Aerobloggen

On Thursday the 3^rd of March it was time for our meeting with Nigel Stien, CEO of GKN plc at GKN’s office Pall Mall in London. We had a very relaxed and interesting meeting with Nigel, where he told us about his career, what his journey has been like and which turns it has taken. Nigel pointed out how important it is to take the chances, since everything is not possible to predict and plan and that the opportunities will come, you need to be patient and he pointed the importance of always do your job well for each moment. Furthermore, we discussed a lot about leadership and the importance of balance in life, something I personally think is incredibly important and crucial in the long run (but of course it’s easier to say than to actually carry out in practice). Besides this, we talked a lot about future issues; such as were GKN stands in a few years, the challenges Nigel sees within the company and the aerospace industry in general.

One topic that interests me extraordinary is how the company attracts women to the engineering profession; it became evident that also Nigel finds that as a hot topic. Something that was noticed throughout the study trip was that we in Sweden have come relatively far in that field; here at GKN in Trollhättan you are rarely the only girl in the room – although the majority are still men. For me it is important and good to hear that the management, even at such a high level, values gender equality and is prepared to work actively in the question.

After an intensive study visit week, which went too quick and was incredibly fun, we are back in business in Trollhättan again and I have just started my final internship here in Trollhättan before heading off abroad – more about that later.

I would like to finish with a quote from Nigel Stein:

”Enjoy what you are doing. You need to love your whole life.”

Here comes another part of the story of our trip to and through England. Our first visit was Western Approach, the GKN site in the outskirts of Bristol. There we got to see their production of wing spars in spacious buildings and new machines. Spars are load bearing structures of wings seen in the figure on the right. Anyway, the production was, at the time of visit, focused on Airbus’s new A350 program and the military transport aircraft A400M Atlas (turboprop).

Producing the spars begins with a technique called Advanced Fiber Placement (AFP), in which tows of epoxy impregnated carbon fibers are robotically placed onto a mandrel. Layer upon layer of strategically placed material, reinforces the structure where it’s needed and minimizes the weight of the finished product. To get rid of porosities and promote complete bonding between fibers and epoxy, a pressurized oven (an autoclave) is used for the hardening process. Defects are checked for before painting seals the surface and the deal.

The composite spar structures are machined to dimensions and drilled for the installation of connecting parts, such as landing gear brackets and wing flap mounts. The assembly here avoids static fixtures which traditionally are used for such large parts. Instead, movable jigs skid along the building floor from one process step to the next and saves requirements for machine duplicates etc.

Similarly to Western Approach, another subject of visit and site in Bristol (or Filton) also works with the production and assembly of wing structures. The Filton plant manufactures the wing ribs, the parts perpendicular to the spars which define the shape of the wing (see figure). The ribs are CNC milled from thick base material slabs down to shin sheets with incorporated stiffeners to increase rigidity and reduce weight.

The costly yet necessary waste of material and generous time spent in machines has awakened the attention for a manufacturing technique on the rise. 3D-printing or Additive Manufacturing, as it’s referred to less populisticly, offers the possibility to form the stiffeners right onto the sheet product, thus potentially could save a lot of material and machining compared to conventional fabrication. Investments in the technology have resulted in the Centre of Excellence of the so called powder bed process at the site in Filton. Here, fabricated models show how changes in the design enables optimized structures for existing components, but the full potential of the technique requires redesign of interdependent structures, bluntly the whole aircraft.

Our last visit of our trip was the Imperial College where the Department of Aeronautics conducts research on Additive Manufacturing. We met with Dr Francesco Montomoli, Dr Rob Hewson and some of their postgraduates, who presented ongoing studies in the field. They work on design and manufacturing of aerospace products through Additive Manufacturing, but also development of programs that are able to disregard design restrictions, set by earlier means of production. With new possibilities, the solution to future problems (design of aircrafts) may come from AM.

Last week we, the graduate engineers were on a study visit trip, as Gustav wrote about in the previous post. After the visit at Airbus in Toulouse, we flew over to England and our first stop, Bristol. On Tuesday we made a day trip to Birmingham where we visited GKN Driveline Birmingham. Here we met Alicia Wilson, HR, and Niel Geldard-Williams, Plant Director GKN Birmingham. Niel made a presentation about Driveline in general and more detailed about the factory in Birmingham where the drive shafts and prop shafts are manufactured to several different automobile manufacturers worldwide. We learned more about how the shafts are working, their function and about the manufacturing process of the different shafts.

