to
01905 458000
www.cadspec.co.uk
www.cadspec.co.uk

Autodesk and the Autodesk logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc, in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk
reserves the right to alter product offerings and specications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. ©2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
J2 1/4 Ad:Layout 1 21/5/08 13:40 Page 1

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86_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:15:16

 METALLICS MANUFACTURING I LOW COST PRODUCTION

MAURITIUS – THE OFFSHORE

ANSWER
When a UK-based
engineering group decided
to create a low-cost
offering for its aerospace
customers, it decided on
a rather unconventional
course and location

R
ather than follow the conventional
route of adding a sourcing
operation to its manufacturing
activities, the West Country-based
engineering group, which includes
Hymec Precision Engineering, Hymec
Aerospace Fasteners and Harbourne
Design, decided to form its own low-
cost manufacturing company. But again,
rather than following the path others Aluminium parts | Including light rail chassis for the
Airbus A380 and A320, and other interior components
had taken of setting up a subsidiary in
India or China, it chose to base the new
company in Mauritius. To help make this base, with little competition from local
a success, it worked in partnership with companies.
machine tool supplier Matchmaker M/C “We see Mauritius as being able to
and aerospace alloy supplier Metalweb. offer a 20-25% cost down on current
As Richard Elliot, Director of Hymec pricing structures for components
CNC Mauritius explains, “When we made onshore, and as expectations scales and structures will stay relatively
thought about setting up a low-cost rise in China and India, so will pay low in relation to the rest of the world.”
operation we thought ‘Do we go to and overhead rates. People will then Yet, as he points out, Mauritius has
India?’, ‘Do we go to China?’, ‘Do we start looking elsewhere - particularly one of the largest engineering training
go to Dubai?’. But Mauritius was as Africa, most of which has yet to see any facilities in the region – with around 100
good an option as anywhere. Although significant industrial development. students at any one time – giving the
it is more commonly thought of as a “Mauritius is strategically placed off perfect combination of location, wage
holiday destination, it does have some the coast of Africa, and because there is structure and a pool of trained potential
advantages as the base for an engineering very limited demand for engineers and employees.
company. It certainly offers a low-cost engineering there I believe that our pay “A lot of aerospace OEMs are looking

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 87

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 88 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
METALLICS MANUFACTURING I
Mauritius | Commonly regarded as a holiday destination, it also provides advantages for engineering; Matchmaker
M/C | The sole supplier of machine tools to Hymec CNC Mauritius
for low-cost production, particularly
where high volumes are concerned,
and are venturing to the four corners
of the earth. By creating a low-cost
environment that is built on our
knowledge and experience of supplying
these customers we can offer them
something that our competitors can’t
offer and provide the basis for solid long-
term partnerships.”
Sole supply
Having decided to create a company
in Mauritius, the group first of all
negotiated a sole supply agreement for
the supply of aluminium with Metalweb,
which supported this by providing an
automatic saw for the new facility. It
then started looking for a machine tool
partner for the project.
“We spoke to various machine tool
companies and decided to create an
alliance with Matchmaker M/C to be
our sole supplier of machine tools for
Hymec CNC Mauritius,” says Mr Elliott.
“In our dealings with Matchmaker in the
UK we always found it to be a proactive
rather than a reactive company – looking
at our needs rather than its own – and
it has been very flexible in the financial
packages offered.”
The core competence of Hymec CNC
Mauritius is the CNC machining of
aluminium, primarily for components
such as light rail chassis for the Airbus
A380 and A320, and other interior
components for galleys, seats, toilets and
87_AM_jul08_matchmaker.indd 88
LOW COST PRODUCTION
so on. The operation currently has just
received ISO 9000 accreditation and has
around 25 employees.
As Richard Elliot explains, the
manufacturing strategy and choice of
machine tools was based on the lessons
learnt in the UK.
“Over the past five years we have
purchased a number of machines from
Matchmaker including Mitsubishi MK5
horizontal machining centres, Kiwa
five-pallet horizontal machining centres
and eight of Matchmaker’s own VMC
800 vertical machining centres. We have
found these to be reliable, high quality
and relatively fast machines at a good
price. And on the basis that we had run
them successfully for three or four years
in the UK we decided to purchase twelve
of them for Mauritius.”
The Matchmaker VMC 800 offers an
820 x 520 x 510mm working envelope
with an 8,000rpm 7.5 or 11kW BT 40
Offshore component production | Mauritius offers a 20-25% cost down; Metalweb | A sole aluminium supply
agreement supported by an automatic saw
spindle and a Fanuc OiMC control.
Rapid traverse speeds in X, Y and Z are
20m/min and the automatic toolchanger
holds 20 tools with a maximum tool
diameter of 100mm and a maximum tool
length of 300mm.
“We wanted to have a fairly simple set
of machine tools in Mauritius to begin
with,” says Mr Elliot. “With common
programs so that we can put any part
on any machine. That gives us complete
flexibility in terms of which machines
we use and the quantities we can make
at any one time. We currently program
the components in the UK, fine-tune the
programs and the setups until we have a
stable process, and then ship all of that
to Mauritius for them to take over the
volume manufacturing.”
He says that, in the longer term
though, his aim is to expand to
potentially 70 employees in a 26,000ft2
factory offering CNC milling, turning,
fabrication, assembly and treatments,
and the partnership with Matchmaker
will facilitate this growth.
He concludes: “The evolution of Hymec
CNC Mauritius has been very much a
partnership with Matchmaker M/C and
Metalweb. We will almost certainly bring
in other types of equipment in there-
maybe even in the long term including 5-
axis machining – and Matchmaker has the
range of equipment to support that from
a single supplier.” ❙
www.hymec.net
www.matchmakermc.co.uk
www.metalweb.co.uk
20/6/08 17:05:17
hfV page template:Layout 1 16/5/07 08:24 Page 1

Deburring…
Hit or Miss?
Deburring is the cause of more rejects and delays than
any other process in the manufacturing cycle. Parts are
subjected to a hit and miss process which is uncontrolled
and inconsistent.

Here at Deburring Services we have taken the guesswork

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for 28 years.

Talk to us about your next project.

Call +44 0 1242 677007

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Cleeve Business Park Bishops Cleeve

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United Kingdom GL52 4TW
Telephone: +44 0 1242 677007
Fax: +44 0 1242 677022
Email: sales@deburring.co.uk

JEC Asia 85x267_AESPA_GB.indd 1 20/05/2008 15:03:08

89_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:47:42

 /&7;HEIF79;C7DK<79JKH?D=

<7IJ;D?D=

<79JI
;dgVZgdheVXZZc\^cZZghWZhZiWnYZh^\c!WjY\Zi!VcYXdbeZi^i^kZX]VaaZc\Zh!i]ZhZ
[djgi^ehVWdji[VhiZcZghbVn]ZaehZXjgZWdi]i]Z^gegdYjXihVcYi]Z^gXVgZZgh

& Focus on retaining fastener

tension, not torque assembly
methods
threads or cause galling, known as thread
seizing, especially among fasteners made
of titanium, stainless steel and aluminum.
critical application where failure could
be costly or disastrous. In these cases,
the basics of strength, size, material and
Bolt tension, which causes the bolt to service requirements must be reliably and
stretch, is what actually keeps a joint
together. Yet 90% of the torque applied
to a bolted joint goes not into fastener
' Treat fasteners with the same
care as your most critical
component
efficiently handled; and locking fasteners
are often called for.

tension, but into overcoming friction. No matter how clever the engineering
This is one reason that breakaway torque or robust the components, the end
is not a reliable measure for determining product is only as reliable as its weakest
( Choose the right type of locking
fastener for the job
Tooling such as taps, gauges, thread
joint integrity or tension. Though link – often the fasteners holding milling cutters, or threading inserts
friction is necessary to
SodickGeishaAd_420x148 hold a bolted
21/5/08 07:20 Pageeverything
1 together. Fasteners are more are fundamentally important in thread
joint together, excess friction can damage than commodities – especially in any manufacture. A carbide insert, single

Untitled-1 2
90_AM_jul08_fasteners.indd 90 20/6/08 08:29:46
20/6/08 15:19:04 90_AM_
 C;J7BB?9IC7DK<79JKH?D=?<7IJ;D;HI?D7;HEIF79;
point cutter, or a thread milling cutter
will give the best thread finish and tool
life, which is important in aerospace
applications, where a highly polished
surface finish can help prevent galling.
A number of online tools can help
engineers find the best tooling or locking
fastener for the application at the
website below.
) Consider lifetime cost: design,
assembly, warranty and liability
Split washers, lock washers, and lock
wires add extra weight and complexity
to component design. This increases the
chance that something may go wrong
during assembly or maintenance and
complicates inventory control. Other
mechanical locking features, such as
brackets, can also prove costly and
can you keep a
Not everyone knows, but ...
Sodick LINEAR MOTOR EDM is the solution
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Sodick Europe Ltd, Rowley Drive, Baginton
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08:29:46 Untitled-1 3
90_AM_jul08_fasteners.indd 91
If_hebeYa\[cWb[j^h[WZ\ehcr7)&–m[Z][hWcf
tedious to use on components with
multiple bolts. If not properly fastened
during assembly, they can pose a quality
assurance risk. Also, since prevailing
torque fasteners can damage threads,
they often prevent reusability while
secret?
� On time, every time
� 10 year accuracy warranty
� Guaranteed repeatability
Phone +44 (0) 2476 214 314 Fax +44 (0) 2476 305 680
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raising labour, maintenance, and quality
inspection costs.
Locking adhesives progressively lose
effectiveness as temperature rises. In
high volume, their use typically requires
a large capital expense to purchase and
program robot applicators. And when
re-application is necessary, cleaning
the threads of affected components
takes added time and labour before re-
application is possible.
Engineers have successfully attacked
these challenges while reducing
component weight and enabling
re-usability with the Spiralock locking
fastener. This re-engineered thread form
adds a 30º wedge ramp at the root of the
thread which mates with standard 60º
male thread fasteners. ❙
mmm$if_hWbeYa$Yec
20/6/08 12:03:50
20/6/08 15:19:30
 15527 Eng ad_1ST:Layout 1 copy 16/6/08 16:27 Page 1

In association with

COMPOSITES EUROPE 2008

3rd European Trade Fair & Forum for Composites,
Technology and Applications

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EUROPE'S LARGEST visit
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TRADE-ONLY DAYS 8-9 JANUARY 2009
NEC BIRMINGHAM UK

AUTOSPORT ENGINEERING OFFERS

UNRIVALLED OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW
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In January 2008, over 300 companies from the motorsport
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Be part of the No.1 trade event for leading engineering
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23-25 September 2008
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92_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 10:03:34

 METALLICS MANUFACTURING I TITANIUM MACHINING

Mazak FH8800 | David Walters with Iscar area sales manager, Darran Taylor

TURNKEY

TREASURE
As well as halving titanium machining times at UK-based contract machinist
Gardner Aerospace, an Iscar/Mazak turnkey manufacturing solution has been able
to reduce scrap to below 1% and hand finishing by 85%

