Intregrated capabilities

Aerospace Manufacturing and BCI Aerospace together profile world-class aerospace industry suppliers of note.

This time around, the focus is on Naples-based Dema SpA, which as a manufacturing integrator, is aiming to expand its role as a tier one supplier to the aerospace supply chain and will be exhibiting at BCI's Aerospace Meetings Tunisia from 5-7 July.

Born in 1993 to initially serve the aerospace engineering market, in the last decade, Dema has developed expertise in composite structures, design, research with several specialities including the preparation and assembly of helicopter cabins and an experimental centre for titanium technology development in Piacenza, Italy. The company now has 650 employees across its various sites - including a specialised engineering site in Montreal and a new composite processing and assembly facility in Tunisia - and offers the capability to offer a complete, integrated product.
Dema's mission statement is ‘to be a tier one supplier for the aeronautical supply chain, as an integrator between its big international customers and the network of qualified SMEs, through an offering including engineering, manufacturing and manufacturing of complex aerostructures'.

Its most important activities include work packages for such customers as Alenia Aeronautica, Alenia Aermacchi, Airbus Military, AgustaWestland for aircraft programmes including the Boeing 787, Airbus A380, and A321, ATR 42-72 and the AgustaWestland AW139. In addition, after a first successful contract with Bombardier on its CRJ1000 programme which began in 2007, Dema has recently signed two new agreements with the Canadian manufacturer for over US$300 million to realise primary and secondary cockpit structures for the upcoming CSeries.

Agreements assigned to Dema on the CSeries involve responsibility for engineering development as well as industrialisation and manufacturing of the pilot floor, escape hatch, air-driven generator doors and nose landing gear doors. Dema will also be responsible for the industrialisation and manufacturing of the canopy and the nose landing gear box.

Vincenzo Starace, Chairman and CEO of Dema explains: “These two additional agreements with Bombardier are a further step to steadying our presence in the North American market, with commercial, engineering and R&D offices in Montreal. We're very proud to have been chosen as official supplier to one of the most exciting aircraft programs in the commercial market, especially when Bombardier is streamlining its supply chain.”
Design activities for the Joint Definition Phase have been performed with Bombardier Engineering in Montreal, with the Detailed Definition Phase involving many Italian engineers for design, stress analysis, production and assembly line work. For its part, Dema's Engineering Department has the capability for structural analysis (static, dynamic, fatigue, test support, etc), design (primary and secondary composite and metallic structures), configuration and weight management.

The CSeries programme is the first international project to involve all Dema Group sites with design and industrialisation activities carried out at its engineering offices in Italy and Canada, while the manufacturing and assembly of the components will be performed at its Italian and Tunisian plants. Another important element of Dema's activity is in R&D, with the company attaching great importance to new initiatives and activities as a way of acquiring technical knowledge and industrial innovative capabilities to be more competitive and expand into new markets. In order to achieve these goals, Dema's strategy is to cooperate with universities, research centres and other industries to share knowledge and experience. Among its projects, composite material has a special role, with the company having developed and patented a new process for the production of aerospace certified composite components. While the specifics cannot be divulged, this new process allows the production of the part in one shot and does not require the use of an autoclave, instead utilising a special tool for the control of process parameters. Products being produced this way include strakes, located on the engine nacelle to stabilise the airflow under an aircraft's wings. Usually made from aluminium, the product now consists of a sandwich structure composed of an open cell expanded polymer core coated in carbon fibre laminate.

Other fields in which Dema is involved include resin transfer moulding as well as hot forming and super plastic forming (SPF) for metallic parts. The SPF process is increasingly being used for the production of titanium components with complex shapes. Among the objectives of the research being done at Dema is the development of numerical simulation in order to acquire the capability to set-up a robust production process and to predict the critical points of an item to be formed in order to optimise its shape. Such an analytical tool for SPF allows a large reduction of the testing phase and an optimisation of the production process. Dema is also involved in the development of new composite acoustic technology for nacelle acoustic liners to produce commercially viable, high performance products. This work includes the development of new lining concepts, analytical and numerical models of these liners and coupling of these models with nacelle propagation tools. Dema Aeronautics, the Canadian subsidiary of Dema SpA, is collaborating with its partners on nacelle design, establishing fabrication capability, developing processes, producing samples and other nacelle parts; establishing quality control procedures; and evaluating feasibility of new nacelle acoustic liner concepts. Finally, Dema is also committed to the Clean Sky Green Regional Aircraft initiative in order to validate and demonstrate the technologies best fitting the challenges of pollution and noise reduction set for regional aircraft entering the market post-2020. Having already enjoyed a successful showing at BCI's Aeromart Montreal event and now seeking to gain prominence in new international markets, especially within the Mediterranean following the establishment of a plant in El Mghira, Dema will be participating at next month's Aerospace Meetings Tunisia in a joint venture with Demat. “This partnership has a strategic value as it allows us firstly to consolidate our industrial presence and also to become an important part of the Tunisian aeronautic field,” states Starace. “Considering the large investments made for this challenge, I believe that the B2B format of BCI Aerospace's Aerospace Meetings Tunisia event will be important to present our capabilities and to invite our customers to visit the new plant.” Spread over two days, the event offers customised and pre-planned B2B meetings with industry professionals from prime contractors, tier one suppliers, service providers, associations, clusters and other institutions as well as conferences, themed sessions and technology and product workshops.

www.demaspa.it Organiser of leading industry events, BCI Aerospace is the advanced business meetings – abe's specialised division for the aeronautics, space and defence sectors.

www.bciaerospace.com
 

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