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Airborne UK (Berks, U.K.) has joined the National Composites Center (NCC, Bristol, U.K.) as a Tier 2 member. The companies plan to work together on automation and collaborative digital projects, with the goal of reducing the cost of manufacturing composite structures at rate.

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In addition to development of automation and digitalization, Airborne continues to provide engineering, design for manufacture, prototyping and part manufacturing solutions. As part of the agreement, Airborne UK will be able to access the NCC’s world-leading facilities and capabilities, as well as the expertise needed to support its ventures. Membership will also offer access to participation in core R&D projects defined by Tier 1 members and the opportunity to develop solutions aligned with aerospace OEMs’ goals.

“This partnership will enable the NCC to build upon its work in applying modeling and data science techniques so that we can gain a much more comprehensive understanding of composite processes,” says Marc Funnell, head of digital at the NCC.

“This will ultimately demonstrate the potential of digitally enabled manufacturing to produce parts more efficiently whilst maintaining the highest level of quality, Funnell adds.

As announced in September, Airborne UK and the NCC are currently working together to define use cases by considering source and type of data from sensors, with the development of a data warehouse capable of providing insights through analytics to allow future optimization. These first steps are the basis to connect automation with digitalization and enable Industry 4.0 capability. 

“Airborne is very pleased to join the National Composites Centre as a Tier 2 member. Our goal is to be the recognized market leader for automation and digitalization solutions and we expect our membership to help us connect with potential customers, and demonstrate our technology more effectively,” says Joe Summers, managing director of Airborne UK.