F
our-fifths of production at contract specialises in machining medium-size excellent engineers including ex-Mazak
machinist, Gardner Aerospace, structural parts for aircraft, decided to employees that are conversant with our
Wales, involves prismatic install a turnkey system to produce the product range. We always receive a high
machining of Ti64 (6% aluminium/4% mid and forward nacelle frames, which level of technical support from them,
vanadium) titanium alloy; the remainder are horseshoe-shaped and measure which is why we have entered into a
is aluminium. Yet three years ago the approximately 900 by 750mm and from partnership arrangement on a number of
reverse was true – 80% of throughput was 50 to 115mm thick. The chosen supplier projects over the years.”
aluminium. was Mazak, which delivered one of its David Walters, General Manager
Winning a major contract in 2005 FH8800 4-axis, twin-pallet, horizontal- of the factory in Wales, adds that the
for the supply of titanium nacelle spindle machining centres complete with performance of the cutters is markedly
frames for the Bombardier Dash 8-400 programs and tooling. superior to that of the solid carbide
turboprop was the catalyst for change. For the latter, Mazak selected Iscar and high speed steel end mills Gardner
However, machining the tough material tooling, predominantly solid carbide was using at the outset to produce the
in larger volumes combined with greater cutters and a variety of indexable insert nacelles on older machining centres.
component complexity meant that mills and drills. Paul Hughes, Mazak’s Then, cycle times were at least twice
Gardner’s existing machining centres, and Regional Manager, explains: “In a highly as long and it was difficult to maintain
cutting tools, were struggling to achieve demanding production environment like the required level of accuracy, leading
the required accuracy and production Gardner, we rely heavily on the tooling to an unacceptably large number of
volumes. supplier to ensure the customer gets components being scrapped.
So Gardner, whose plant in Wales the best from our machines. Iscar has Productivity has been doubled using

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 93

93_AM_jul08_iscar.indd 93 20/6/08 08:30:18

 94 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
METALLICS MANUFACTURING I
Tool magazine | Iscar cutters in regular use for machining titanium; Machining area | A Mazak FH8800 HMC and
an Iscar Helido Upfeed milling cutter
Iscar tools by being able to take larger
depths of cut at higher feed rates, which
the modern Mazak machines support
owing to their greater rigidity and high-
torque spindles.
David Walters says that tool breakage
is rare these days which, combined with
the ability to hold tolerance easily, has
resulted in a four-fold reduction in scrap
rate to below 1% of the 200 frames
produced annually. This is important to
maintain profitability, as components can
cost as much as £10,000 each. Moreover,
whereas four to five hours of hand fettling
was previously needed to finish each
nacelle to the required standard, finishing
time has been reduced to around 45
minutes per component.
So successful was the first new Mazak
machining centre installation that
Gardner won enough new business to
justify buying a second, identical FH8800
at the end of 2006 to cope with the
increased workload. Such is the current
level of titanium machining at Gardner
Wales that the two newest machining
centres cannot complete all of it. So older
horizontal machining centres on site
continue to be used to machine titanium,
as do a number of vertical machining
centres. To increase their capability for
machining the tough material and to raise
productivity, they have been retooled
by Iscar following its appointment as
93_AM_jul08_iscar.indd 94
TITANIUM MACHINING
preferred cutting tool supplier to Gardner
Aerospace with effect from May 2008.
For instance, improvements have
been made to Boeing 777 titanium wing
rib production by using Iscar Mill2000
cutters, which have reduced cycles by
40% compared with the previous solid
carbide and HSS tooling. The latter in
particular suffered from cutter push-off,
which has now been eliminated.
Part of the productivity benefit has
come from Iscar re-engineering the jobs
and part from the rigidity of the new,
indexable-insert milling cutter, which
has strong, dovetail-shaped, AXKT-style
inserts that clamp securely in the seats
on the cutter body. Mr Walters says larger
depths of cut at higher feed rates can be
taken with these tools and, in addition,
accuracy and surface finish have been
improved.
To realise these benefits, Iscar
engineers advised careful control over
the coolant. As through-spindle delivery
is not available on the older machinery,
sufficient external flow rate and accurate
direction are essential. So too is coolant
cleanliness and regular skimming to
remove tramp has resulted in a marked
increase in the life of the inserts.
As regards the tooling on a Mazak
AJV50/120 vertical machining centre
on the shopfloor, Iscar suggested using
Helido Upfeed 6-edge milling cutters with
the latest SumoMill coated carbide grades.
These have a low stress, CVD (chemical
vapour deposition) coating on top of the
PVD (physical vapour deposition) layer
to minimise thermal cracking and ensure
smooth chip flow. With very similar
tooling types, titanium machining rates
have been increased by up to 30% on this
machine.
Iscar has also targeted aluminium
cutting at Gardner Wales in another
facet of what has become an ongoing
project to upgrade the tooling throughout
the shopfloor. Two Makino horizontal
machining centres have been equipped
with HeliMill 90º pocketing cutters using
SumoMill S845 inserts with helical cutting
edges and positive rake angles. Significant
productivity benefits have been recorded
when roughing.
Other machines on-site to benefit
from an Iscar tooling makeover for
the machining of aluminium wing
components are a Mazak VTC300C-
II vertical machining centre and two
Cincinnati 5-axis machines. The latter
have been equipped with the unusual
Iscar FiniShred solid carbide end
mills. They have two serrated flutes
and two continuous flutes to enable
simultaneous roughing and semi-finishing
of components, drastically reducing cycle
times as well as freeing up a pot in the
tool magazine. This particular tool is also
effective at machining titanium, stainless
steels and high temperature alloys. ❙
www.iscar.co.uk
www.mazak.eu
www.gardner-aerospace.com
Iscar Mill2000 milling cutters | Machining cycles have
been reduced by 40%
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96_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:54:35

 Toyo Matic | Producing parts for the ERJ-170/190 aircraft family

METALLICS MANUFACTURING I SOUTH AMERICA

OPTIMISING MACHINING

EFFICIENCY
As prime aerospace manufacturers move toward weight-saving monolithic
components, producing the ‘nearly impossible’ has become commonplace.
Brazilian aerospace machining company Toyo Matic, however, is well-equipped to
deal with most requests

W
hen Brazilian aircraft
manufacturer Embraer recently
combined several hydraulic
control components for its ERJ-170/190
aircraft into a simpler monolithic unit,
it turned to Toyo Matic to produce the
parts. Founded by Antonio da Rosa,
Toyo Matic is an aerospace machine
shop located in Bragança Paulista and
serves prominent clients in the Americas,
Europe and Asia.
“It took many months of testing to
develop the procedures,” says Mr da
Rosa. The heavily milled 7075 aluminium
block manifold has deep, intersecting
blind holes, some as small as 2mm
diameter. Numerous other bores,
recesses and curved surfaces often
require 6 micron tolerances.
Toyo Matic solved many problems by
optimising tooling to reduce the major
causes of inaccuracy: vibration, thermal
growth and chip-induced tool runout.
“We’ve distilled the manufacturing process
down to only six operations,” Mr da Rosa
explains, “but we use 112 different tools.”
By making his own, he optimises each
milling tool’s length-of-cut ratio for each
operation, often producing the shortest
possible tool to do the job. Standard-
reach tools are usable for a wide range of
operations, but their longer shafts make
them prone to axial runout, deflection
and vibration. This is especially true
when subjected to the heavy side loads of
aggressive pocket milling.
The traditional way around these
problems is to slow the feedrate. But that
lengthens cycle time and can cause new
problems, especially in hard materials
like titanium, where a reduced feedrate
can cause galling and work hardening.
Also, with the reduced chip load, heat
can quickly build up at the cutting
edges, significantly shortening tool life.
“Changing to the proper length tool is
the better solution,” points out Mr da
Rosa, “even though the better solution

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 97

97_AM_jul08_hass.indd 97 20/6/08 12:04:33

 98 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
METALLICS MANUFACTURING I
Toyo Matic | Haas machine tools and founder Antonio da Rosa
isn’t always the obvious one.”
For deep-reach situations the
optimised approach also pays off. Exact-
length tools with an integral 40- or
50-taper base allow direct mounting in
the machine spindle. By eliminating the
toolholder, a major source of runout
error is avoided, the tool’s angular
momentum is greatly reduced and
balancing becomes easier.
Gains in both accuracy and
productivity are the inevitable result.
“We can run 30% faster with our
tools,” Mr da Rosa says. “What took
our American partners twelve hours to
machine, we first made in eight hours,
and now, with newer procedures, we’ve
cut the job down to five.”
Zealous chip removal is another
important aspect of Mr da Rosa’s total
approach to efficiency and accuracy. “Re-
cutting chips is very damaging to both
the work and the tool,” he asserts. Deep
bores are of particular concern, and for
extreme accuracy, he often plans repeated
tool-out coolant flushes or uncommon
feed-to-speed ratios.
A deeply bored landing-gear strut for
a Canadian Bombardier aircraft offers a
good example. Mounted in a Haas SL-40
lathe, a 375mm long custom boring bar –
fitted with a large diameter coolant hose
-– cuts the steel cylinder’s 80mm long
inside diameter, unbroken corkscrew
chips fill the SL-40’s debris area instead
of the usually preferred smaller chips.
97_AM_jul08_hass.indd 98
SOUTH AMERICA
Fixtures are also optimised and range
from simple through-bolt plates, to
complex 4- and 5-axis edge holders, with
a single mounting for multiple operations
ways being the goal. Mr Da Rosa keeps
his large volume of bolt-down pocketing
work accurate by using a 5° ‘scrunched’
pattern for through-bolts. Holes for
each of the mounting bolts angle slightly
toward a single ‘focal point’ well below
the workpiece. The canted bolts put the
work under lateral compression forces
that resist part creep more effectively
than the surface friction between the
billet and the fixture alone.
While the scrunch concept is not
unique to Toyo Matic, using it across
the board for all stainless and other hard
metals may be. This slight amount of
extra work helps control an insidious
problem that routinely destroys precision
in heavy pocketing, and can be very
difficult to track down.
Another solution involves machining
shallow 4mm dovetails into the bottom
of small 6061 aluminium billets. These
mate with matching cuts in the fixture.
Again, Mr da Rosa feels the extra pre-
op work is justified, because it keeps his
aggressive production runs in control
with minimal disruptions.
Efforts to prevent interruptions involve
custom tailpiece mounts that allow heavy
4-axis pocketing of all sides of large
parts with only a single mounting. The
tailpiece systems, complete with linear
guides and separate pneumatic brakes,
complement an array of Haas VM-3
vertical machining centers equipped with
Haas HRT-210 rotary tables.
For two-sided pocket milling, the
program flips the billet frequently to
remove material evenly from both sides
as machining progresses, with material
removal sometimes approaching 90% of
the billet. The single mounting obviously
saves operator time and prevents
alignment errors. But just as importantly,
the balanced cutting process produces
much less vibration than completely
machining one side, remounting and
then cutting the other. The even material
removal maintains the billet’s natural
vibration-damping characteristics
throughout the process.
For bigger parts, Toyo Matic mounts
the adjustable-length system in its Haas
VR-11 5-axis vertical machining centre,
which has plenty of rotational clearance.
“We bought the first VR-11 sold in
Brazil,” concludes Mr da Rosa. “We
didn’t have a specific job for it at the
time, but we knew that when clients saw
it on our floor, they would approach us
with their largest precision work.” ❙
www.toyomatic.com
www.haascnc.com
Optimised | Tooling and Fixture on a Haas VM-3
vertical machining centre
20/6/08 12:05:01
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99_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 07:09:40

 100 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

Aerospace Manufacturing and BCI Aerospace together profile world-class

aerospace industry suppliers of note.
This month the spotlight falls on the Forum Luft- und Raumfahrt Baden-
Württemberg (LR BW), which will again be participating in the Aeromart
Toulouse event next December. The forum aims to grow its sector activity
through developing business networks between companies and institutions
in and beyond the Baden-Württemberg region.

