U.K. Opens COMPASS Facility, Supercharging Aerospace Composites Manufacturing Efforts

The COMPASS facility. Source (All Images) AMRC

On July 16, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC, Sheffield, U.K.) officially opened Composites at Speed and Scale (COMPASS), its £54 million open-access R&D facility, built on two decades of the AMRC’s industrially relevant composites and automation research.

The COMPASS facility is designed to de-risk and accelerate high-rate, large-scale composite production, serving as critical national infrastructure to meet global aircraft demand, and unlocking the advanced capabilities required to manufacture large-scale aerostructures faster and more efficiently within the U.K.

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“This project has been a true collaborative effort,” says Prof. Ben Morgan, CEO at the University of Sheffield AMRC. “My sincere thanks go to the government’s ATI Programme, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and the University of Sheffield, alongside our technology and research partners Loop and Boeing as we embark on our first landmark project together.”

Boeing (Arlington, Va., U.S.) is the open-access facility’s first user, housing the largest research program it has ever delivered in the U.K, the Isothermic High-Rate Sustainable Structures (IHSS) project. Backed by funding through the ATI Programme, IHSS aims to revolutionize production efficiency, reducing large component manufacturing times from approximately 40 hours down to just 4. It is dedicated to developing and testing new technologies needed to meet future demand for lighter commercial aircraft and help the aviation industry’s commitment reach net zero by 2050. It builds on Boeing’s longstanding commitment to the U.K., and to South Yorkshire specifically, following the opening of its first European manufacturing facility in Sheffield in 2018. 

Loop Technology (Dorchester, Bristol and Sheffield, U.K.) is a key partner in both the COMPASS facility and the Boeing-led IHSS project. The company’s FibreLINE robotic preforming system enables ultra-high-rate composites manufacturing, increasing efficiency for manufacturing large aerospace components. In addition, Loop serves as the robotic systems integrator, ensuring seamless integration and operation of all the equipment as a fully sequenced, end-to-end manufacturing solution 

To meet soaring global production targets and achieve the U.K.’s net-zero ambitions, the manufacturing industry must move beyond traditional, manual processes. COMPASS addresses this head-on by combining advanced composites with Industry 4.0 digital technologies — including closed-loop machine vision and digital twin modeling — that reduce material waste, component weight and defects while optimizing cycle times.

By proving these capabilities at TRL 6, the facility de-risks high-rate manufacturing for the entire supply chain. It also removes the high cost-barriers of advanced industrial equipment, enabling U.K. companies — including SMEs — to develop more efficient manufacturing solutions so they can compete within global supply chains.

Key to this is the state-of-the-art equipment within COMPASS funded through a £29.5 million grant from the ATI Programme, a partnership between the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), Department for Business and Trade and Innovate UK.

The unprecedented scale of the facility centers around Langzauner’s (Lambrechten, Austria) resin transfer molding (RTM) press — reportedly the “world’s largest for integral aerostructural parts” — boasting a 2,400-tonne pressing force and a tool size of up to 10 × 3 meters. 

Operating adjacent to a 21.4-meter Zünd (Altstätten, Switzerland) cutting table, the cell features an automated FibreLINE deposition system developed by Loop. Here, two 5-meter FibreFORM grippers handle the delicate material, mounted on two of FANUC’s (Oshino-mura, Japan and Rochester Hills, Mich., U.S.) largest industrial robots and supported by three additional FANUC robots. This five-robot fleet operates along an 85-meter track, leveraging real-time sensor data to dynamically adjust to material behavior during the high-rate build process.

Furthermore, the innovations developed here will extend far beyond aviation, helping the wider U.K. industry adopt sustainable, cost-effective component solutions across the defense, renewable energy, transport and urban air mobility sectors.