The Volvo brand may be more visible on the world's roads than its aircraft, but the Swedish engine maker is a power behind all the big-name OEMs
Fly on virtually any current commercial jet with 100 seats or more and there is an excellent chance of there being a Volvo Aero-made part in the engine pushing you along. Yet while the Volvo name is synonymous with quality cars and trucks the world over, there are few even within aerospace who realise how extensive Volvo Aero's involvement is in today's engine market, and fewer still who know how fast it is growing.
Having adopted the best traditions of a famously independent nation as its strategic guiding light, Volvo Aero has a "vision to be the best partner to all the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers]", says senior vice-president Thomas Sätmark. A quick look at the spread of the company's components, products and associations appears to back this up.
Based in Trollhättan, near Gothenburg in western Sweden, Volvo Aero supports or produces components for the "big three" engine makers, as well as Snecma and Honeywell, plus parts for the seven major module, system or component players, including Italy's Avio, Germany's MTU and Spain's ITP. It also works with other component, casting and forging makers to produce parts for 17 active commercial jet programmes, six military engines, five industrial gas turbines and three rocket engines.
Commercial engines with Volvo content range from the General Electric/Snecma CFM56 and International Aero Engines V2500 to the forthcoming Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and GE GEnx. Others include the GE90-115B and Pratt & Whitney 4000, as well as the Trent 500 and 900. The company also provides maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for several civil engine families. Aftermarket business accounted for 41% of the company's SKr7.5 billion ($1.1 billion) sales in 2005, with engine components garnering the rest.
Military engines, led by the Volvo-built RM12 for the Saab JAS39 Gripen, now include both the P&W F135 and the GE/R-R F136 Joint Strike Fighter engines, the GE F404, F414 and F110, and the P&W F100, as well as military derivatives of the PW2000, CF6 and CFM56. In all, military engines accounted for 14% of total sales in 2005.
Although Volvo established its commercial business on the back of "build-to-print" contracts for all three of the major engine manufacturers, starting with the JT8D for P&W, the company's future horizon has broadened thanks to the move into "design/make" components. Under this initiative, Volvo assumes full design responsibility and becomes a true partner rather than simply a parts supplier. Build-to-print components typically include fan cases, shafts, compressor spools and cases, diffuser cases, mid-frames and disks. Design/make parts - a leap into a new era for the company - include low-pressure compressor spools/drums, intermediate pressure cases, low-pressure turbines and turbine exhaust cases.
Competent partners
"The OEMs are relying on competent partners in areas that are 'non-core', like hot and cold structures," says Sätmark. But this goes much further than simple design know-how, he adds. "This also has to be from a weight and a manufacturing point of view. If we can reduce lead time in product development as well as serial production, then that's where we've put in some effort. By these means, we've found a niche."
Volvo's special ingredient "is our ability to develop our core technology to complement those of the OEMs, and to gain acceptance to the point where we work with the complete market", he adds. "This way, we can get economies of scale where we can not only develop production to high rates, but at the same time it allows us to keep up with the development of the latest engine technologies."
Volvo's passport into these programmes is "to bring value", says Sätmark. This way, Volvo can "build up some entry barriers", he says, to prevent other, lower-cost competitors coming in and stealing business. But what is value? "It is being able to work in a fully integrated way with our partners to meet their design requirements, performance and cost to design targets," says Sätmark. "Specifically, for us, it is a focus on lightweight design, and our ability to develop manufacturing concepts that allow us to take full responsibility."
This strategy suits Volvo's ambitions well, he says, because it allows an attack on the market across a broad front. "You can either specialise and enter into a close relationship like MTU with P&W, or ITP and Rolls-Royce, or you can go non-system-specific like us and have other important characteristics."
Volvo has therefore had to defend its turf by becoming a virtual specialist in non-specific areas. "The market is getting more innovative," says Sätmark. "You have to specialise as an OEM within your core competency, but you also need competent partners to take care of the risk."
Volvo's talent, he says, is that it has been able to identify the right technology research areas in which to focus its resources and money. "It is a matter of being able to put your investment in the right kinds of technology and use synergies - like those between space, civil and military engines."
Hot and cold
This strategy dates to 1991, when Volvo Aero took the decision to focus on cold and hot structures, spools and disks, combustion cases and integrated low-pressure turbine (LPT) cases, as well as combustors and burners. But it became clear that parts of the strategy needed to change. "Today we are not focused on combustors," says research director Bengt-Olof Elfström.
"In our work with GE, P&W and Rolls-Royce, we found we could produce for them, but we couldn't design in our own technology because the OEMs wanted to use their own. We were leaders in that in Europe, so we have a special programme to transfer that technology to Rolls-Royce and Snecma. We did keep our afterburner technology in-house for the military engines," he adds.
