Held at its new NEC Birmingham venue from 29-30 September, Aero Engineering will provide an intensive two-day ‘engineering-centric' focal point for business development within the supply chain, together with a showcase of industry partners and suppliers supporting the UK aerospace engineering industry.
“For both delegates to the Business Briefing sessions and visitors to the show floor exhibits and programmes, Aero Engineering 2010 will concentrate on the critical information needs of engineering and business teams up and down the UK aerospace supply chain,” explains Leading Edge's event director, Ian Stone.
Building on last year's inaugural Manchester-based event, Aero Engineering 2010 provides a combination of specialist features, showcasing some 150 specialist exhibitors on the show floor that provide the latest technology and service capabilities feeding into aerospace programmes. Key areas include design and development engineering technologies, advanced machining, tooling, production, quality and subcontract engineering services.
The two-day Open Forum of ‘free to attend' technology presentations in two purpose-built auditoriums will offer specialist sessions planned for the areas of quality management, titanium machining, composites machining, entry-level NADCAP, NDT, near net shape manufacturing, modelling & simulation and composite materials.
The show's centrepiece is its Strategic Delegate business briefing programme, hosted in the 400 seat auditorium which covers upstream programme opportunities, technology and skills requirements. Scheduled speakers include: BAE Systems, Airbus CIMPA, BIS, UKTI, Midlands Aerospace Alliance, North West Aerospace Alliance, Rolls-Royce, Marshall Aerospace, PRI, National Composites Centre, ThyssenKrupp and GKN Aerospace among others.
The event also provides an integrated B2B meetings portal which enables hundreds of pre-planned onsite meetings between attendee groups via a bespoke online system.
“The 2010 event provides a diversity of content for attendee groups – from the ‘must attend' industry business briefings, technology and service exhibits on the show floor, and feature ‘open' presentations combined with the expanded B2B networking portal, facilitating meetings throughout the event,” explains Stone. “If your business is part of the aerospace engineering supply chain then quite simply you have to be at the show. It's the only 100% engineering-centric business development, networking and intelligence event of its kind, servicing the needs of the UK high value aerospace engineering sector.”
Delegate business briefing programme
The two–day Aero Engineering supply chain business briefing package provides the UK aerospace industry supply chain with an extensive programme of presentations addressing core business opportunities, related technology and skills requirements. Supported by the UK's leading aerospace industry bodies, the programme provides essential insight and business, technical and skills intelligence - assisting businesses at all points in the supply chain to make informed strategic planning decisions.
Chaired by Dr Ruth Mallors, director of the Aerospace and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network, the briefing schedule is set to include:
Future Aircraft Programme Updates: Gain access to perspectives from aerospace primes and tier one organisations; hear updates from programme managers in leading European and international civil and military programmes; business briefings on the state of aircraft programmes on the horizon and impacting the supply chain within the next two years; business briefings from tier one suppliers centred on what they are going to expect from their supply chain in the near future in terms of technology and business capability.
Future Global Sector Developments: Understand the emerging and developing markets in BRIC countries, the Middle East, and others; hear sector specialists briefing on landscapes and specific opportunities in foreign markets.
Future Skills Requirements: Understand the linkage between emerging opportunities and changing business and the requirement on the industrial skills base; hear examples of success in matching quantity and quality requirements with output.
Sector-Wide Technology Development Programmes: Understand the current portfolio of large, sector-wide collaborative technology development actions in: design and manufacturing, avionics component and systems, aerostructures - next generation composite and metallic structures, electrical and mechanical systems and propulsion – next generation challenges and opportunities.
Composites Business Trends and Support: Get the top view of the UK composites sector and understand how to shape your business for best advantage or to enter the value chain as a supplier or smart customer; understand the business and technical support mechanisms already in place assisting the rapidly developing UK value chain.
Aero Engineering is co-located with the new Composites Engineering Show, bringing together the UK composites design and manufacturing value chain.
