MTC playing central role in cutting edge wings project
THE Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry is to play a key role in a £30m research programme which could revolutionise aircraft wing design and manufacture.
The MTC is one of five centres taking part in the Aerospace Technology Institute VIEWS programme led by GKN Aerospace.
The VIEWS (Validation and Integration of Manufacturing Enablers for Future Wing Structures) programme will examine and test technologies for wing design, manufacture and assembly which could reduce costs by at least 20%, it is estimated.
The programme will also look at wing architecture design, production tooling and advanced new materials including composites.
The VIEWS team includes four industrial partners – GKN Aerospace, Bombardier Aerospace, Spirit AeroSystems, and GE Aviation – and five of the UK’s high value manufacturing catapult centres, including the MTC.
Rich Oldfield, technical director of GKN Aerospace, said, “Through the Aerospace Technology Institute the UK aerospace sector is able to work together effectively to develop promising technologies and processes that will help us maintain our position as the strongest national aerospace industry outside the USA.
“VIEWS will work from that base, taking us nearer to market readiness with a new generation of automated processes and technologies that will extend what we in the UK are able to manufacture, at the same time as increasing the quality, consistency and speed of production.”
The Manufacturing Technology Centre opened in 2011 and has already surpassed its 2020 targets. It is a partnership between some of the UK’s major global manufacturers and three universities – Birmingham, Nottingham and Loughborough – as well as TWI Ltd, the operating division of The Welding Institute.
