ST Engineering advances next-generation aircraft manufacturing with automation drive
ST Engineering is accelerating investment in manufacturing automation and advanced production technologies as the aerospace industry works to overcome supply chain constraints and prepare for the launch of a new generation of commercial aircraft.
Speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, Rick Wehmer, president of ST Engineering Aerospace, said automation had become vitally important to meeting the production rates expected by aircraft manufacturers.
Automation is key to future-proofing the manufacturing sector
The company began investing heavily in automated manufacturing around 10 years ago and now deploys robotics across a range of composite production processes, including tool cleaning and drilling.
Wehmer said those technologies had strengthened manufacturing capability and would play an increasingly important role as aircraft programmes ramp up.
“You can’t do it the way we’ve done it for the last 50 years, it won’t work. So automation is how we’ll get there because it’ll enable us to do ramping and things of that nature to meet the needs of the industry,” he told Aerospace Global News.
“We have robots that clean our composite tools. We have robots that drill holes. We have robots that lay material down. We have put a lot of into technology to build the robustness in our ability to support the industry.”
Investing in new technology
ST Engineering is continuing to expand those capabilities, with around $30 million being invested in new manufacturing equipment this year.
The company is also introducing its fourth generation of automated fibre placement technology, used to manufacture composite structures more efficiently and consistently.
Alongside factory automation, Wehmer identified artificial intelligence as a key part of the company’s strategy.
Adding resilience to the supply chain
A resilient supply chain is another important component.
Wehmer noted that aerospace manufacturers continue to face challenges in increasing production and argued that suppliers must also embrace automation to improve capacity.
“Supplier resiliency has been a huge challenge for the industry in the last five years,” he explained. “We’ve seen many of the large manufacturers, both on the engine side and the airframer side, struggle to meet the needs of the industry.
“So I think we really have to work on how we drive that, and I think that technology improvement will help, but the automation will also.”
He added: “We have to go deep into the supply chain and help them develop that automation so that when they have to ramp and go to higher volumes, they have the ability to do it.”