We had a shop tour where we got the opportunity to see how the shafts were manufactured, from entering as steel bars to drive / prop shafts. The factory in Birmingham is a modern factory which produces a total of around 53 000 bar shafts per week in 98 different versions. We all enjoyed the tour and it was especially interesting to see and compare the differences between the high-volume production in Birmingham with our low-volume production here in Trollhättan.

The trainees is back home from a tour in France and England. We have made many exciting visit. Airbus, Filton, Bristol, Birmingham, London, Imperial College and Pall Mall – where we conversed with GKN plc’s CEO.

I’ll tell you a little more about the Airbus visit. Friday, March 29, we visited Airbus in Toulouse a giant plant which makes the final assembly of newly built aircraft and sell to customers for example Qatar Airways.

Toulouse is the home of Airbus Group headquarters, comprising many support and strategic functions (customer relations, supply management, human resources, marketing, sales & communications, finance and more).

We were well received by Technical Executive Assistant to SVP – Head of A350XWB Central Program Management. We got an update of the A350 program, threats and opportunities. A quick spin of GKN difficulties as a supplier to Airbus in the mentioned program before we went out and looked at the assembly for A350 – 900 / -1000 two different size models. After that we went on a tour in their testing facility where they test software and hardware in simulators. A rig called the “Iron Bird” is a kind of combination test for hardware and software – wings and flight computers.

Toulouse is also a site for many Airbus Group Divisions. It is the production location for numerous Airbus aircraft (including the A320, A350 XWB and A330), has facilities dedicated to cabin furnishing and painting, and is home to the A380’s final assembly line and flight preparation. Airbus has a wide range of activities in Toulouse: engineering (general design, systems and integration tests, definition of the structure), structural testing, materials processes development, systems organisation, flight tests, architecture & general design, integration tests and systems, propulsion, structural design and computation as well as aircraft painting and delivery. The Airbus Training Centre also provides many training opportunities of all categories (flight crews, maintenance staff, cabin attendants, and performance and operational staff).

Those who are eager to experience similar things the Toulouse facility has guided tours for tourists.

We have been to Linköping again, this time on a study visit at SAAB! The visit was interesting, not only due to my lack of knowledge about what SAAB is doing.

First we were greeted by Emelie and Johannes, two of SAABs friendly young graduates, and introduced through a company presentation. Turns out SAAB is not only manufacturing JAS 39 Gripen, the military fighter aircraft, but works with “security solutions in civil and military applications”. And, not just in aerospace but on land and at sea as well. They work with everything from submarines (since 2014 and the requisition of Kockums :O> ) to commercial airplanes, from traffic management to camouflage, from military utilities to prison safety. They do a lot, check out their website and try finding something they don’t.

Back to the study visit. Our time there focused on the Aeronautics division, which works with airborne systems, and JAS 39 Gripen (one such system). Therefore, we got an exciting tour of the production and the assembly line of Gripen, passing through single component joining all the way to the finished airplanes. The tour was followed by a presentation of the history and developments of the aircraft, before we were ready to buckle up and take it for a ride. That is, in a virtual environment, a simulation developed by SAAB and enhanced by Rapid Mapping, their technique of digitally reproduce the landscape with high precision from data collected in field (pretty neat!).

Because the site is a military compound protected by regulations, we weren’t able to take any pictures from there. Actually, I’m not even allowed to tell you about the facili

 

Lit sign in dark Linköping (at least an attempt)

Every year GKN Aerospace Engine Systems offer more than 60 master theses which means that there are a lot of master thesis students at our site here in Trollhättan. If you’re searching for one, you can find our current openings at this webpage.

During 2015 two of our students, Amanda Nilsson Mäkikaltio och Lisa Ronstad, received an award for the best master thesis within Quality and Business development. Amanda and Lisa did their work at the department”Quality Management System & Support”.

We would like to congratulate Amanda, Lisa and their supervisors here at GKN for this great work.

During the trainee program here at GKN Aerospace Engine Systems there is training scheduled. These trainings include personal development and opportunities to improve leadership skills. Study visits at other GKN sites and other companies are also included in these trainings. This Monday the trainee group together with our supervisor at HR went to visit Fokker in at their site in Papendrecht, Netherlands. Fokker was acquired by GKN Aerospace in 2015. During the day we did a big shop tour and trainees from both GKN Aerospace Engine Systems and Fokker made presentations about each trainee program.

