the Environmental Lightweight Fan Programme

GKN are seeking capital funding of £7.4 million from SEEDA to support the establishment of a preproduction
facility to manufacture aircraft engine fan blades from advanced composite material and
enable ongoing development of the 'Centre of Excellence for Composite Design and Manufacture' on the
Isle of Wight. This activity forms part of the Environmental lightweight Fan (ELF) Programme which
focuses on the significant challenges surrounding the acquisition and development of novel automated
manufacturing processes, suitable for high volume production of the composite fan blade.
This investment would be in the context of:
• Previous investment made by SEEDA on the Isle of Wight supporting the development of a high
technology design and manufacturing composite facility by GKN (SEEDA contribution £1.25m in
2004), which has supported activity leading to the ELF Programme, and further SEEDA support
amounting to £180k in 2007 to part fund the 'Manufacturing Efficiency of Composite Wings' under
the Integrated Wing Programme of the National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS).
Together these have enabled GKN to start to build the 'Centre of Excellence for Composite
Design and Manufacture' at its site on the Isle of Wight; the ELF Programme activity would
contribute further to the development of this Centre of Excellence;
• The ELF programme as a whole will run from 2007 through to 2015 split into four phases, through
from material development to finalisation of the manufacturing process. The whole programme is
costed at £54m to conclusion, and £43.8m through to the end of the third phase. Half of the
funding up until the end of the third phase will be provided by 'CTAL' (which is a Joint Venture of
GKN and Rolls Royce), and the other half would be from the public sector, namely SEEDA and
the Technology Strategy Board ('TSB'). Although CTAL are delivering the ELF programme as a
whole, GKN are taking the lead responsibility for the establishment of the pre-production facility.
Of the £7.4m SEEDA investment, £2.65m would be towards the construction of the pre-production facility
and £4. 75m would be towards the purchase and installation of the capital equipment required.