Suppliers out in force
Aero Engineering & Composites Engineering will also be running a supporting supply chain exhibition throughout the event. Over 150 suppliers will be out in force with many announcing new products and cutting edge solutions. The event's show floor will be hive of activity and nowhere more so than on
Atlas Composites' (www.atlascomposites.co.uk) stand where it will be showcasing an array of new components and manufacturing capabilities.
The stand will feature new developments in aerospace capabilities, structural composite components, electronic enclosures, ballistic and missile manufacturing capabilities.
Meanwhile,
The Attwater Group (www.attwater.com), the manufacturers of industrial laminates and insulation materials, will unveil its range of fabric (SRBF), paper (SRBP), glass (SRBG) including polyimide as well as a range of carbon fibre laminates. The company will also be showcasing its enhanced manufacturing capabilities, following further investment in CNC milling and turning centres this year.
Still on the theme of composites,
CGTech (www.cgtech.com) will be showcasing its Vericut Composites Applications Software on its stand. Visitors will see an overview of the steps needed to get from a CAD designed composite part to CNC programs that drive an automated fibre placement (AFP) machine.
Current customer projects to be highlighted include: a large one-piece fuselage barrel on an Electroimpact multi-machine AFP fabrication cell; an aircraft inlet duct on a Cincinnati Viper 1200 AFP machine; the challenges encountered supporting a flexible AFP gantry machine; lay-up of a U-channel structure on a 7-axis MTorres AFP machine; and aircraft skin panels and experiments using an AFP head mounted on a 6-axis robot.
Throughout the show, CGTech will be demonstrating Vericut Composite Applications: Vericut Composite Programming (VCP) & Vericut Composite Simulation (VCS). The company will also be exhibiting the latest version of its Vericut CNC machine simulation software.
Elsewhere,
CMS (www.cmsukltd.co.uk) will be discussing its complete range of 5-axis CNC machine centres. Particular emphasis will be place on the Antares and Ares range, which are typically used for high-speed pattern machining in model block with others being utilised for trimming, drilling and machining composite components, including carbon fibre and honeycomb.
Utilising the PX5 universal spindle assembly offering 5-axis movement, all axes move simultaneously and are controlled by the Fanuc 31i control system complete with CMS adaptive control, which allows a complex surface to be produced with a significantly reduced cycle time without compromising the surface quality or accuracy.
Also of interest,
Delcam (www.delcam.com) will highlight some of the many successful aerospace applications of its PowerMILL CAM software for 5-axis machining.
The company claims that many manufacturers have benefited from PowerMILL's calculation speed, wide range of 5-axis machining strategies and powerful toolpath optimisation tools, including Tritech, Messier-Bugatti and Creuzet Aeronautique.
Among the many advantages that PowerMILL brings to the company, users most appreciate the control over the different high speed machining strategies, the smoothness of the toolpaths and the significant reduction in the vibration of the parts during machining. As well as helping to maintain accuracy, this extends the lifetime of both the tooling and the machines.
Innovative and flexible solutions will be the name of the game with
Epicor Software Corporation (www.epicor.com) as it will unveil its next generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Epicor 9 during the show.
The company will also be presenting an Open Technology Session where company sales director, Mark Hughes will reveal how ERP technology can support enhanced quality management and waste reduction within aerospace industries, through centralised information.
Also sizing up the event will be
Faro (www.faro.com/uk) as it showcases its measurement solutions. Visitors can expect to see live demonstrations of the company's 3D measurement devices including Laser Tracker ION, the FaroArm and ScanArm as well as the Faro Gage.
“Visitors can try out how quickly and easily measurements can be carried out using our products,” states Faro's area vice-president of sales for the UK, France and Benelux, David Homewood. “Many of our customers used fixed CMMs before switching to our portable solutions. By using our systems, they can reduce their leadtimes while improving quality standards. This guarantees a very fast ROI.”
Heller (www.heller.biz) meanwhile will be using its theme ‘Heller Taking Cost out of Quality' during the show. With more than 100 years of delivering to manufacturing industries, Heller's cost-down experience is now helping aerospace manufacturers achieve major cost savings. The company is meeting the aerospace cost-down challenge with a comprehensive line-up of aerospace related machine tools that is said to deliver production savings of up to 30%.
