WICHITA, Kan., June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit
AeroSystems [NYSE: SPR] announced its role on the Airbus Wing of
Tomorrow program, contributing across four technology projects
supporting commercial aviation applications. Led by efforts at the
company's Prestwick, Scotland,
site, Spirit will develop solutions essential for the fabrication
and assembly of leading edges, wing boxes and lower wing
covers.
"Our participation on Wing of Tomorrow marks an important
milestone in our support of Airbus," said Spirit Senior Vice
President, Airbus Programs, Scott
McLarty. "Research and development work like this is key to
Spirit's growth strategy, and we are uniquely positioned to offer
customers our proven ability to both design and build world class
aerostructures such as these."
"Spirit is leveraging its full suite of Distinctive Capabilities
to tackle the challenge of improving product performance while
lowering cost and compressing technology and product development
cycles," said Spirit AeroSystems Vice President, Research and
Technology, Sean Black, Ph.D. "To
accomplish this feat, the projects rely heavily on modeling and
simulation throughout all stages of the design-build process."
For example, on one of the projects, Spirit is using
cutting-edge composite resin-flow simulation tools to successfully
infuse a seven-meter lower wing cover -- short-circuiting the
trial-and-error approach typical for extremely complex resin
infusion processes. The demonstrator is a major step towards
delivering a full-scale, resin-infused lower cover to Airbus.
Spirit continues to leverage and enhance its patented Intelligent
Resin Infusion System (IRISTM) to develop lower-cost,
higher-performing structures.
"These projects are not just about composite infusion
technology," Black said. "Using digital design and manufacturing
approaches, we're developing the product in parallel with the
production system. In collaboration with the National Composites
Centre (Bristol, U.K.) and
Advanced Forming Research Centre (Strathclyde, U.K.), we're also developing
highly automated fabrication and inspection technologies.
"In addition, we are implementing significant advances in
fabrication and assembly tooling technologies. In fact, through
applying the Spirit Exact® dimensional management
philosophy, which essentially enables the parts themselves to
become locating tools, we are planning to deliver a leading edge,
to include full systems integration, with very little assembly
tooling. We are leveraging our full Distinctive Capability
portfolio in support of the Wing of Tomorrow objectives."
The projects supporting Wing of Tomorrow are jointly funded by
Spirit and the U.K. Government through the Aerospace Technology
Institute (ATI) Programme, in close collaboration with Airbus, the
National Composites Centre, the Advanced Forming Research Centre
and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The ATI Programme
is managed by the Aerospace Technology Institute with the U.K.'s
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and
Innovate U.K.
In addition to Spirit's collaboration with the U.K. research
labs, Spirit announced earlier this year that it has broken ground
on a 70,000 square-foot Aerospace Innovation Centre at its
Prestwick facility. The site's focus on infusion processes for
composite materials, part handling, assembly automation, rapid
prototyping and virtual/augmented reality will all directly support
the company's wing development and industrialization efforts.
On the web: www.spiritaero.com
On Twitter: @SpiritAero
About Spirit AeroSystems
Spirit AeroSystems
designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense
customers. With headquarters in Wichita,
Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K.,
France and Malaysia. The company's core products include
fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's
premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable,
innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to
support customers around the globe. More information is available
at www.spiritaero.com.
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SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems Inc.