Rolls-Royce to increase Derby testing facilities

Rolls-Royce says it will expand its testing capacity at its Derby plant in response to the operational difficulties its Trent 1000 engine has been experiencing.

Rolls-Royce first revealed that more inspections were needed to tackle problems with the Derby-built Trent 1000, which are used in Boeing’s Dreamliner 787, in April.

Airlines including British Airways, Virgin and Norwegian have been affected.

The majority of the testing work takes place in facilities in Singapore, Heathrow and Derby. Rolls-Royce says plans to further increase this capacity are being developed.

A statement from the company said: “Our engineering and design team has been able to accelerate the development of the new blade through a combination of the latest computing capability, ‘fast make’ competencies within our supply chain, and the development of a dedicated facility in Derby, UK, to build engines on which the blades will be tested.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, said: “We fully recognise the unacceptable levels of disruption our customers are facing. We are intensely focused on minimising this and we have set our teams the challenge of doing everything we can to recover our customers’ operations as swiftly as possible. We are drawing on the full resources of Rolls-Royce to address the issue and I’ve seen great teamwork and innovative thinking both across our organisation and in our partnership with Boeing.”