To increase its competitiveness and grow market share, Volvo is building on its expertise in what it calls "hard" and "soft" products. Hard products refers to the technology it is developing for the components and systems of current and future engines, while soft products reflects its focus on low-cost, lean manufacturing, lean supply chain, upgradeability through modular engine design, and other initiatives.
Using its links within the larger Volvo Group, academic and industrial research facilities such as the Innovatum Teknikpark in Trollhättan, the Lindholmen Science Park in Gothenburg and the University of Luleå in northern Sweden, the company is developing an array of new design and production technologies.
One of the newest jewels in Volvo Aero's crown is a company-developed simulation tool for automated welding, which Elfström says makes it the best in the world. "A normal welding engineer would say 'I'd never do it that way', but that's the key. With the GEnx turbine exhaust case, for example, we had to develop welds that would not distort it in any way and the simulation was correct within 1/10th of a millimetre." Using the geometry of the component from a computer-aided design model, the machining software produces a deposition path for the weld. The simulation software then verifies and optimises the path, and the data is transferred to a robot via a numerical control network. The robotic welding is then performed on the production line.
But it is not only welding where automation and simulation are bringing big changes at Volvo. "There's a big need for simulation in manufacturing in general," says design engineering director Karl-David Pettersson. "As we are doing bigger production lines, we really need to be able to simulate because otherwise we tie up too much machinery during the development programme." Working from examples of Saab and Volvo automotive lines, including the Gothenburg power-train/gearbox production line, the company has developed virtual manufacturing simulation tools that are being tried out in Innovatum. Based on these trials, a lean new assembly process is expected to be introduced from 2007.
"We're investing quite heavily in these advances, not only in Trollhättan, but also in Kongsberg and Hartford [Newington]," says production senior vice-president Erling Vister. The Newington, Connecticut site was acquired in 2004 when Volvo took over Aero-Craft and its fan case work. Kongsberg in Norway was absorbed in 1999 when Volvo took a major shareholding in Norsk Jetmotor. Tasked with reducing lead time and production costs by 15-20% by 2009, Vister says the advanced production systems will play a vital role. "We're currently managing around a 5% reduction per year, so it's achievable."
Complex engineering
But Vister cautions that cost-cutting is not easy. "We are making complex parts of these engines, which means special equipment and complex engineering. The good thing is we have the infrastructure in our part of the world when it comes to education, so we have a big advantage. The general level of education and training here and at Kongsberg is very high and our focus on productivity is our way of beating our competitors. I think we'll stay ahead."
In terms of hard products for the future, Volvo Aero's technology strategy is harmonised with the European (and Rolls-Royce) Vision 5/10/20 objectives, with focus on lightweight structures and noise reduction as well as production technologies and engineering efficiency. Through European demonstrator programmes such as ANTLE III (advanced near-term low emissions) and follow-up work to CLEAN (component validator for environmentally friendly aero-engine), VIVACE (value improvement through virtual aeronautical collaborative enterprise), VITAL (environmentally friendly aero engines), a fluid mechanics/thermodynamics project called AIDA and the forthcoming European Commission Seventh Framework research programme, Volvo plans to advance its technology from a base readiness level (TRL) of 3, or concept stage, to TRL 6 or prototype demonstration stage.
Technology for Trent 1000 engines, for example, was evaluated in ANTLE and is being flowed through to production under the timescale envisaged by the Vision 5 programme. TRL 3 technology now beginning tests in Innovatum will go through AIDA, VITAL and VIVACE demonstrator phases before, Volvo hopes, becoming part of next-generation single-aisle engines under the Vision 10 timescale. Further off lie Vision 20 and plans for Trent V20, and GEN-Y concept engines aimed at follow-on 777-size aircraft.
Volvo plans to demonstrate a noise-optimised composite fan outlet guide-vane, a lightweight, high-torque, low-pressure shaft and a fabricated titanium intermediate case with improved aerodynamics through VITAL, as well as AIDA for the case. A lightweight fabricated combustor case and cooling air system will be tested as part of NEWAC (new aero-engine core concepts), a four-year, MTU-led European technology programme launched in May and aimed at cutting CO2 emissions by 6% and NOx by 17%. A lightweight, high-speed, low-pressure turbine (LPT) case and high-temperature turbine rear frame was tested under CLEAN, and a turbine midframe with "aggressive" aerodynamic shaping has been tested under AIDA.
Compressor research
Internally, Volvo is demonstrating an advanced LPT case and fabricated turbine rear frame incorporating Inconel 718 and Allvac 718 alloys. The company is already working on a low-cost titanium or aluminium fan case, in conjunction with Carlton Forge Works, the US-based strategic partner with which it is manufacturing forward fan cases, inner rings and outer guide-vane rings for the Trent 1000. As part of VITAL, Volvo is also performing research on a shorter, lightweight, high-speed, low-pressure compressor (LPC).
