GKN Aerospace breaks ground on UK Global Technology Centre

GKN Aerospace (Redditch, U.K.) has announced 25 collaboration partners for the 10,000-square-meter UK Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bristol expected to be completed and open in 2020. The center is funded by a £17 million commitment from GKN Aerospace and £15 million commitment from the U.K. government, through the ATI Programme. It will be GKN Aerospace’s largest U.K. technology investment to date, announced in December 2018 as part of a record annual technology spend of £75 million for GKN Aerospace and alongside the U.K. government’s Aerospace Sector Deal.

The center will focus on additive manufacturing (AM), advanced composites, assembly and Industry 4.0 processes, in an effort to enable higher-rate production of aircraft structures and develop technology for the next-generation of energy-efficient aircraft. The facility will serve as a base for GKN Aerospace’s technology partnership in the Airbus’ ”Wing of Tomorrow” technology program as well as new additive manufacturing industrialization programs.

“We are proud to have taken the next step in the UK GTC development with our groundbreaking in April, and we are excited that so many partners have joined us,” says John Pritchard, CEO of GKN Aerospace.

“Our GTC is designed to support GKN Aerospace’s U.K. workforce and close collaboration with the world-class U.K. aerospace ecosystem, building on joint expertise, talent and infrastructure. A great example of the U.K.’s industrial strategy approach, the GTC will take aerospace innovation to the next level and ensure that the U.K. aerospace industry will continue to operate at the forefront of global aerospace,” Pritchard adds.

In addition to GKN Aerospace and Aerospace Technology Institute, the collaboration partners at the GTC now include:

• the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC; Sheffield, U.K.),
• Additive Industries B.V. (Eindhoven, Netherlands),
• ANSYS UK Ltd. (Sheffield, U.K.),
• ATS Applied Tech Systems Ltd. (Warwickshire, U.K.),
• Axillium Research (Daventry, U.K.), 
• Blue Bear Systems Research Ltd. (Bedford, U.K.),
• Centre for Modelling & Simulation (Maharashtra, India),
• Digital Catapult (London, U.K.), ​​
• Exechon Enterprises L.L.C. (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates),
• Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd. (Dorking, U.K.),
• KUKA Industries UK Ltd. (Wednesbury, U.K.),
• Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC; Coventry, U.K.),
• Materialise UK Ltd. (Rotherham, U.K.),
• National Composites Centre (NCC; Bristol, U.K.),
• PXL Realm Ltd.,
• Renishaw plc (Gloucestershire, U.K.),
• Siemens Industry Software Ltd. (Waltham, Mass., U.S.),
• Thales UK Ltd. (Bristol, U.K.),
• Theta Technologies Ltd.,
• TriMas Aerospace,
• University of Bath,
• University of Birmingham,
• University of Bristol,
• University of Sheffield and
• University of the West of England.