GKN has won funding for a composites manufacturing and research centre as part of a government initiative to boost the UK's expertise in the technology.
Trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt announced at Farnborough that GKN's site would be the first in a £30 million ($45.2 million) network of centres aimed at developing composite technologies for the aerospace and automotive industries.
The GKN centre will focus on automated manufacturing. The other sites will be at Airbus in Filton (advanced structures) ; The Welding Institute in South Wales (non-destructive testing) ; and in Yorkshire, where Sheffield University and Boeing will collaborate on machining and joining.
GKN's research centre - to be built near its Cowes plant - will employ 20 engineers. An adjoining composites manufacturing facility, which does not get funding, will employ 100 people and make the Airbus Military A400M composite wing spar.
Vought will next month announce the location of a new factory to build fuselage sections and the horizontal stabiliser for the Boeing 7E7. The Dallas, Texas-based structures manufacturer says several US states are bidding to provide funding for the centre, which must be near a port so products can be taken to Seattle by sea if necessary.
Source: Flight International
