Hello,
I have made an Vlogg for you to watch – Hope you like it.
If you are in UK and want to visit the Farnborough International Airshow come by the 15th of July, I will be there. If you prefere I provide you with a link and you can follow the worlds biggest aviation exhibition thru social media – click here!
Warmest regards and i wish you a happy vacation time or summerbreak, dont forget the sunscreen..
//Gustav
Regards,
Gustav
A while ago, I moved to the homeland of the great wall, the panda and the hoverboard, that is to say; China. It is with great admiration and respect that I have settled in this ancient country which population represents a fifth of the world population and which economy is the second largest in the world. Just by reading these figures, you get an understanding that this is a country with big numbers.
With a population of approximately 24 million, my city of residency, Shanghai, is ranked as one of the world´s largest cities. The city has, like most other major Chinese cities, enjoyed a steady growth because of the ongoing urbanization. During the past 30 years, 300 million people have moved into the cities, and another 350 million are estimated to leave the rural areas and move into the cities in the upcoming years.
Something that tends to reach ever higher levels as cities grow is the air pollution levels. With increasing urbanization, water and electricity consumption per capita rises, which in turn means that more electricity from China´s coal plants is needed. This combined with the fact that more and more people can afford to buy their own car leads to increased problems with air pollution in the big cities.
However, urbanization also has positive consequences. Because of higher paying jobs in the urban areas, more and more people are lifted into the economic middle class. This allows for higher consumption of products and services, which in turn results in improved business prospects for both national and international companies.
In summary, it can be concluded that China is a country with large numbers on several different levels, and where the trend indicates that future figures will be even higher.
Besides working, me and Linn have had the opportunities to go on study visits to GKN SItes and suppliers around California. Here follows a short
We’ve been to GKN in El Cajon, together with high school students and teachers from GKN in Trollhättan. The site is also part of the Engine Systems division and manufacture products similar to those made in Sweden. This includes cold and hot structures, static and rotating parts, from turbine blades to giant fan cases. One of their processes, called chemical milling, is rather unique and is used to manufacture ribs, reinforcements and flanges in sheets and complex designs. The process’s high removal rate through etching is the result of baths with strong and hot acid, which have required rigorous controls to maintain permission to use it.
[A picture from our visit to Camarillo will be added soon :O ]I and Linn have also been to Carlton Forge Works outside Los Angeles. As suggested by the name their main business is forging, large and difficult forgings like turbine cases, fan cases (those later machined in El Cajon), spools and flanges for their biggest customer, GKN Aerospace. The forgings are huge and so are hammers, presses and rollers.
TIMET refines and manufactures titanium alloy products, primarily to the aerospace industry. Located in Henderson, close to Las Vegas, is their plant for extracting titanium from rutile ore, which we got to visit last month. Through a series of stages the pure titanium is separated from titanium oxide, reacted to chlorine, distilled and combined with magnesium. The product is a large, porous cylinder (titanium sponge) and has thus far required a lot of energy. Luckily, the plants location in the middle of the desert is also close to the Colorado River and the electricity producing Hoover Dam.
Next week, we’ll be going to the small GKN factory in Camarillo, west of Los Angeles, where they form sheet metal exclusively using metal spinning. The sheet metal is clamped onto a mandrel and, while rotating, is pressed with a roller tool against a die. The formed components (lip skins) sit in front of the fan and protect the inlet from impacts, abrasion and heat from the anti-ice air supply.
I need to go and prepare for the upcoming celebration of the Independence Day. Have a nice weekend!
Mikael
We’ve reached June and week 6 of our assignment abroad. As been stated in previous blog posts me and my colleague Mikael are currently doing our abroad assignment in Santa Ana, California. GKN Aerospace acquired Astech, Santa Ana in 2002. It is a site specialized in welded honeycomb structures for both commercial and military applications. There are several reasons why to choose the Welded Honeycomb Sandwich material. It is light weight, noise suppression, durable and repairable. The products developed and manufactured here GKN Santa Ana can be found on several different aircrafts, examples are the engine exhaust on Boeing 747-8 and Thrust Reverser Inner Wall for 737 max. Me and Mikael are participating in several project here in Santa Ana, one of them is for the 737 program, where we’re a part of the Welding Developing Team. The project aims to develop a new method for weld preparing. The other big project we’re a part of is in collaboration with our colleagues at R&D in Trollhättan. This project aims to find new applications for the honeycomb manufactured here.
It’s time for a report from the US and my temporary hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio (Midwest USA). GKN Aerospace has three factories in Cincinnati which, as well as in Trollhättan, produces parts for commercial aircraft engines, military aircraft engines as well as parts for the US space industry. I will spend my time here working within the civilian engine programs, in contrast to my time within space in Trollhättan – which will be a very exciting learning experience! I have so far developed a program which analyzes the data from the measuring machine to examine if there are any values out of tolerances and where these are located at the parts. Even though I love to cave down in Microsoft Excel’s lovely world of Visual Basic, it may be more interesting to hear about how daily life is here compared to life home in Sweden?