Virtually all these areas form research ideas being pushed by Volvo for inclusion in the forthcoming "Clean Sky" joint technology initiative (JTI) proposed by the European aeronautics industry for funding in the Seventh Framework.
In particular, the company is looking at intercase and combustor casings adapted for the intercooler being studied by MTU for the intercooler/recuperative engine concept.
Although lightweight and low-noise technologies are firmly in the plan, the jury appears to be out when it comes to more-electric power. Technologies to support counter-rotating and geared turbofans (through a formal alliance with P&W in the case of the latter) are also under way.
Faced with shrinking defence budgets, Volvo Aero has taken a leaf out of its commercial script and come up with a scheme to avoid duplication in research and development projects. It has briefed the European Defence Agency (EDA) on the concept of a pan-European military engine research initiative which, it says, could be based on the EC-funded Framework structure. Military programmes and marketing vice-president Hasse Nilsson says: "We need to organise ourselves in Europe and this is a way to make sure we position ourselves for the future instead of overlapping each other."
As with its civil research, Volvo envisages a plan involving Avio, ITP, MTU, Rolls-Royce and Snecma. It says the idea would help maintain crucial capabilities in the face of declining new programmes, as well as enable engine makers to restructure around smaller budgets.
"We may have liberated ourselves more than others," says Nilsson, conceding that the RM12 powering the Gripen is expected to be the company's last new military engine. "This way will be more cost-effective, which is what is needed," says RM12 chief engineer Magnus Bergström, adding that the military engines sector "must be based on industrial strengths and capabilities in future to make it cost-effective".
Under its existing development plans, Volvo intends to demonstrate upgrades to the RM12 in the 2010-12 timeframe that will increase thrust-to-weight (T/W) ratio by up to 15%, reduce costs by about 10% and include a lower-observable, lower-noise exhaust. The RM12++ version would be aimed at the proposed JAS39E/F, and involve a new fan, modified LPT and control system changes. Compared with re-engining options such as the Eurojet EJ200, GE F414 and Snecma M88-2, the RM12++ would have "harder risk, but lower cost", says Nilsson. Further off, beyond 2012-13, studies are under way to advance T/W ratio to 10:1 in dry thrust and 15:1 with afterburner. Vectored thrust is also under consideration for the follow-on phase.
Volvo Aero's military engines are assembled in large man-made caverns blasted out from rock 30m (100ft) below ground. A vestige of the Cold War, these bunker-like assembly areas today provide a perfectly controlled environment for the build-up of RM12 turbofans for the Gripen. So far 186 RM12s have been delivered, with production continuing at 14-16 a year. Further sales beyond the original 204 firm orders for Sweden are now guaranteed following the recent export successes of the Gripen, while work continues to improve turbine durability and/or increase thrust, says Bergström.
Volvo's advanced flameholder developed for the RM12 and F404 is also in full production, with 189 delivered on RM12s and 143 exported for use on F404s operated by Finland and Switzerland. "The flameholder is better for assembly, and more easily removed and serviced in the engine," says military sales and marketing director Peter Cederberg. "We don't really know how long it extends life yet because we have yet to destroy one after more than 1,000h in the test rig. The life cycle is more than doubled."
Space business
The importance to Volvo Aero of its space business far outweighs its relatively insignificant financial contribution of SKr170-200 million a year, or 3% of the company's overall turnover. As with other areas of the Volvo enterprise, space propulsion has seen increasing design involvement from the Swedish manufacturer, and the relatively large research and development associated with the space business represents potential spin-off opportunities in both the commercial and defence sectors.
Space also represents about 50% of European R&D spending. "If we can direct that R&D to co-invest in technology for the space business and aero-engines, we can develop good technical solutions," says Sätmark.
From the build-to-print Viking nozzle of 1974 - Volvo's first rocket work for Snecma - to the Vulcain 1 in which it took part in design, the company has seen its involvement grow to include technology development in the 1990s with the Vulcain 2 and P&W's RL60, to the patenting of film coating protection technology in this decade with the Vulcain 2+.
Leif Johansson, director space programmes, says future work is focused on involvement in the European Space Agency's upper-stage expander demonstrator engine, based on technology from the axed Vinci.
"In 2008 we hope for a decision on how to go forward with an upper-stage expander," says Johansson, who adds that a further test campaign is scheduled for 2007 in Germany using modified hardware from the original Vinci tests in 2005. Volvo made the turbopump and "these tests will be mainly used for verification of codes and methods", he says.
More uses are also sought for Volvo's mill channel/laser weld sandwich nozzle technology, tests of which could begin in late 2007, aimed at eventual use by Ariane and with Vulcain 2 specifications as the starting point. P&W is "interested in the sandwich design, and we hope to talk the Americans into using it", says Johansson. A prime target would be the P&W J2X upper-stage booster for NASA's Aries I.
Source: Flight International