Developing potential
O
ver the last four years, the LR BW forum has
been steadily growing in response to the increased
importance of aerospace activities in the Baden-
Württemberg region in Southwest Germany. In creating a
network of companies, research institutes and universities that
work together in exploiting external markets and in developing
R&D projects, General Manager Wolfgang Wolf is confident
in the regions abilities. With 57 member companies and seven
institutes, LR BW members currently employ around 10,000
people in the aerospace sector.
“Six years ago,” explains Mr Wolf, “no-one in the German
government or society talked about the aerospace sector and
it was not felt that this was something that needed help from
the government. At that time, when we started to build the
LR BW, the most important thing was that we send a clear
sign to society, to institutions, to industry, and to government
that in reality the sector is one of the most important for the
economic welfare of the region. Especially with its synergies
with the automotive, electronics, communications and machine
tool sectors. In addition to building the network, we’re also
lobbying against the government and bringing crucial issues to
the fore.
“The next stage is to use the networks built up between
other clusters in Europe and create a network across
the European Union. This will allow us to get larger
R&D programs organised. In this direction we’ve begun
many research studies for the development of Baden-
Württemberg as an industry, including technology parks
on the Lampoldshausen airfield, near Stuttgart. One of the
more useful platforms are the exhibitions we attend such
as Aeromart in Toulouse, which we are returning to this
December after a successful 2006 event.”
Aeromart in particular, with its focus on business-to-
business meetings allows Baden-Württemberg companies the
opportunity to be put in direct contact with a whole network
of OEMs and subcontractors through all levels of the supply

ENTWICKLUNGSPOTENZIAL
Aerospace Manufacturing und BCI Aerospace portraitieren gemeinsam Lieferanten der Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie von Weltrang.
In diesem Monat wollen wir auf das Forum Luft- und Raumfahrt Baden-Württemberg (LR BW) aufmerksam machen, das im
Dezember erneut an der Veranstaltung „Aeromart Toulouse” teilnehmen wird. Dieses Forum will das Wachstum des Sektors
fördern, indem es Geschäftsnetzwerke zwischen Unternehmen und Institutionen in Baden-Württemberg und darüber hinaus fördert.

A
ls geschäftsführendes Vorstandsmitglied des Landesverbands
der Baden-Württembergischen Industrie e.V. (LVI) sowie
als Geschäftsführer des Forums Luft- und Raumfahrt Baden-
Württemberg (LR BW) ist Wolfgang Wolf dafür verantwortlich, der
Luft- und Raumfahrt auf politischer und wirtschaftlicher Ebene zu
Ansehen und Bekanntheit zu verhelfen.
In den vergangenen vier Jahren hat das Forum LR BW stetig
expandiert; dies ist auf den gestiegenen Bedeutungszuwachs der Luft-
und Raumfahrtaktivitäten in der Region Baden-Württemberg im
Südwesten Deutschlands zurückzuführen. Durch den Aufbau eines
Netzwerks aus Unternehmen, Forschungsinstituten und Universitäten,
die gemeinsam Auslandsmärkte erschließen und Forschungs- und
Entwicklungsprojekte ausarbeiten, stellt Geschäftsführer Wolfgang
Wolf sein Vertrauen in die Fähigkeiten der Region unter Beweis.
Mit 57 Mitgliedsunternehmen und sieben Instituten beschäftigt das
LR BW-Mitglieder derzeit etwa 10.000 Personen in der Luft- und
Raumfahrtbranche.
Dazu Wolf: „Vor sechs Jahren sprach niemand in der deutschen
Regierung oder Gesellschaft von der Luft- und Raumfahrtbranche
und man hatte nicht das Gefühl, dass dieser Sektor auf Unterstützung
von Seiten der Regierung angewiesen sei. Als wir damals das LR
BW gründeten, bestand die höchste Priorität darin, der Gesellschaft,
den Institutionen, der Industrie und der Regierung deutlich zu
signalisieren, dass diese Branche einer der wichtigsten Antriebsmotoren
für das wirtschaftliche Wohl der Region ist - insbesondere auf Grund
ihrer Synergien mit der Automobilindustrie, der Elektronik- und
Kommunikationsbranche sowie der Werkzeugmaschinenindustrie. Neben
dem Aufbau des Netzwerks verteidigen wir unsere Interessen gegenüber
der Regierung und rücken entscheidende Punkte ins Blickfeld.
„Im nächsten Schritt müssen die Netzwerke genutzt werden, die
zwischen anderen Gruppen in Europa entstanden sind, sowie ein EU-
weites Netzwerk geschaffen werden. Dadurch wird es uns möglich

100_AM_jul08_BCI_profile.indd 100 20/6/08 12:05:45

 BUYER PROFILE I BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE

As CEO of the Industry Association of Baden-Württemberg (LVI) and General

Manager of Forum Luft- und Raumfahrt Baden-Württemberg (LR BW), Wolfgang
Wolf is the man responsible for putting the aerospace cluster on the political and
economic map

chain in one place. The event also offers solution workshops

for subcontractors.
He adds: “These give us the opportunity to demonstrate our
advanced technological potential and through our workshops
can demonstrate the benefits of joining our organisation.
They are a great opportunity for us not only to develop our
networks but show how our members can use us to create their
own networking opportunities between companies and other
institutions.”
With the aid of these activities, growth rate for the Baden- Wolfgang Wolf | CEO LVI and General Manager of LR BW

Württemberg region is rising steadily at around 2-3%, with

aerospace products growing in the product portfolios of
existing companies. Key to the continued development of the
cluster is the Centre for Aerospace Technology in Stuttgart,
with its mantra: ‘visionaries need space’. As an example of
the dedication of the region, the Aerospace Faculty at the
University of Stuttgart trains around 80% of Germany’s
aerospace engineers. “To continue in this direction,” Mr Wolf
adds, “we must increase the pace of R&D and developing
product applications.” ❙
www.lrbw.com

Organiser of leading industry events, BCI Aerospace is the Adhesion Group’s specialised division for the
aeronautics, space and defence sectors.
www.bciaerospace.com

sein, umfangreichere Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprogramme zu
organisieren. Diesbezüglich haben wir bereits etliche Forschungsstudien
für das Land Baden-Württemberg als Industriestandort einschließlich
der Technologieparks auf dem Flugplatz Lampoldshausen bei Stuttgart
in Angriff genommen. Ein nützliches Forum bieten die Messen, an
denen wir teilnehmen, wie etwa die Aeromart in Toulouse, auf der
wir in diesem Dezember nach einer erfolgreichen Teilnahme im Jahr
2006 erneut präsent sein werden.” Gerade die Aeromart mit ihrem
Schwerpunkt auf geschäftsorientierten Treffen unter Geschäftsleuten
ermöglicht es Unternehmen aus Baden-Württemberg, mit dem
gesamten Netzwerk von Originalausstattern und Subunternehmern
lieferkettenübergreifend an einem Ort direkt miteinander in Verbindung
zu treten. Außerdem werden auf der Veranstaltung Lösungsseminare für
Subunternehmer angeboten, in denen Fachkenntnisse vermittelt werden
und über Innovationen informiert wird.
Wolf führt weiter aus: “Auf derartigen Veranstaltungen können wir
unser fortschrittliches technologisches Potenzial unter Beweis stellen
und durch unsere Workshops die Vorteile eines Beitritts zu unserer
Organisation unterstreichen. Sie bieten die große Chance, nicht nur
unsere Netzwerke auszubauen, sondern auch zu zeigen, wie unsere
Mitglieder - Unternehmen wie Institutionen - durch Nutzung der von
uns bereitgestellten Strukturen eigene Kontakte untereinander herstellen
können.”
Dank dieser Aktivitäten steigt die Wachstumsrate der Region
Baden-Württemberg kontinuierlich um etwa 2-3 %, wobei der
Anteil von Luft- und Raumfahrtprodukten an den Produktpaletten
der bestehenden Unternehmen zunimmt. Ausgangspunkt für die
fortdauernde Entwicklung der Gruppe ist das Zentrum für Luft-
und Raumfahrt in Stuttgart mit seinem Leitsatz: „Visionäre
brauchen Raum”. Beispielhaft für das Engagement dieser Region
bildet die Fakultät für Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik und Geodäsie
an der Universität Stuttgart etwa 80 % aller deutschen Luft- und
Raumfahrtingenieure aus. „Um diesen Weg weiter zu verfolgen”, fügt
Wolf hinzu, „müssen wir die Forschung und Entwicklung sowie die
Entwicklung von Produktanwendungen weiter beschleunigen.” ❙
www.lrbw.com

Als Organisator führender Branchenveranstaltungen ist BCI Aerospace die spezialisierte Abteilung der Adhesion Group für die
Bereiche Luft- und Raumfahrt und Verteidigung. www.bciaerospace.com