During these three months I will live in an apartment at an apartment hotel with about 5 minutes of drive to work. When I finally landed here in Cincinnati and was about to check in I asked at the front desk if I can take a walk to some place nearby for lunch. The answer I got says everything about the lifestyle here – “Well… Maybe it is possible to walk, but it’s much easier for you to take the car, it’s so close and easy to find the way there!” Well, yeah, OK. So I took my car the 300 meters to have some lunch. Later that evening I defied the American style and took a walk that 300 meters to have some take away food back to the room. It was totally fine to walk, but I had to cross the parking lots since the sidewalks are more or less nonexistent and the people looked at me as if I was an alien.
Something that fascinates me a lot is that everything are and looks just like it does in the movies. The houses looks like they do in the American series, the roads as well. The cars and the parking lots are nearly twice as large as in Sweden, school buses are as yellow as in the movies (and looks to be from the mid-1900s) and the police cars looks like the Sheriff joke once available in comedies (or maybe I just misunderstood everything and the cars in the movies are not a joke itself). The food portions are as big as I had imagined, and getting a take away box of the leftovers from the plate is something that you don’t even need to ask for, you will most certainly have it automatically independent how fancy the restaurant is.
So what do I think after spending almost four weeks in the country where everything is possible? The lifestyle is fantastic, if you live in the moment! The food is wonderful, the weather fascinating (one weekend 9°C and rain, the next weekend 30°C and sunshine – something similar to Swedish midsummer), Americans are extremely polite and pleasant and the shopping is lovely! But I can’t help but admit that it is not a sustainable way of living; neither for me personally, the people in my surroundings or the environment. But that is not a discussion I dare to take right now, more about that some other time.
I conclude with a picture from Cincinnati Skyline. Take care!
Together with Mikael, I have now arrived on the American west coast and we love the California weather! We’ve made our first adventure in the Los Angeles traffic, visiting Hollywood and Griffith Park.
We’ve also started working on our new assignment at the Santa Ana site. This will definitely be a great summer!
One part of GKN Aerospace is working, as familiar, within the space industry in the European space program Ariane. Ariane is a European series of rockets for launch of primarily satellites. The active rocket today is Ariane 5 where GKN manufactures exhaust nozzle and turbines for the first-stage engine, Vulcain 2. Right now the development of the next generation, Ariane 6, is in full progress here at the company since Ariane 6 soon will be launched and GKN will be even more involved in multiple parts, but more on that topic another time.
Why do we think that it is so important to work within the space industry here in Trollhättan and Sweden? Why should we to send up even more rockets into space? Where does space begin? How powerfull is a rocket engine? Is it really “rocket science” ?? There are many questions, but the answers are even more interesting!
Space is, at least for me, a very vague expression. Where does space begin? Actually, space is not that far away, it is enough to go about 100 km straight up to be in space. That means if you drive in a normal car, it takes about an hour to reach space! But it is actually not that easy. However, if we want to go further away, like to the moon, we have to run several months in the car, the moon is about 384,400 km away and the sun is 150 million km away (crazy far away).
But why don’t we take the car or an airplane up in space? It is because both the car and the jet engine in the airplane are dependent on air, which means that a different type of engine must be used for a space rocket. The rocket engine combusts hydrogen and oxygen where the exhaust from the engine has a very high speed and will thereby send the rocket with an equally strong force in the opposite direction, according to Newton’s third law. During a launch, it takes enormous amounts of fuel (175 tons or 500 000 liters), which all is stored inside the rocket. The rocket has a total weight of 700 tons, when launched from Earth. When the first stage engine, Vulcain 2 in this case, has started and everything looks good, the booster engines at the sides will be started as well. After about 50 km (halfway to space) these boosters are released and will be landing in the sea and picked up by boat, and the rocket continues into space with the power from Vulcain 2. When the rocket is in space, after 100 km, the satellites are no longer exposed to the same environmental stresses and the protective covers are now able to be released to save weight, which is of highest interest to minimize fuel consumption. After more than 150 km is the first-stage engine, including the “fuel tank”, released and the second stage engine is now used for last leg before the satellite reaches its orbit and exact position. After about 35 minutes of flight only the payloads, the satellites, remains which has a total weight of about 7 tons. This corresponds to 1% of the total weight of the rocket as it leaves the earth. 1% payload. Even here it is possible to imagine the challenges of developing a rocket and all its components. 1% margin of error is very little, and this is impossible – a miscalculation of 1% would surely mean that there is no room at all for the actual payload. Maybe it is, among other things, this called rocket science?