Moving on,
Indestructible Paint (www.indestructible.co.uk) says its stand will highlight an in-depth involvement in the development and production of surface coatings for the aerospace industry worldwide.
The company's coatings include a range of often specialised and diverse types of materials for component manufacturers and maintenance organisations. These include extreme heat and corrosion resistant inorganic coatings used on jet engine turbine blades - one of only two materials of this type available in the world.
More conventional organic materials include special coatings formulated for magnesium, very high corrosion resistant epoxy products for a variety of substrates, polyurethane finishes and dry film lubricants, whilst the increasing use of composites in aerospace applications has lead to the development of new materials designed specifically for these substrates.
Jetcam (www.jetcam.com) will be launching its CrossTrack order, material, ply and kit management software suite at the Composites Engineering Show. The company will be sharing a booth with Vistagy to demonstrate the integration between Vistagy's FiberSIM software and Jetcam Expert CADCAM and nesting software.
Jetcam will also provide demonstrations of both Jetcam Expert and CrossTrack and will be offering free nest comparisons, where users can gauge the efficiency of their existing nests against Jetcam's nesting module.
There's a warm welcome waiting on the
Nabertherm (www.nabertherm.com) stand, where the company will be demonstrating how its industrial furnaces cover different processes in the aerospace industry. With respect to the processing of advanced materials, the company offers a range of standard as well as customised furnaces and systems for temperatures between 30-3,000 °C.
During the event,
Rediweld Technical Moulding (www.rediweldmoulding.co.uk) claims it will be offering its complete service of technical moulding for the mil-aero sector which is based on a combination of processes including thermoplastic injection and low pressure moulding, thermoset compression and transfer moulding as well as rubber injection/compression moulding.
Rediweld is also involved in the design process and helps project manage tooling. The company says it also adds value to components with secondary operations, such as machining and assembly and finally delivering parts in the right form at the right time.
Stinson Aerospace (www.stinsonaerospace.com) will use the event to introduce the latest technology in temporary, non-metallic fasteners, designed specifically for the temporary assembly of composite structures.
The company's design team developed the temporary composite fastener (TCF) to meet the demands of its aerospace assembly customers. The TCF is validated by BAE Systems and is adopted in its system for use in the assembly of its composite components and has been nominated for its Chairman's Award for Innovation. The TCF will feature prominently on the stand, with demonstrations on installation and removal of the fasteners.
Using images, samples and electronic presentations from its stand,
Vacuum Furnace Engineering (www.vfe.co.uk) will be displaying its range of services, including the supply of new equipment, redesign and refurbishment of existing systems, planned maintenance visits by its team of engineers and spare parts support within the field of thermal processing and metal joining.
VFE claims its experience in problem solving and novel engineered solutions covers all makes of equipment and all aspects of vacuum technology including vacuum heat treatment, vacuum brazing, vacuum melting & casting, diffusion bonding, vacuum sintering, electron beam welding and many other processes.
As a first-time exhibitor at Aero Engineering,
XYZ Machine Tools (www.xyzmachinetools.com) will be demonstrating three machines from its range of ProtoTRAK-equipped CNC/manual milling machines and lathes and Siemens CNC-equipped machining centres and turning machines.
This includes a 5hp variable speed head ProtoTRAK SMX 3500 bed mill; a 10hp ProTURN SLX 425 gap bed lathe; and a 20hp 710 VMC vertical machining centre. The two ProtoTRAK-equipped machine tools feature the latest generation CNC/manual control, while the 710 VMC is available with the new Siemens Sinumerik 828D conversational control.
Finally, Zuken (www.zuken.com/event-aero) will showcase a portfolio of CAD software that provides an end-to-end engineering solution for the aerospace industry. From PCB and system design with CR-5000 to electrical and fluid engineering (including harness and cable design), the company's E³.series is said to bring all the design and engineering elements together. Zuken will also focus on system-level design including electrical and electronic design, managing the change process, test and manufacturability, and documentation for the complete lifecycle.
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