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 101

100_AM_jul08_BCI_profile.indd 101 20/6/08 12:06:04

 102 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
REVOLUTIONISING WING
DEVELOPMENT
With £103 million of funding, the Next Generation Composite Wing programme led
by Airbus in the UK is set to revolutionise technologies that will improve future wing
design processes and help to maximise the eco-efficiency of future aircraft designs
N
GCW is one of the most
significant joint aircraft research
and technology programmes
launched in the UK for several decades
and will keep Britain at the cutting edge
of innovation in this field. It will enable
the development of mature technologies
which will lead to the design,
manufacture and testing of much lighter-
weight and more eco-efficient aircraft.
With the increasing use of weight-
saving composite materials in civil
aircraft, NGCW will ensure the UK
is competent and well equipped to
maximise the use of such materials in
Northern Ireland | Michael Ryan, VP and General
Manager, Bombardier Aerospace with Tracy Meharg
from Invest Northern Ireland
102_AM_jul08_NGCW.indd 102
future wing design and development.
The skills and capability to design and
manufacture in composite materials is
vital in the aerospace industry today;
helping to optimise the weight and
design of the aircraft and improving
efficiency and performance. Burning less
fuel means lower operating costs and
lower gaseous emissions.
NGCW brings together 16 leading
British organisations, both industrial
companies and research bodies, to
work on the three year programme.
The programme is led by Airbus in
partnership with Advanced Composite
Group, Aircraft Research Association,
Atkins, Bombardier Aerospace, Delmia,
Eaton Fuel Systems, GE Aviation,
GKN Aerospace, Goodrich Actuation
Systems, Hyde Group, Kuka Automation
+ Robotics, Messier-Dowty, Morgan
Professional Services, QinetiQ, Spirit
AeroSystems (Europe), together with ten
UK government, regional development
agency and devolved administration
partners.
With objectives including enhanced
manufacturing methods, as well as the
design of an environmentally responsible
factory, NGCW will develop low cost
manufacturing technologies that will
enable high volume wing manufacture for
next generation aircraft. Future design
processes will help to further reduce
airline operating costs, airframe weight
and maintenance. The programme will
also benefit Britain by bringing inward
investment to the regions by industrial
partners and central government, as
well as generating high value jobs and
intellectual property.
Tom Williams, Executive Vice
President of Airbus says: “NGCW
reconfirms Britain as a centre of
excellence for wing design and
manufacture. This programme, along
with continued investment in research
and technology in composites, is key to
the sector’s competitiveness and success
in tackling future technology challenges.”
Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast’s
involvement in the programme amounts
to an investment of almost £9 million.
Bombardier will focus on optimising
the overall design and manufacturing
processes needed to produce a next
generation composite wing, with
the emphasis on reducing weight,
aerodynamic drag and life cycle costs. It
will explore ways that will enable high
volume, more cost-efficient production,
and a more integrated approach from
design right through to manufacture.
With almost 40 years’ experience
20/6/08 10:37:09
 COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING I
in the composites field, Bombardier
Aerospace, Belfast is recognised as a
leader in the design, manufacture and
certification of advanced composite
components, covering all classes
of aircraft and all categories of
structure including primary structure.
It is continuing to invest in these
technologies to ensure it is at the
forefront of the application of carbon
fibre reinforced structures, which are
playing an increasing role in new aircraft
design.
Its investment in resin transfer
moulding and resin transfer infusion
composites processes, for example, has
enabled it to develop wing components
for Bombardier’s CRJ NextGen regional
jets. These new advanced composite
components have entered service on the
CRJ900 NextGen and will be standard
on the CRJ700 NextGen aircraft and the
new CRJ1000 NextGen.
Commenting on Belfast’s involvement
in the Next Generation Composite
Wing research programme, Michael
Ryan, Vice President and General
Manager, Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast,
says: “Participation in this programme
will help us to further enhance our
skills and capabilities in the design
and manufacture of large composite
structures, particularly wings, thereby
helping us to compete successfully in the
international market place.
“Bombardier takes its environmental
responsibilities extremely seriously,
and places great emphasis on the
development of more efficient products
and manufacturing processes. Our
objective is to offer customers aircraft
that are more fuel efficient, with lower
emissions, reduced noise, and with lower
operating costs. The Next Generation
Composite Wing programme provides
an important opportunity to take further
steps towards more environmentally
friendly aircraft for the future.”
Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast has
been involved in a range of national and
European research programmes over
the past 15 years. Current programmes
102_AM_jul08_NGCW.indd 103
NEXT GENERATION COMPOSITE WING
include the UK’s Integrated Wing
and Environmentally Friendly Engine
programmes, and the European
programmes: ALCAS (Advanced Low
Cost Aircraft Structures) and VITAL
(Environmentally Friendly Engine).
Advanced Composites Group (ACG),
a member of the Composites Division
of Umeco, will also be assisting Airbus in
developing novel materials and process
technologies for potential use on the
Next Generation Composite Wing.
ACG has been selected to apply its
technical expertise to assist in design and
manufacture.
Andrew Moss, Chief Executive, Umeco
Composites, adds: “We are honoured and
proud to be selected as part of such a
critical composites development project.
It represents a massive step towards
achieving lighter and more affordable
aircraft, which will alleviate the impact
that planes have on the environment. At
ACG and across Umeco Composites we
work continuously to develop new and
exciting technologies that help to reduce
the environmental impact of a range of
products.”
Leading supplier of industrial robots
and automated production systems,
Kuka Automation + Robotics will also
play a major role, sharing its robotics
expertise to help produce innovative
technologies that will lead to the rapid
automated assembly of components.
The Halesowen-based company will
contribute a substantial figure to the
NGCW project over the next three
years.
The company, part of Kuka AG,
Europe’s largest robot manufacturer, has
extensive experience in the aerospace
sector and supplies automated solutions
to leading aircraft manufacturers in
the UK and overseas (as visitors to the
company’s stand – A4 in hall 4 – at the
Farnborough International Airshow will
discover).
“Kuka is looking forward to
developing and sharing its expertise in
this substantial project, which will not
only bring benefits to the aerospace
industry, but will further secure and
enhance Britain’s reputation as a centre
of manufacturing excellence,” says Gary
Taylor, Kuka’s Aerospace Sales Manager
and NGCW programme Manager.
Other partners on the Next
Generation Composite Wing programme
include GKN Aerospace. Frank
Bamford, Senior Vice President of
Business Development and Strategy
at GKN Aerospace comments: “We
view the NGCW research as a key
enabling programme taking the UK
capability in the key area of wing
manufacture forwards significantly. For
GKN Aerospace, this work forms part
of an integrated portfolio of research
and development activities aimed at
progressing wing technologies and
manufacturing processes, and enabling
us effectively to undertake a greater
part of the aircraft wing assembly and
integration activity for our customers.” ❙
www.airbus.com
www.bombardier.com
www.advanced-composites.com
www.kuka.com
www.aerospace.gknplc.com
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 103
20/6/08 12:06:52
104_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:28:38
 COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING I COMPOSITES UK

GROUP Composites UK, the

organisation tasked with

FORCE
promoting the UK’s composite
sector, recently announced
the launch of an aerospace
sector group, as Board
Member Jim Banks explains

T
he upcoming launch of the
Aerospace Group within
Composites UK comes at an
exciting time for the industry. The
sector is facing significant changes in
both the military and civil areas. There
is an exponential growth in demand for
composites within the civil large wing
sector from the UK base and as part of
strategic partnerships to supply global
programmes such as Airbus’ A380, the
Bombardier CSeries, Boeing’s Dreamliner
and the Airbus A400M.
For military aircraft, JSF is moving
into its production phase, Typhoon into
a significant support phase and there is a
transitional change in focus from manned
new build to UAVs. Further to these we
are also seeing a growth in the take up
of composites in the rotary wing sector
with composites not only being used to
achieve complex surface shaping and
weight reductions but also to improve
fatigue tolerance.
These changes are driving a demand
for growth in engineering and
manufacturing competencies, processes,
core technologies and trained personnel.
It is becoming more apparent that across
the UK there is a growth in the number
of activities to address these issues but as
yet these remain to be point solutions.
Composites design and manufacturing
is vital to the future of the UK Aerospace
industry and supply chains and as the key
trade body for composites engineering
in the UK, the thrust of the Aerospace
Group will be to raise the profile and
effectiveness of this industry sector
by bringing together the key strategic
companies, academia and key customers.
The launch of this sector group
is planned to begin with a meeting
attended by a cross-section of the
influential sector businesses, academic
institutions and customers. The
aim at this stage is to capture their
requirements and gauge the level of
interest in this initiative.
In the longer term the Aerospace
Group aims to achieve the networking of
the sector’s key players together with the
wider aerospace composites community
to influence a more effective, efficient and
synergistic set of solutions for the UK.
The group will aim to identify and share
best practices, foster the relationships
across the industry, benchmark
capabilities to improve competitiveness,
look at future trends in the technology
and together with academic centres
of excellence help in the development
of advances that are capable of being
effectively deployed into UK industry.
The announcement of the Next
Generation Composite Wing programme
(see pages 102 & 103) has profiled the
vital need for training. The Aerospace
Group will identify and work with
key national training programmes in
composite design, manufacture and
repair such as those currently being
launched in the North West of England,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
In liaison with the professional
institutes and academia the aim will be
to facilitate the achievement of a co-
ordinated suite of training modules for
all levels.
The UK supply chain is absolutely vital
to the success of the aerospace sector
and so the Aerospace Group will also
aim to encourage the active involvement
of the whole supply chain to identify
where and how technology, design,
manufacturing and repair capabilities
may be improved.
There is no doubt that the UK is
at a point of significant change in
the course of its aerospace industry.
Composites UK has an express objective
to seek the growth in the membership
of its aerospace sector and proactively
encourage a growth in its knowledge and
competency bases. ❙
www.composites-proc-assoc.co.uk

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 105

105_AM_jul08_composites.indd 105 20/6/08 12:08:17

 106 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING I
AN ITALIAN FIRST
T
he first Compotec, composite
materials industry event, will take
place in Marina di Carrara, Italy
between the 29th and 31st October 2008.
The organisers say Compotec is ‘new’ in
terms of being the first such event held
in Italy but also because it is a composite
focused business-to-business event.
Compotec will be focused on three key
facets: exhibition stands, workshops
for materials, and a development and
SPOTLIGHT ASIA
Following the success of the JEC
Composites exhibition and conference
held in Paris, the first JEC Asia event will
be held on October 22th-24th 2008 at the
Suntec fairground and conference centre
in downtown Singapore. In response
to the considerable growth (10-15% on
average) of the composite sector in the
region, this new platform will provide
professionals with both technological
information and economic content on
global markets.
Currently looking as though it will get
off to an auspicious start, JEC Asia will
particularly focus on the activities and
achievements of Australia, China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore,
Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It
will be supported by manufacturers
of raw materials (resins and fibres),
processors, machine manufacturers,
distributors (such as Haining
Chengrudan, En-Liang Enterprise and
106_AM_jul08_composites.indd 106
NEW EVENTS 2008
technological transfer area.
At the event the exhibition stands
represent the traditional aspect providing
a platform for companies to show their
products, while a Live-Demo area will
enable the working demonstration of
processes and technologies, and prove
their respective results to visitors.
Throughout, technicians and experts in
the field will be able to discuss the finer
characteristics and exchange information
on the techniques used in moulding and
assembly, finishing and repair.
Lastly, the development and
technological transfer area of Compotec
will be dedicated to industry ‘knowledge’.
Situated in the centre of the exhibition
area, universities, research centres and
Taiwan Electric Insulator), the sector’s
leading companies, and the companies
on JEC’s board of directors: AGY,
Advanced Composites Group Umeco,
Chomarat, Cray Valley, CPC, DSM,
Hexcel, Huntsman, Menzolit, OCV
Reinforcements, Porcher Industries,
and Sora. Small- and medium-sized
companies also have the opportunity to
obtain comprehensive information about
all the markets.
JEC Asia also has the support of the
scientific community, Grandes Ecoles
network and universities, including
NUS (National University of Singapore),
A*STAR (Institute of Manufacturing
Technology), ECB (Economic
Development Board), BCA (Building and
Construction Authority), STB and LTA
(Land Transport Authority).
The main theme for JEC Asia 2008
is ‘New Applications, New Composite
Markets’. The conference session will
include: technical lectures in which the
industry associations will present the
results of their respective research
activities in this sector, both those that
are now completed and those still in
process.
This is with consideration to there
being no limitations to the theoretical
approach for projects that may not have,
as yet, found an immediate application
and will demonstrate the synergy created
between academic research and industry.
The technological fields covered
at Compotec will include: planning,
prototyping; manufacturing; raw
materials; moulding, assembly, finishing,
characterisation and testing; repair,
recycling; standards and certification.
www.compotec.it
sector’s major players present the latest
advances in materials and processes;
an Environment and Composite
Recycling symposium; end-user forums
devoted to the main markets including
aerospace; an exhibit of parts and
products chosen for their technical and
economic performance; an Innovation
Programme with awards for the cream
of the crop; business meetings to
facilitate contacts and exchanges;
and two exhibitor halls with stands
and with pavilions by country or by
professional field.
www.jeccomposites.com
20/6/08 12:09:00
Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:41:44
 108 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
Clean room | One of the many facilities at CML
COMPLEMENTARY
CAPABILITIES
Able to boast a breadth of manufacturing capability, the CML Group bucks
contemporary thinking by making a success of an integrated cross-tier, multi-
disciplined business
W
ith well-established and
proven expertise in machining,
composites, fabrication and
surface treatments, the UK-based CML
Group holds a very distinct position
within the global aerostructures
market. While large well-known tier 1
aerostructures companies can match
and exceed this breadth of capability,
it is rare indeed to find it in a company
regarded as an SME (small and medium-
sized enterprise). CML Group thus
offers the breadth of capability of a large
tier 1 combined with the flexibility and
responsiveness of an SME.
These characteristics bring both
opportunities and challenges for the
Birkenhead, England-based company,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Intelek.
As Managing Director, Geoff Stewart
108_AM_jul08_CML.indd 108
explains: “We have to get the right
balance in our strategy to ensure that
each of our four divisions can achieve
profitable long term growth while
continuing to complement each other in
their activities.”
Having begun as a precision
engineering business in 1947, CML,
with far-sighted vision, diversified
into composites in 1990 supplying,
initially, both the aerospace and
motorsport industries. In 1991 a local
treatments company was acquired in
order to provide greater control over
the manufacturing process and the
Fabrications Division was opened in 1999
in response to customer requirements.
Today, the Precision Machining Division
remains the largest part of the business
with turnover of around £7 million.
Focused on 4- and 5-axis milling of large
complex components in aluminium and
hard metals, its products include wing
interspar ribs, landing gear ribs and
sidestay wing attachments, wing access
panels and engine thrust fittings and aft
mounting brackets. The largest customer
is Airbus UK with whom CML has a high
value long-term contract until 2012.
As the migration towards composites
continues, CML is already noticing
the corresponding shift in machining
requirements towards hard metals,
particularly titanium and this is reflected
in the company’s business development
and investment plans. “An increasing
proportion of customer enquiries are
for complex titanium components
and we are well placed to meet these
requirements,” says Deryk Martin,
20/6/08 10:37:55
 MANUFACTURING PROFILE I CML GROUP
Business Development Manager.
Complementing the machining
activities is the Treatments Division.
Although acquired to provide greater
control over the process, the increasing
demands on capacity throughout the
industry also now mean that CML’s
direct control over process logistics
gives it a distinct competitive advantage.
In order to reinforce this, CML plans
selective investment in this division over
the next few years to secure operations
for the next decade and to ensure that
it remains commercially viable and
environmentally compliant.
CML also benefits from third party
treatments work which accounts for
around £700,000 of revenue. However,
as Tony Williams, Operations Manager
explains: “It is crucial that our external
treatments customers are well organised
professional companies such that we can
manage their requirements alongside our
internal work. There has to be a good
deal of synergy between the internal and
external work to allow the operation to
perform smoothly and give the rapid
turnaround that all customers require
without compromising quality.”
The Composites Division is seeking to
capitalise on the growth in composites
usage with plans to increase turnover
from £3.6 million to £10 million within
five years. In addition to increased
market penetration, CML also intends
to develop its technology and skills in
order to present a broader and more
capable offering. To this end, a variety
of initiatives have been undertaken
including developing relationships with
academia and seeking involvement in
EU-funded development programmes.
CML will also be a member of the North
West of England’s composite strategy
development panel having previously
contributed to an earlier study by the
North West Aerospace Alliance.
The Composite Division’s products
include various wing and fuselage
fairings, covers, panels, nose and tail cone
assemblies and ducting. The Hawker 850
programme provides the largest single
108_AM_jul08_CML.indd 109
Titanium frame | Supplied by CML to GKN Aerospace for the C-27J; Significant achievement | CML recently
received its first orders for composite parts for the JSF from BAE Systems
contribution to the order book.
A particularly significant achievement
was made recently when CML received
its first orders for composite parts on
the JSF programme from BAE Systems.
“Continued success with this programme
and with other opportunities will
provide the catalyst to establish a new
state-of-the-art composites facility with
potential for future expansion,” says Paul
Corscadden, Composites Development
Manager. “Indeed, we have already begun
the initial planning for this and we are
confident of realising this major step in
our development within the next few
years.”
Alongside of this, investment is
also planned in a new autoclave, kit-
cutter and 5-axis machining centre.
With regards to the latter, CML is
already successfully machining glass-
fibre components on one of its two
SNK 5-axis horizontal milling centres,
originally acquired for the manufacture
of aluminium gear ribs and sidestay
attachments. This clearly demonstrates
how the company’s machining expertise
is complementing and facilitating the
development of composites capability.
The new machine centre will also cut
carbon-fibre components and will
eliminate a significant amount of manual
finishing on existing products.
The Fabrication Division, co-located
with the Precision Machining and
Composites Divisions, predominantly
manufactures fuselage and wing stringers
for Hawker 850 and a wide variety of
sheet detail spares for Airbus. Turnover
has doubled in the last three years to £1.7
million, driven by increasing build rates and
improved turnaround times for spares.
The manufacture of sheet detail parts
for metal-to-metal bonded components
for the Composites Division again
emphasises the interdependence of the
company’s divisions.
Despite the foregoing, CML does not
seek to promote itself as a ‘one-stop-
shop’ since, like most companies, it
cannot do everything. That said, there
are many projects which require more
than one of CML’s capabilities and if
its customers regard it as a ‘one-stop-
shop’ then CML is pleased to be able
to provide such compete solutions for
what can otherwise be a supply chain
headache.
CML believes that contemporary
thinking on supply chain structures
overlooks the complementary nature
of these different disciplines whereas
CML regards it as a key strength in the
business. Having these different but
complementary capabilities within one
supplier enables the synergies between
them to be better exploited and provides
a level of co-ordination and control
which neither the customer nor a tier 1
integrator can achieve. This advantage
is enhanced still further within an SME
where cross-functional communication
tends to be more rapid and effective. ❙
www.cml-group.com
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 109
20/6/08 12:09:33
half page template:Layout 1 16/6/08 07:57 Page 1

