Secure Supply Through Innovation (SUSTAIN)

Commercial aviation has been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with significant production disruption combined with decreased demand leading to deferral of aircraft orders. While this will be felt across the industry, SMEs are particularly vulnerable and job losses are expected throughout the sector. To reduce the impact on jobs and market share, AML are proposing a technology development project to help secure both new and existing work supplying critical wear parts for commercial aircraft.

AML currently manufactures and supplies advanced bearing products to an aerospace prime and is on the cusp of securing a further major supply agreement with this customer. These products are wear parts on commercial aircraft engines and require replacing on every repair and overhaul visit for every engine in service. The package that AML currently supplies covers both new and older aircraft, particularly those commonly used for freight aircraft, a key sector in the face of the pandemic.

As these components are split bearings, the existing process involves an initial wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) split operation. The two halves are then glued together and finish machined, leading to increased cycle times and lead times. If the part could be machined as a complete part and then split at the end, this would drastically increase the overall efficiency of the process.

To achieve this, this proposal seeks to develop micro- wire EDM technology for this application. This represents substantial innovation owing to the challenges involved in using such unusually thin wire, on tough, hard materials, to very tight tolerances. Successful implementation will result in reduced lead times, increased efficiency and negation of the risks surrounding glue supply.

The immediate impact expected is the protection of jobs and market share at AML, as well as the safeguarding of the supply of advanced bearings for commercial and freight aircraft. In the medium to long term, the development of such novel techniques for manufacture of these parts will put AML and the UK in a strong position to maintain their standing in the aerospace industry in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The project extension will provide AML the capability to leverage benefits not only in the commercial aerospace market sector but also within the defence sector too. This involves transferring the innovative wire EDM technology to a new bearing range on a defence product. The impact of this will further secure work for AML in a diversified sector on a complex product line, and allow the company to continue to grow despite the current effects of Covid 19.