The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, has announced that it has signed a lease with property investment firm Canmoor for a unit at Westway Park in Renfrew, part of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland. The facility will be primarily used for the Group’s £11.8 million research and development programme with the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing.
The space, which is around the size of a football pitch, will be refurbished to accommodate the personnel and equipment needed for the Boeing programme. It will also house other state-of-the-art advanced engineering equipment to be used in projects with other manufacturing businesses including a purpose built area dedicated to advancing the use of additive manufacturing in Scotland.
The Boeing programme, run by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the only High Value Manufacturing Catapult centre in Scotland, will see the company establish an R&D team at the Westway facility working with AFRC’s leading forming and forging technologists. Boeing has hired a team to work on the programme and it is expected that the personnel will be on site later this year.
https://www.strath.ac.uk/whystrathclyde/news/nmisboeingprogrammetakesofffromwestwayrenfrew/
Creating a greener aerospace sector is key to the industry bouncing back from Covid-19 according to new research released in mid-September.
The second part of Protolabs’ Horizon Shift report, which involved aerospace business leaders from across Europe, reveals that more than three quarters of firms (77%) expect environmental credibility to become a key differentiator moving forward, whilst 72% indicate that new materials will be the driving force in lowering emissions and making flying cleaner.
65% believe investment in innovation that reduces emissions should continue despite the pandemic, with 42% now transforming their supply chains as part of the innovation drive to cut down CO2 output.
Senior executives from Composite Technology Center, Schiebel Group and Tecnam were among senior leaders recently interviewed to understand how this critically important market was looking to recover from the far-reaching impact of Covid-19.
The latest survey, which was conducted as a follow-up to an initial report of 325 executives taken in February and March, presents a unique insight into the sector, particularly in regard to what has changed as a result of the pandemic.
In addition to environmental improvements, companies are also looking for Government support and stimulus packages to help them create new revenue streams, embed innovation in the supply chain and bring new products to market quickly.
39% believe that there needs to be more immediate investment in infrastructure, whilst 33% are calling on more supportive fiscal policy, such as tax breaks or R&D grants.
https://www.qimtek.co.uk/news/engineering-capacity/green-agenda-growth
British Airways, Qantas and American Airlines are among the 13 major airlines to have signed a new joint commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Orchestrated by global aviation alliance oneworld, the commitment will see the airlines invest in more fuel-efficient aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and carbon offsetting to bring their net emissions footprint to zero by mid-century. Emissions from waste as well as from energy use will be accounted for, compelling oneworld members to distribute fewer single-use items and improve recycling and reuse processes.
Electric aircraft are not specifically mentioned in the commitment, which oneworld said will be delivered in line with existing business-government requirements, including the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) CORSIA scheme. CORSIA is designed to cap net emissions from the global aviation sector at 2019 levels, with airlines paying to offset emissions generated beyond this threshold.