48
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House_ad_A4_feb08.indd 1 31/1/08 14:14:48

110_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 06:24:34

 ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING I
Going through changes
GE Aviation’s Chief Engineer for Display Systems, Andrew Hall, discusses current
display manufacturing challenges
I
t goes without saying that the pilots and co-pilots of both civil
and military aircraft are extremely reliant on the information
displayed within their cockpits. As a minimum, they need to
be aware of airspeed, altitude, heading and so on – all of which
used to be presented on electromechanical displays.
During the 1980s, however, such primary flying data started
to be displayed on electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS),
effectively units comprising cathode ray tubes (CRTs), suitable
processors and dedicated symbol generators responsible for
rendering the data.
With EFIS came of course the ability to supplement primary
flying data with a wealth of additional information – all
provided with a view to reducing pilot/co-pilot workload. For
example, situational awareness was enhanced by the addition of
a digital representation of the flight plan, digital terrain maps
and the outputs of the traffic collision avoidance and enhanced
ground proximity warning systems (TCAS and EGPWS
respectively).
In the military sector, tactical awareness was enhanced by the
addition of data from the digital battlefield, such as target and
threat information relayed from the ground or other aircraft,
radar and forward looking infrared (FLIR).
During the 1990s, the underlying CRT technology (within
EFIS) started to be replaced by flat panel displays (particularly
active matrix liquid crystal displays – AMLCDs) and presently
few, if any, new aircraft are fitted with CRT-based EFIS.
However, regulatory authorities are demanding the
111_AM_jul08_electronics.indd 111
DISPLAYS
presentation of ever more information to pilots and co-pilots,
and aircraft still using electromechanical displays (such as the
classic B737) and those using early EFIS displays (such as the
B757/767 and A300/310) may struggle to meet these demands
as they simply do not have the processing power or image
rendering capabilities.
In the civil sector, for example, this additional information
currently includes area navigation (RNAV), and future
requirements are likely to include required navigational
performance (RNP), vertical situation display (VSD) and
automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B). These,
plus other advanced navigational procedures, are provided
through modern flight management systems (FMS), which
are proving instrumental in making flights as fuel-efficient as
possible and therefore reducing emissions.
Accordingly, in addition to fitting new aircraft with the latest
display systems, there are currently several refit programmes
underway to replace older flight decks. However, the
manufacture of display units is not without its challenges.
Custom versus COTS
Firstly, one must decide whether to ‘make or buy’ the physical
display (the AMLCD) and, with the end application for a
display often limited to an aircraft variant or two, high volumes
are never the order of the day, so which is the best way to go?
Custom
SIMON displays
SIMMONS can,
| EDITORIAL within reason, be made to any size or
DIRECTOR
shape. However, while one would think going custom guarantees
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 111
20/6/08 16:16:48
 112 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING I
Making a display | A series of steps ends with the display being ruggedised; COTS | Frustration for those
manufacturing graphics chips and display screens
supply, this is seldom the case. In the past, the aerospace
industry has used several custom display manufacturers, but,
unable to reap the return of their investment in equipment,
many of the suppliers have gone out of business.
However, the COTS option is not much safer: as, while
COTS display manufacturers tend to be more stable than the
custom suppliers, aerospace represents only a small fraction
of their sales. They focus on the mass markets of games, TVs
and computing. Accordingly, product lines tend to be changed
or dropped the moment the mass market changes direction,
which means products using COTS displays typically require
a number of expensive redesigns and re-certifications
throughout their lifetimes. The alternative is to buy a large
quantity of stock, and that does not keep the accountants
happy.
Also, pure COTS displays are unable to satisfy all of the
needs of those operating in the aerospace industry. For
example, the displays used for TVs and laptops both have their
strengths and weaknesses.
Specifically, while AMLCD TVs have wide viewing angles,
high resolution (1080 lines) and fast response times (typically
below 10mS) they are generally only available in sizes larger
than can be accommodated on current flight decks.
Conversely, displays for computers are available in smaller
sizes. However, there are two problems. Firstly, to extend
laptop battery life, the screens have high transmissivity,
resulting in poor colour saturation. Secondly, they may have a
lower clearing temperature (typically about 75ºC) which makes
them unsuitable for the hostile cockpit environment.
The halfway house is to go ‘semi-custom’ and to modify the
best of what is commercially available.
Image is everything
One of the biggest challenges AMLCDs must overcome is
with regard to lighting. As an aircraft manoeuvres, its displays
may go from being in shadow to being in brilliant sunlight (so
111_AM_jul08_electronics.indd 112
DISPLAYS
must be very bright). Also, for night use,
the display must be able to dim to almost
nothing.
Further, in the military sector, most
displays need to work with night-vision
goggles (NVGs), so must not emit light in
sensitive frequency ranges, as this would
interfere with the NVG’s image intensifier
and result in ‘blooming’. Specifically, Class A
NVGs have a problem with yellow light and
Class B NVGs cannot tolerate red light.
Also, with pilot and co-pilot often sat side
by side, they need to be able to see each
other’s instruments. Hence the displays need
to have wide viewing angles.
The next consideration is the
environment. Firstly, temperature: at sub-zero temperatures
LCDs become sluggish and at high temperatures they will clear
(at around 85°C) or be permanently damaged (at above 100°C).
Secondly, vibration: the levels within helicopters, for example,
can easily damage a display which has not been ruggedised.
Thankfully, the above challenges are not insurmountable.
Firstly, COTS AMLCDs tend to have good viewing angles these
days (up to 80° all round is now common) and the replacement
of the commercial backlight (which would have a luminance in
the range of 50 to 100fL) with a brighter one (100 to 250fL) is
relatively easy.
Until recently, the replacement backlights used to be
fluorescent tubes which needed to be heated to work when the
ambient temperature was down to -40ºC. They also required
filters to remove the red part of their spectrum. Today, LEDs
are increasingly employed as the backlight light source: which,
whilst they still require filters, are generally brighter and work
well at -40ºC without heating.
Sky high
Armed with the above solutions, but still facing COTS
component obsolescence issues, most systems companies in
the aerospace industry look to reuse as much technology as
possible between products.
In most cases the electronics is common between display
units, only the screen size changes, and is geared to handle
higher resolution than is required for the average unit.
Dubbed ‘smart’, modern displays are extremely modular and
represent a simple retrofit solution for older aircraft currently
unable to take advantage of new and upcoming advanced
navigational procedures.
As a human machine interface (HMI), displays are invaluable
– as without them, pilots and co-pilots would not be able to
benefit from the vast majority of other developments within
the modern avionics. ❙
www.geae.com
20/6/08 12:10:22
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:43:04

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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:44:27

Industries Ads-uk.indd 1 9/23/07 10:21:15 AM
 SUPPLY CHAIN I LEAN PRINCIPLES

LINKING SERVICE AND

TECHNOLOGY
As a tier two supplier to the aerospace industry, Premier is one of the UK’s largest
providers of specialist deep hole drilling, gun drilling and honing services. As an AS9100
approved signatory to UK aerospace supply chain initiative SC21, the company has
adopted lean principles to match service levels with considerable engineering expertise