It was very interesting to visit the production at Fokker, it differs a lot from the production in Trollhättan. The GKN site in Trollhättan is a part of Engine Systems and fabricates parts for jet engines, in Papendrecht they perform mounting and manufacture big structures to airplanes. Fokker is a former OEM (Original Equipment Manufaturer). Fokker does not manufacture airplanes anymore but there are still some Fokker airplane flying which they perform service on.

A picture from the visit can be seen below.

The time flies by when you have fun. Another trainee rotation has passed and a new initiated. The time at the Supply Chain department has been fruitful and I have worked with supplier assurance, continuous improvement and the elimination process. To understand how we manage our suppliers, problems that may occur and how much work is needed to get products with right the quality and on time is definitely something I will take with me.

Next rotation is at the Commercial department where I will work with visualization of new bids and creation of a database to follow-up our business cases. As you can notice, as a trainee one has many opportunities for varied projects within different functions in order to get a holistic understanding of the business. Besides all the interesting projects linked to the business, GKN Aerospace actively contribute to a better society. The trainees have started a new initiative called RiHi (The Refugee integration Hub initiative) with the vision to ease refugees, with engineering background, integration into the Swedish society by acting as a liaison between refugees and the business community. Read more about the initiative on Facebook or e-mail us on info.rihi@gmail.com.

Are YOU interested in undertaking a similar journey and to make a difference in GKN Aerospace whilst having the opportunity to contribute to a better society? Apply for the Trainee program by Clicking Here! If you want to know more you can contact us or visit us at on of the major labor fairs LARV, LARM or CHARM. GKN Aerospace will be in Luleå and exhibiting on LARV the 20th of January.

Come and talk to us!

Exploring new territories and understanding our surroundings has always been in man’s interest. Throughout history, scientists have mapped the flora and fauna, adventurers have climbed mountains and explored uncharted terrain, while researchers have attempted to explain different phenomenon. This motivation to discover the unknown is also what drives the space industry. However, many wonder if it is worth the more than 300 billion US dollars that are spent on the space industry every year, where about a quarter of the funds come from governmental resources.

Among the arguments used to defend the space industry and prove its necessity, is the dream of being able to establish a human civilization on Mars in the event of a disaster like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, that it is a peaceful venue for international cooperation, and that it serves as a stimulus for children and youths to enter the field of science and technology. If this is meaningful arguments or not, I leave unsaid, but what can be said is that space research has led to several more or less important discoveries that have benefitted mankind.

The technology behind the infrared ear thermometer is an example of how technology developed in connection with space research has been used in a commercial product. Through the knowledge of how to measure the temperature of stars and planets, NASA could in cooperation with Diatec Corporation develop a handy thermometer that measures temperature by detecting the amount of energy emitted from the eardrum. Also the freeze dried food technology derives from the space industry. During the preparations for the Apollo missions, NASA tried to find a way to reduce the weight of food while the nutritional content stayed the same. By cooking food, rapidly freeze it and then slowly thaw it in a vacuum chamber, it was discovered that it is possible to reduce the weight of the food by 80 percent while 98 percent of the nutrients are preserved.

Also today, the space industry generates technologies that can improve people’s everyday life. Among the new technologies that have been developed but not yet commercialized is for example a speech recognition technology that is based on electromyographic signals, which means that it is possible to interpret what a person is saying even if the person do not generate sound or move the lips. Also, a coating which has been used to prevent dirt, ice and the like on spacecrafts is now available for commercial use. The coating was developed with inspiration from the structure of the lotus leaf and has superhydrophobic properties, which in simple terms means that the surface is self-cleaning.

In summary, it can be noted that the space industry does not only create a potential haven, but also contribute to innovations that make life on earth a little better.

Just as I was to finish up my work before the holiday, the fever forced me to retire a few days early. It’s the day before Christmas Eve and time to head home for the “celebration”. Watching a few movies from our childhood suits my malaise well. I just wanted to post a short one before I and the others go on a leave, to wish you a nice holiday. The blog will also take some time off and we’ll be back in the second week of forthcoming year.

Whatever you make of your holiday, whether or how you’ll celebrate: Drive and eat carefully, have a nice one and a happy new year! <@:D