Here is a video of a launch of a Ariane 5:
Why are we so willing to invest so much money, energy and time on developing those rockets? Think about how many times each day you are using a satellite. Perhaps, you are using a mobile phone with all the features; checking social media, reading the magazine online, checking the weather – all of this is directly dependent on satellites and its function.
But you are using the satellite services even when you are looking at the news on the TV, using the GPS function while driving or paying with a debit card at the grocery store, or when you want to see real-time on the buses in the app (in your mobile, which uses the Internet ) … Well, I think you get it. Space is simply incredibly cool! Obviously, we have to continue working with it and develop the future! What would we do without our lovely satellites?
As part of my role at GKN, I am frequently in a position to discuss with investors, analysts, customers and our GKN teammates what I find to be exciting about our company, both today and in the future. I often speak of the great products that we make, the complex technologies that we employ and the interesting markets that we service in Aviation, Space & Defense. As many who have spent time with me know, I am somewhat passionate about our business and the impact that we make around the world; whether it is supporting the launching of satellites, enabling commercial aircraft to transport the world’s population or providing solutions to the military services for the protection of our citizens. In the end of these discussions, I always find myself coming back to most important thing that makes us successful – our people.
As we at Engine Systems look to the future, we put a great deal of effort in creating a long term investment strategy that will enable us to sustain and grow our market leadership position by providing:
What may not be so apparent is the work that we are doing to identify initiatives and investments focused on making our company a business that will be an exciting place to work for future generations.
Although GKN is entering our 257th year in business, most people around the world are not familiar with us and what we do. Over the last several years, GKN, in particular, our Aerospace Division, has focused on our branding to make our company more visible in the regions and markets where we operate. We have become more active in the press, social media, trade publications, Aerospace business organizations and at many educational institutions. It is important that the current and next generation of future employees know of our company and the exciting things that we do so that we can continue to attract the best people.
In addition to improving our ability to find new talent, we must also have a safe, positive work environment fostering personal and professional growth such that our employees want to continue to stay in our business for their careers. Key initiatives and investments in this area are focused on:
More so than ever, I see a very bright future for Engine Systems and GKN Aerospace. Together we are making it happen, each and every day.
Production methods and processes are constantly evolving. New technologies and innovations enable more efficient and safer manufacturing processes at the same time as the complexity of the product design can be increased. Within GKN, we are at the forefront in areas such as Additive Manufacturing and are always open to investing in equipment that improve our employees’ health and safety. Below are some trends and future visions for industrial production.
Additive Manufacturing has in recent years been a hot and hyped-up production technology which is expected to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. The method enables the production of complex structures, opening up new, previously unthinkable, possibilities for designers. GKN invests heavily in the development of this technology, especially in Filton, GB, where the company’s center of excellence for Additive Manufacturing is located. The aim with this center is to accelerate the development of the technology and to be well prepared when the demand of parts manufactured by the method increases.
Automation of industrial production is something that has been going on for a long time. Equipment ranging from conveyor belts to welding robots have moved in to the workshops over the years and facilitated the work for the employees. So far, robots have mostly been working in cages to avoid causing any damage. However, the current trend is to remove the cages and let the robots interact with humans. This means that humans and robots can help each other and perform work on a detail in parallel. To maintain safety, the robots are equipped with for example cameras and sensors, and are thus able to track their environment at the same time as the employees are able to communicate with the robot through gestures.
Safety and health is an important area for GKN, why for example safety shoes and safety glasses are required in our workshops. To avoid ergonomic injuries, trainings in for example lifting techniques are offered by the company. However, there is still room for improvement in this area, like it is in most fields. One aid that may decrease the risk of ergonomic injuries is the so-called exoskeleton. An exoskeleton can be described as a mechanical structure that is attached to the body. The skeleton is designed to follow the human movement and assist when for example conducting heavy lifts.
Overall, it looks like that the rapid pace of development and the focus on automation in the production area will continue, and robots will be an increasingly common sight in the workshops.
This Friday GKN Aerospace Engine Systems in Trollhättan participated in a project called IGEday, Introduce a Girl to Engineering-day. A day that has been planned by some of our female engineers for a couple of weeks.
This morning, Friday May 18th, we welcomed around 60 girls from a local high school and told them about how it is to work as an engineer in a technology-intensive company in the aerospace industry. The girls were later divided into smaller groups and got to try different engineering tasks. One group had a tour of the production and was introduced to the work as Manufacturing Engineer. Group number two visited the Materials Lab and got to see the kind of work done by our materials and chemical engineers. The third group was introduced to the work done regarding design, both solid mechanics- and CFD calculations and CAD.
All engineers working with this project are very happy with the day and hope that all the girls are too!
I would like to thank everyone involved at GKN for the support and commitment. Above, you can see a picture of some of our girls here at the company that took part in the day.
Have a nice weekend everyone!