A
ny company operating in the
aerospace industry today has
to apply robust systems and
provide its customers with class-leading
technology and services. To achieve these
goals various manufacturing systems are
used by St Albans, Hertfordshire-based
Premier, to fall in-line with customers’
operational requirements. These range
from forward scheduled machining/
build plans to kanban systems and
eProcurement.
The 35-strong company operates an
aerospace standard OTIF (on time, in
full) system, which allows customers
to monitor delivery performance. This
is backed-up by a continuous quality
assurance and improvement programme
operated in conjunction with the
company’s quality assurance department.
“Every component has complete
manufacturing method which is issued
with a unique barcode. These are then
tracked at every stage through the
factory,” explains Managing Director,
Stuart Grant. “This is an important
support function because the business
has evolved. Although we still undertake
subcontract drilling and aim to provide
a quick response service, many of
our components now have longer
manufacturing routes covering material
procurement, drilling, machining, honing
and grinding as well as further specialist
processes such as heat-treatment and
surface coating. These require leadtime
planning and capacity booking in
conjunction with the customer to meet
their MRP/ERP requirements.”
For long-term scheduled work
Premier takes the customer’s forecast
requirement and back-schedules to
material supply. Wherever possible
there are machining cells dedicated
to the customer. “For these contracts,
the company has effectively shifted
from supplying a single process to
providing a manufacturing service for
complex machined blanks and finished
components,” says Mr Grant.
As a signatory to SC21 Premier

AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 115

115_AM_jul08_premier.indd 115 20/6/08 10:40:42

 116 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
SUPPLY CHAIN I LEAN PRINCIPLES
undertakes a number of improvement
activities within this framework,
including appointing a Business
Improvement Manager at the end of
2007. Lean principles have been applied
to the complete re-organisation of the
shopfloor, goods inwards and despatch
area. Workflow management has been
increasingly delegated to Team Leaders,
to empower the staff who are aware of
issues with the means to correct them.
Business Improvement Teams have
taken the new weekly quality reporting
system figures and instigated actions
around recurring problems areas. This
has resulted in a change of responsibility
for drill grinding and maintenance,
focused operator training and the
refurbishment of a number of machines.
A new Production Controller, Peter
Jones, has been recently employed to
ensure smooth workflow and to act as
an initial contact point for any customer
queries. Workflow management operates
at a number of levels. The monthly
output forecast is used to develop
capacity plans for each month. These
are then broken down into hourly plans
for each section. Scheduled work is
allocated to either dedicated machines or
dedicated days on a machine. These plans
are then fixed. Order driven work is then
loaded in and the full schedule agreed.
Customers are then contacted to
confirm delivery or resolve any problems.
Work arriving with little or no notice
115_AM_jul08_premier.indd 116
is added to the capacity plan and the
customer is given a leadtime at quote or
order receipt.
For scheduled work, weekly plans to
meet kanban signals as well as a report
of the previous week’s performance are
submitted every Monday, either by e-mail
or via the customer’s dedicated supplier
portal where this exists.
And, the company’s commitment to
its customers extends to raw materials.
Reducing the global fluctuation that
affects the materials markets, Premier
holds an extensive stock (around
£200,000 worth) of raw material for
many of its customers. As well as
smoothing the price variation, this also
acts as a buffer if a customer increases
the batch size but requires the same
delivery date.
Engineering expertise
The creation of deep holes that are
accurate in terms of geometrical form
and position is a specialised process
that requires capable equipment,
robust techniques and skilled staff.
With an exceptional track record in
providing highly accurate holes to
tightly toleranced dimensions, Premier
has invested in the best manufacturing
equipment, which is operated by highly
trained staff, all of which adhere to
aerospace industry proven procedures.
Since the company moved from
corporate ownership (as part of
Gardner Aerospace) to
private ownership, the
management team has
continually invested in
new plant and equipment.
As well as new drilling and
honing machines, which
amount to an investment
of over £500,000,
machine tools to support
the core business have
also been purchased, with
around £300,000 invested
in new CNC lathes.
These are used to
prepare raw material prior
to drilling or to carry out post drilling
operations that take the components
nearer to completion or even to a
finished state.
Due to its investment plan the
company can now drill and hone up
to 250mm diameter by 4m deep using
one of the five ejector machines. The
company can gun drill diameters from
2.5mm up to 38mm, to a depth of
2000mm from one end or 3,000mm
through from both ends. A total of 22
machines, single and multi-spindle types,
provide the capacity for central holes in
round workpieces, while four knee-type
machines cater for prismatic and off-
centre work.
Stuart Grant continues: “As well as
investing in production equipment and
staff, we have also improved the building
infrastructure to facilitate better material
workflow. For example, as the new drills
are capable of drilling up to 250mm
diameter by 4m long, the overhead
cranes had to be extended and increased
in lifting capacity. Over £100,000 has
been invested in improvements to the
facilities. We have just purchased the
adjacent factory adding 9,000ft2 of
capacity. Smaller components will be
manufactured in the new factory with
larger components remaining in the
existing facility.”
Certified to ISO9001:2000 and
accredited to the AS9100 aerospace
standard, Premier has an extensive list
of customer approvals. These include
well-known aerospace companies such
as Rolls-Royce, Goodrich, Westlands,
Messier-Dowty and GE Aviation, as well
as various customers in other sectors.
Mr Grant concludes: “By offering a
can do approach to customers’ demands,
our stance is – given the problem we
will find a solution.” This commitment
to service and technology has seen the
company increase its turnover from £1.45
million in 2005 to £2.8 million last year,
and ambitious plans have been laid out
to achieve a target of £3 million turnover
this year. ❙
www.premier-drilling.co.uk
20/6/08 10:41:57
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117_AM_July_08.indd 1 18/6/08 10:34:38

 118 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING

THE BEST OF

THE BEST
Around 160 auditors, each one an expert in their particular technical
field, help the aerospace standard Nadcap ensure quality, risk
reduction and cost efficiency. Richard Burton talks to Arshad Hafeez,
Director of Global Business Operations at PRI to find out more

T
here are a number of quality
standards and approvals applicable
to companies working in the
aerospace sector but Nadcap (formerly
NADCAP, the National Aerospace and
Defense Contractors Accreditation
Program) is one of note for a number of
reasons.
Nadcap is a global industry-managed
co-operative audit and accreditation
programme for aerospace engineering,
defence and related industries. As
a part of the Performance Review
Institute (PRI) it was created in 1990
by the Society of Automotive Engineers
and is headquartered in Warrendale,
Pennsylvania, USA. The programme’s
membership of ‘prime contractors’ Part of the process | Root cause corrective action
convene to co-ordinate industry-
wide standards for special processes to standardise the scrutiny to which the best’ rather than general auditors and
and products. Through PRI, Nadcap sub-tier suppliers to the final aircraft a higher level of focused expertise means
provides independent certification of assemblers are subject to within a single that quality is enhanced and risk and cost
manufacturing processes for the industry. organisation and develop a unified reduced to optimum levels.
The Nadcap programme gives approach that would use best practice.” The performance of the auditors in
accreditation for special processes and The Nadcap process flow begins with turn is assessed regularly by the Task
products in the aerospace and defence a supplier completing a preliminary Groups comprising a PRI specialist,
industry such as: heat treatment; questionnaire, which is sent to PRI for senior technical personnel from the
chemical processing; coatings; a quote before full eAuditNet access is primes that oversee process integrity and
welding; NDT; composites; materials given. An audit is then scheduled before suppliers who have the opportunity to
testing; electronics; elastomer seals; which the supplier submits quality control appeal against any decisions made.
fluid distribution systems; sealants; and procedures documents. The audit then “The Task Groups meet three times a
nonconventional machining (including takes place and non-conformance reports year to focus on continual improvement
EDM, ECM, ECG, LBM); and surface (NCRs) are issued prior to corrective opportunities. These sessions also feature
enhancement (including shot peening, action being taken. Accreditation status workshops at which suppliers can share
peen forming and glass bead peening). is then determined by the l technically- their experiences to enable them to be
As Arshad Hafeez, Director of expert Task Groups and a certificate much more ready and knowledgeable for
Global Business Operations for PRI, issued when all NCRs are closed. future audits,” adds Mr Hafeez.
explains: “Nadcap is highly regulated by Conducting the audits is a team of In terms of how Nadcap stacks up
the government agencies and defence some 160 experts in their respective against AS/EN91000, Mr Hafeez says
services, mainly because of the higher technical fields. This is where Nadcap it is more ‘hands-on’ with the customer
risk involved. The original concept was comes into its own as using the ‘best of defining the auditor qualification and

118_AM_jul08_nadcap.indd 118 20/6/08 10:42:46

 7;HEIF79;IJ7D:7H:I?D7:97F

>[Wjjh[Wj_d]r7YYh[Z_jWj_ed\ehikY^if[Y_WbfheY[ii[i_dW[heifWY[17hi^WZ>W\[[pr:_h[Yjehe\=beXWb8ki_d[iiEf[hWj_ediWjFH?

reviewing auditors on a regular basis.
“Rolls-Royce, Airbus and BAE Systems
for example have access to every step,
every day, every hour in terms of what
the back and forth supplier is doing,”
he adds. “Whereas a registrar of AS/
EN91000 has full autonomy in issuing
the certificate as long as everything is
closed out.”
He ends by saying: “A lot of larger
companies having gone through Nadcap
accreditation have experienced more
consistency across different facilities
worldwide, while smaller companies
have been able to increase their business
significantly. Especially with the increase
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120_AM_July08.indd 1 17/6/08 15:36:44

 COVER STORY I AIRBUS A350XWB
INNOVATIVE
YET PROVEN
Dr Neil Calder examines the manufacturing expectations behind the A350WXB and
how Airbus has kept one foot on the ground with regard to the deployment of new
materials, designs and manufacturing methods
A
lthough there are incremental
advances planned throughout the
design and manufacture of the
A350XWB airframe, it is in the more
widespread use of polymer composites
and in its fuselage construction that the
real novel steps will be taken. Airbus has
been characteristically cautious in its
deployment of new materials, designs
and manufacturing methods, preferring
to keep one foot on the ground at all
times. The company introduced this
aircraft as ‘innovative yet proven’ and
there are many visible examples of both
of these competing factors existing
together, providing some proof that
they are not necessarily always mutually
exclusive.
The aircraft itself is technically still
in development until the design passes
Maturity Gate 5 later this year. Airbus
reports a current team of 850 engineers
dedicated to the project and a further
121_AM_jul08_A350.indd 121
3,500 in support. If the present goal
of final assembly start and entry into
service in 2013 is to be met, it will
require this effort to be sustained for
some time. The engineering programme
is, we are told, on track at this time,
probably due to a front-loading of the
technical effort coupled with a gradual
ramp-up of production rates. Even
though this aircraft has not yet left the
CAD screen, we can take a look at some
of the portfolio of new capabilities that
will help create it.
The ‘breathing space’ afforded by the
slip in service entry of the A350 has
allowed more of the ongoing continuum
of process and capability development
work by Airbus to be embodied in this
aircraft. This is most obvious in enabling
the use of polymer composites in the
manufacture of fuselage skin sections,
which in the previous design iteration
were to be constructed using advanced
Photos courtesy of Airbus
aluminium lithium alloys.
There is a marked difference between
the apparent philosophies of Airbus and
Boeing in handling increased innovation
and risk sharing by their extended supply
chains. The amount of external design
and production development work for
the Boeing 787 taken in the last five
years was a significant departure from
the historic Boeing model, where the
engineering of the airframe is held
tightly within the Prime. The strong
desire for a paradigm shift, with an
entirely new material (CFC) in an
entirely new scale (automated layup)
and with an entirely new supply chain
(workpackage structured rather than
hierarchically structured) has led Boeing
to take significant risks in venturing into
uncharted territories.
The Airbus approach, although
driving towards a similarly challenging
engineering goal, has been much more
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 121
20/6/08 16:17:34
 122 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
COVER STORY I
Continuous section | Section 19 demonstrator
incremental – evolutionary rather than
revolutionary – and can be tracked back
through a long series of technology and
partnership developments. This perhaps
reflects the differences in European and
American approaches to business. The
familiar graphs of the gradual increase in
composites percentages in Airbus aircraft
– up to 53% for the A350 – contrast with
the fivefold step between successive
Boeing products: an increase from 11%
on the 777 to over 50% on the 787.
Harmonisation
Previous concerns about Airbus’
‘patchwork aircraft’, being drawn
from the legacy of engineering and
manufacturing capabilities of four
different countries and many more
parent and grandparent companies, are
being allayed through a strong centrally
driven policy of harmonisation of
capabilities and processes that is being
applied in its latest iteration on A350
actions and investments.
For a while and still running, a lot
of work has been done to eradicate
this characteristic of a company whose
component parts have had chequered
histories, says Dr Roland Thevenin, who
chaired the pan-Airbus working group on
121_AM_jul08_A350.indd 122
AIRBUS A350XWB
materials and processes. creation of detail parts and of assembly
On the A380 this was evident as and other tooling for these, and the
the use of common materials but with learning from these demonstration
components manufactured on different activities will similarly permeate the
equipment, which caused issues during supply chain.
production with, for example, the tack
time of the same prepreg resin processed Composites – advances and
by different tape laying machines. progression
The philosophy with investment for Hexcel has already announced that it
A350 production within Airbus plants will be supplying the main composite
and key suppliers is for a single, general, materials for the programme from its
basic equipment to be used throughout HexPly range of structural aerospace
the supply chain. The selection of prepreg composites. The specific material
equipment suppliers for automated that has been selected is a modified form
assembly and composite tape laying plant of Hexcel’s M21 thermoset resin that is
investments is reaching its final stages, currently used with a Toray T800 fibre
with ThyssenKrupp and MTorres being on the A380. This new prepreg is known
the front runners in these competitions as M21E/IMA, with resin and fibre both
respectively. from Hexcel, and exhibits improvements
Although Airbus itself is moving in damage tolerance over the basic M21
towards a harmonised engineering through the addition of thermoplastic
environment with a much higher resin.
degree of standardisation of design and Just as all engineering is a compromise
manufacturing practices, the irony is between competing factors, so the
that it is the previous patchwork case advance in damage tolerance comes
with all its attributes of distributed at the price of a reduction in the
effort in the creation of aircraft design machineability of this material. The
and production that has positioned it to effects of polymer engineering to give
take advantage of the inputs of its supply
chain partners.
Demonstrators
A critical component of the innovations
is the use of major airframe section
demonstrators to reduce risk. Airbus
have already reported first outputs from
a 11m long panellised main fuselage
demonstrator (made from
two sections of 4m and 7m)
and full rear fuselage barrel
(section 19) demonstrator
incorporating ‘omega’ section
co-cured stringers. There has
been an evolution from a first
wing main box demonstrator
into a second. These highlight
the chosen technologies of
tow placement on highly
curved surfaces and horizontal
assembly for wingboxes.
Supply chain partners have
been very involved in the Demonstrator concepts | Wing box and fuselage
20/6/08 16:18:10
 Premier-HalfA4-Vertical-June08.pPage 1 16/6/08 17:23:14

