Aerospace Manufacturing reports ‘There’s a tech storm on the horizon’ in this article about BAE Systems’ plans for a Factory of the Future and its application to Tempest.
‘The aim of Tempest is to create a Future Combat Air System to replace the capabilities of the Typhoon from about 2035 for the RAF and possibly other air forces. Advanced digital technologies are being used to help design and test concepts but the digital approach will also revolutionise manufacture. BAE Systems is pushing ahead with the Factory of the Future concept, which will reduce costs and speed up production,’ says Aero Mag.
Reporting comments from Prof Andy Schofield, BAE Systems’ director of technology programmes in the air sector, “We’ve set out the need for the Factory of the Future. We have a number of technology themes which range from digital manufacturing to intelligent automation to competitive tooling and fixturing and additive manufacture.
According to Aero Mag, BAE Systems has technology roadmaps which will really start to push the boundaries in these areas. The Factory of the Future will pull together all these technologies in collaboration with 50-plus partners from companies such as Siemens down to SMEs that have a dozen or so employees.
“Industry 4.0 is right at the heart of what we do. It’s all about how we gain advantage from the Internet of Things and how we generate data and, more importantly, how we use it. This is a key national agenda of how we develop these technologies,” Schofield is reported to say.
Read more about BAE’s plans for automation here.
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