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Aerospace Manufacturing advert:Layout 1 12/3/08 11:36 Page 1

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124_AM_July_08.indd 1 17/6/08 07:16:53

 COVER STORY I AIRBUS A350XWB
this overall structural toughness have
impacted on the ability of conventional
cutting tools to deal with the flow of
waste material from the cutting front. Dr
Thevenin assures us that any concerns
are receiving appropriate attention from
manufacturing engineering teams within
Airbus and will be sorted out within an
appropriate timescale.
Exhibiting its incremental step
approach to achieve bold advances,
Airbus has brought together two
composites technology advances it made
for the A380 airframe. The A350 concept
is an evolution from the pressurised rear
bulkhead and panelled rear fuselage tail
section of the A380. This first bulkhead
was a foray into the use of composites
within a pressurised civil airliner and the
rear fuselage into the use of composite
panels in an entire section of the
fuselage. The debate on panellised versus
continuous fuselage section techniques
will no doubt continue after both the
A350 and B787 take to the air, but it is
clear that Airbus is taking incremental
confidence and knowledge building steps,
through A380, A350 and beyond.
Within the A350 programme, the
field of polymer composites is making
a very visible transition from a labour
intensive cottage industry to large scale
manufacturing. Much of the internal
Airbus capability development effort has
been aimed at reducing the levels of part-
to-part variation in composite parts seen
in previous programmes, and moving to a
more digital manufacturing environment.
Out of autoclave processes, in
Nose section | Aluminium lithium
121_AM_jul08_A350.indd 125
Fuselage panel | Co-cured ‘omega’ section stiffened panel
addition to reducing manufacturing
costs, would enable longer continuous
fuselage sections, but although these are
definitely on the development agenda for
Airbus, this is not a step that is going to
be taken in the timeframe of the A350.
Metallic aspects
The most significant advance in the
use of metallics is the introduction of
aluminium copper lithium alloys such
as AA2198, in sheet and billet form,
for formed and machined components.
In previous generations of this class of
alloys, problems with short-transverse
properties (for example, through the
thickness of sheets and billets) prevented
their use on the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The materials science prevails, however,
with a 3% reduction in density of the
alloy and a 5% increase in its stiffness for
every 1% addition of lithium.
The implications for manufacturing
processes are the need to segregate
lithium-bearing swarf in the waste
recovery streams and the applicability
of these alloys to laser and friction stir
welding.
Work package definition
The whole aircraft value is divided
roughly equally between internal Airbus
effort, external equipment purchase
and external airframe components and
sections purchase, giving the airframe
around a 50:50 make/buy ratio.
The major workpackages have mostly
been assigned now to risk sharing
partners or to the expected post-
Power8 aerostructures organisations
in France and Germany. Within the
fuselage, this places responsibility for
the cockpit and nose section with the
French aerostructures Newco, the front
and parts of the rear sections with the
German aerostructures Newco and the
centre section with Spirit AeroSystems.
Within the wing structure, GKN
Aerospace takes responsibility for
the fixed trailing edge assembly. The
corresponding risk sharing partner for
the leading edge assembly is in the final
stage of selection.
We will hear much more on the
development of the A350XWB design
and manufacturing processes and
capabilities in the coming months
and years, before the aircraft takes to
the skies. As this issue hits the streets
to coincide with the forthcoming
Farnborough International Airshow, I
predict more announcements concerning
component, service and equipment
suppliers. ❙
www.airbus.com
www.hexcel.com
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 125
20/6/08 16:18:55
 126 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
Perm Engine Company | The WFL M65 MillTurn at the plant
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or PMZ’s engines to work to
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the highest standards. To satisfy these
requirements, PMZ has selected the
Team | PMZ project leader Juri Nossov (middle) with
WFL project leader Reinhard Koll, Stefan Habinger,
Sales Office Russia and the two WFL machine operators
126_AM_jul08_PMZ.indd 126
WFL M65 MillTurn from WFL Millturn
Technologies in Austria.
Its aim of steadily increasing quality
while remaining competitive has pushed
PMZ to seek new technologies for the
production of shafts. After an extensive
evaluation and selection procedure,
WFL was chosen because of the mature
technologies it offers. PMZ project
leader Juri Nossov and his team went for
the complete machining centre WFL
M65 MillTurn, which has a distance
between centres of 4,500mm.
Together with the experts from
WFL, PMZ then developed a process
for producing engine shafts in a single
operation. The operations now carried
out on a single machine include the
turning of all inside and outside contours,
milling of the flange, deep hole drilling,
the precise boring of flange faces, the
hobbing of external diameter gears, the
shaping of internal diameter gears and
the forming of internal contours with
a CNC bottle boring tool. In order to
achieve the required precision level
in automatic operation, an integrated
workpiece measuring system controls
and, if necessary, corrects the fabrication
process automatically. Also, a special
WFL measuring cycle guarantees the
precise relative position of operations
between the two clampings.
Single process
The engine shafts were previously
produced on several single process
machines. In fact 18 different machine
tools, only partly equipped with a CNC
system, were used and the numerous
clampings had a decidedly negative effect
on quality.
The fact that outside and inside
diameters could not be machined in one
clamping resulted in irregularities in the
wall thickness, which in turn entailed
20/6/08 10:44:48
 AERO-ENGINES I
Machined | A completed turbine shaft;Special | A CNC outward facing tool for machining internal bottle-boring contours; High precision hobbing
imbalances and vibrations during engine
operation. Total production time was
three to three and half months due
to long set-up, interim storage and
transportation times. “PMZ wanted
to substantially decrease production
time while increasing flexibility and
quality. This is why we had to seek new
technology solutions,” explains Mr
Nossov.
Since, however, the technology
afforded by the WFL M65 MillTurn
solution and developed jointly by
PMZ and WFL has brought about
considerable improvements within the
shaft production line.
The economic advantages include:
amortisation of the investment within
three years; reduction of machining
time from 129 to 42 hours (75%); one
machine has replaced 18 machine tools,
saving 320m2 of production floorspace;
no interim storage of workpieces (in the
past, one turbine shaft underwent 43
operations); considerable reduction of
set-up operations; no longer any need for
expensive clamping devices (in the past,
17 clamping and guiding devices were
necessary for each turbine shaft); and an
avoidance of organisational flaws due to
simpler process design.
The qualitative advantages include:
0.1mm tolerance for wall thickness along
the entire machined length (1,300mm);
precise relative position between the
individual boring and milling operations;
steady and reproducible quality thanks
126_AM_jul08_PMZ.indd 127
PERMSKIJ MOTORNY’J ZAVOD
to WFL in-process measuring; and high with a cycle, all inside contours can be
surface quality and precise diameters produced. “Our PMZ programmers have
that make additional grinding work produced our own post processor on
unnecessary. the basis of Unigraphics in order for us
to be able to efficiently produce seven
Special tools different shaft types (with up to four
A tool magazine with 72 tool stations variants each),” says Mr Nossov.
and the tool system Capto C8 can Summing up the investment and its
accommodate all the tools and measuring success, he adds: “After one and a half
devices necessary for shaft production, years of two-shift operation we can
with worn tools being replaced or new look back on almost 100% machine
tools added parallel to the machining availability.
process. The machine is equipped with “Despite WFL-Service’s excellent
a pick-up magazine for long and heavy reputation in Russia, the reliable
tools. Boring bars and special tools are performance of the machine means
automatically transferred from this we have not had to make use of it.
magazine into an additional prism tool This has encouraged us to order two
interface. One of these special tools is a more machines from WFL, each with a
CNC bottle boring tool for machining distance between centres of 1,000mm.
internal bottle-boring contours. These will be used to produce thin-
The outward facing movement of wall turbine discs made of inconel and
the cutters is carried out by rotating titanium.” ❙
the milling spindle. In combination www.wfl.at
Permskij Motorny Zavod
The company ‘Plant 19’ was founded in 1934 in Perm following a decision by the USSR
government.
Since its establishment, the plant has been producing predominantly aircraft
engines. At first, the company in the city on the Ural river produced radial engines,
though in 1997 the product range was extended to include engines for the Ilyushin
and Tupolev aircraft. New statutes were then signed and the company was renamed
Permskij Motorny’j Zavod (PMZ), Perm Engine Company.
Today, about 8,000 employees produce the Solowjev PS-90A engine, which powers
the Ilyushin Il 76, 78 and 96 as well as the Tupolev 204, 214, 230, and its variants at
the only production site in Perm. Stationary and mobile gas-fired generators and gas
pumping stations are also equipped with this engine.
www.pmz.ru
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 127
20/6/08 12:11:50
128_AM_July_08.indd 1 18/6/08 13:56:47
 DESIGN ENGINEERING I BEHAVIOURAL MODELLING
Project
long-term
hover
Having been tasked with assessing the feasibility of developing a UAV with
exceptionally long endurance as an observation platform, aircraft design software
specialist J2 Aircraft Dynamics offers a preliminary analysis of an aircraft capable
of deploying and retracting a helium balloon for long-term hover
J
2 Aircraft Dynamics was approached by a company
that was interested in the development of a UAV with
exceptionally long endurance as an observation platform.
The way of achieving this endurance was to deploy a helium
balloon to provide buoyancy when loitering and then to retract
this balloon to provide a high speed dash to a new location.
The company had investigated a variety of options when
considering the feasibility of this project, none of which
were able to provide a suitable modelling environment when
J2 Universal Tool-kit | Hierarchial
components
129_AM_jul08_design.indd 129
considering evaluating the behavioural characteristics of
the aircraft. It then approached J2 Aircraft Dynamics which
confirmed that through the use of the J2 Universal Tool-Kit it
could easily evaluate the proposed design.
Constructing an aircraft model
An existing UAV was to be used as the base platform for this
project, and so the first stage was to build a model using the
J2 Universal Tool-Kit and assess its characteristics to ensure it
behaved as the existing aircraft.
The aircraft was to be based on the one shown overleaf with
several modifications. These were: the twin fin on top was to be
replaced by a single fin underneath; and a balloon mount was
to be added down the upper spine of the aircraft that would
be used to house the balloon and associated equipment, and to
ensure the balloon would remain clear of the propeller.
The power of the J2 Universal Tool-Kit meant that this
model could be constructed from a series of hierarchical
components including internal equipment, and engine
characteristics, very rapidly and could be ‘flown’ in minutes to
assess its basic characteristics.
Adding the balloon
Once satisfied that it was behaving correctly, the next stage
was to add in the balloon. This was done by adding another
propulsion item to the model where the thrust was directly
proportional to the volume of the balloon, and ensuring that
regardless of the orientation of the aircraft, the buoyancy force
was always vertical in the earth axis frame. One other aspect
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 129
20/6/08 12:13:46
 130 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
DESIGN ENGINEERING I
Defined model | Different airspeeds impact aircraft behaviour
to consider was that the magnitude and location of the centre
of buoyancy and the drag from the balloon would vary as the
balloon inflated and deflated. These characteristics were easy
to add in using J2 Builder as the key points are automatically
provided, and these can be quickly defined as dependent upon
other user-defined parameters.
Analysing the behaviour
The first stage of analysis was to investigate the effects of
inflating and deflating the balloon in-flight to see how the
stability was impacted. With the model defined it was simply
a question of trimming the aircraft over a range of airspeeds
with the balloon retracted and then creating a manoeuvre
with J2 Freedom whereby the pilot eased back on the throttle,
and inflated the balloon. It was then possible to run several
scenarios to see how different initial airspeeds impact on the
behaviour of the aircraft.
The aircraft experiences a pitch up as the balloon is deflated,
the more violent pitch up is experienced at higher initial
velocities, leading to a recommendation that the aircraft is
slowed down to 45 knots prior to inflation.
When it came to deflating the balloon, the opposite effect
was found. That is if the aircraft was flying too slowly when
the balloon started to deflate, the aircraft would be unable
to increase its velocity sufficiently to be able to return to
conventional flight.
As such it was recommended that the aircraft be accelerated,
with the balloon deployed, to a minimum of 25 knots prior to
commencing the deflation.
Trade Studies
One of the great benefits of the J2 Universal Tool-Kit is the
ability to very quickly perform trade studies through the use
of Delta Models. With a Delta Model the user simply selects
an original aircraft and then adds in the increments where
necessary to the characteristics.
One area where this proved useful is to investigate the
possibility of increased drag from the balloon. Performing
the same analysis as before, with the increase drag the pitch
up is even more violent, resulting in the aircraft oscillating
uncontrollably.
129_AM_jul08_design.indd 130
BEHAVIOURAL MODELLING
Conclusions
The first objective of the analysis was to assess the feasibility
of the concept of using a helium balloon to enable long-term
loiter for an aerial platform. This approach had not been
attempted previously due to the fact that the analysis capability
has not been available until the J2 Universal Tool-Kit.
By utilising the power of the J2 Universal Tool-Kit, it was
possible to:
● Construct a model
● Add in the balloon effects
● Model the deployment and retraction of the balloon along
with investigating manoeuvring the aircraft
● Perform trade studies to assess the impact of any
assumptions and design changes
● Recommend further stages of investigation
All this work was possible without the need to develop
complex scripting models or bespoke solutions to investigate
a one-off scenario and meant that the work was completed
within 10 man days. The conclusions drawn were that the
project was indeed feasible, based upon various assumptions
made regarding the speed of deployment and retraction, and
the integrity of the balloon profile during these stages.
Further investigations can now take place in order
to generate more detailed and complex models and the
development of an Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) all
within the J2 Universal Tool-Kit, by continually building on the
work already performed. All cases are configuration managed
and version controlled so it is possible to track the progress
of the analysis as well as the development of the model right
through to flight matching at latter stages of development. ❙
About J2 Aircraft Dynamics
J2 Aircraft Dynamics is an aircraft design software company
that develops sophisticated aerospace analysis tools by
building upon its combination of aircraft design knowledge and
extensive software skills to create the fully integrated tool-
kit. Using its software, companies are able to eliminate the
unknown leading to significant cost and time savings that will
result in increased profitability.
www.j2aircraft.com
20/6/08 17:03:25
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Untitled-1 1 16/6/08 23:45:57

 INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY I
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMES WITH
ABILITY AND VISION
At the recent Gauge and
Tool Makers Association
(GTMA) conference, held at
the Factory of the Future
in Sheffield, UK, Brian
Moran, Director for UK
Industrial Participation
at Boeing UK outlined
opportunities for forward
thinking UK manufacturers
“M
any UK companies, both
large and small, are already
suppliers to Boeing,” states
Brian Moran, Director, UK Industrial
Participation, Boeing UK, at the recent
GTMA Conference. “As we continue
to infuse new capability into our supply
chain, we look to SMEs and trade
associations like the GTMA to bring us
best-of-industry solutions.”
Boeing has revenues of $66 billion,
over 150,000 employees in 70 countries
and contracts with 22,000 suppliers.
In the UK it has over 600 employees
at 22 locations, as well as 250 supplier
sites, which support thousands of
additional jobs across the country – and
this presence is expanding, for example
through Boeing’s Bristol facility and in
Farnborough through its distributed
analysis, modelling and simulation facility
with QinetiQ.
Boeing’s active involvement in the
133_AM_jul08_boeing.indd 133
BOEING UK
Brian Moran | Director, UK Industrial Participation, Boeing UK
University of Sheffield Advanced
Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC)
Boeing/Rolls-Royce Factory of the
Future is testament to the company’s
determination to strengthen its UK
presence. A £60 million collaboration
between world leaders in the aerospace
supply chain, key government offices
and international academic institutions,
AMRC has access to EU Objective 1
and Framework VI funds and is a world
class centre for research into improved
aerospace manufacturing methods.
Already developing an international
reputation for its ability to produce
radical solutions to aerospace issues
while promoting capability transfer to
the UK aerospace supply chain, AMRC
encourages collaborative working to
achieve technical objectives. A recent
example of this is the significant weight
reduction achieved in the 787 landing
gear, through the use of a new titanium
alloy, the forming process developed
collaboratively by the AMRC, and the
benefits of which are spreading across
the aerospace supply chain.
This willingness to work
collaboratively with others in the
industry – including competitors – to
achieve improved performance is one of
the key characteristics that Boeing looks
for in its supply chain partners. As Mr
Moran points out: “Boeing frequently
works in partnership with its competitors
to achieve the best-of-industry solutions
that our customers demand and we look
for the same openness from our supply
chain partners. Naturally, there are
areas where commercial confidentiality
is appropriate and necessary, but it is
essential that exclusivity does not hinder
the use of the best technologies.”
In order to maintain and improve its
own market position Boeing is looking
for supply chain participants to provide
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 133
20/6/08 12:16:04
 134 AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY I
GTMA conference | Delegates visit Factory of the Future shopfloor
solutions that increase its competitive
edge in a highly aggressive, competitive
technical market. Areas that are key to
Boeing’s customers – and suppliers – are
extreme affordability, breakthrough
performance, enduring sustainability and
environmental progressiveness.
Boeing is well aware that it must
continually refresh its supply chain and
be constantly alert for what it describes
as ‘game changing and disruptive
technologies’, the breakthrough
technologies that will drive major changes
in aircraft design and production.
In order to find these game changing
and disruptive technologies Boeing
actively works to maintain and expand
its market access. One such programme
is its Marketing Assistance initiative
which facilitates introductions to Boeing
and its suppliers, and Department of
Defence procurement opportunities. The
company also organises campaign-driven
events, capability-based conferences
and dedicated ‘meet the buyer’ sessions.
Spreading the message is at the heart of
Boeing’s supplier outreach strategy.
“Working with organisations such as
GTMA provides us with a dual benefit,”
explains Mr Moran. “Not only do they
have extensive knowledge of the UK
SME market and its current strengths
and capabilities, but they can also
help the SMEs prepare and promote
themselves as a consortium that provides
complete technical solutions.”
As a world-class company, Boeing
133_AM_jul08_boeing.indd 134
BOEING UK
is looking for world-class suppliers
throughout its supply chain. Many SMEs,
although strong in various aspects of
performance, are sometimes lacking in
other areas, for example in marketing,
presentation skills and operating business
processes.
Julia Moore, GTMA CEO, explains
the benefits of the association: “For
many years one of our key activities has
been the development of our ‘World
Class’ programmes for toolmakers and
precision machining companies. Using
these programmes companies can assess
their own level of competence and
develop a strategy to improve those
areas that could benefit from additional
work through our Business Development
initiative. It is Boeing’s experience that
one of the first hurdles SMEs face when
attempting to enter the aerospace supply
chain is in understanding their own
comparative level of competence. This is
where we can be of assistance.”
In almost every case a potential new
supplier will need to demonstrate that
it is not only equal to an incumbent
supplier, but that it is substantially
better in a significant way. To be able
to do this, a company must have a real
understanding of its own strengths, the
importance of its USPs and how these
match the requirements of the Boeing
supply chain, and, most importantly, have
the ability to put those benefits across
succinctly and persuasively.
This may seem a challenging task
for an SME, but it is in exactly this
area that organisations such as GTMA
can be of greatest assistance. With a
broad, cross-company brief, and in in-
depth understanding of the market,
they can study Boeing and its specific
requirements, helping to put together
clusters of companies capable of working
together to provide a solution to a
particular issue or requirement.
Over recent years GTMA has made
the decision to fundamentally change
the strategy of the association to focus
on major market sector opportunities.
Aerospace was naturally a key focus
and the association has worked hard to
develop its programmes in the sector, last
year announcing its strategic partnership
with the Farnborough Aerospace
Consortium as well as producing its
Aerospace Executive Briefing document.
One GTMA programme which puts
the association in a particularly good
position to assist Boeing in its drive to
attract the best companies to its supply
chain, is the GTMA Manufacturing
Resource Centre, MRC, whose Buyer
Supplier Network is designed to provide
buyers with a speedy and reliable method
of sourcing both products and services
from specialist suppliers.
Julia Moore concludes: “Boeing and its
tier 1 suppliers are looking for the best
suppliers – but they need companies who
know what Boeing wants, are able to
deliver to those exacting standards and
present themselves as partnership teams
offering complete solutions. UK SMEs
have a wealth of skills, inventiveness
and technical brilliance, but they can
be isolated and unable to promote
themselves effectively in such a highly
developed market. GTMA has the ability
and the infrastructure to bring together
clusters of supplier companies with
specialist skills, helping them develop
additional strengths where necessary,
and facilitating their development into
solution partnerships and so participate
in the UK aerospace supply chain.” ❙
www.boeing.co.uk
www.gtma.co.uk
20/6/08 12:16:50
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