BAE Systems (www.baesystems.com) has presented a second award to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (www.amrc.co.uk) for a project that matured into a full production system and is on track to help the aerospace manufacturer achieve its affordability targets over the coming years.

The project — Robotic Countersinking, The Future Today — involved developing a systemthat would enable multiple robots to accurately countersink holes in composite aircraft components.

Non-contact metrology is used to locate the pre-drilled holes and correct each robot’s position before countersinking. The project was given a BAE Systems Business Leader Award in 2016, and it has now been presented with an Executive Committee Award.

The AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group (IMG) developed the prototype cell in Factory 2050 (its reconfigurable digital assembly and component-manufacturing facility). Ben Morgan, head of IMG, said: “The system is being used to process a wide range of composite components for military aircraft; it will save the company millions of pounds in capital and operational costs over the coming years.

These awards recognise the research IMG conducts into developing robotic machining processes — by upgrading our robotic machining capabilities and harnessing the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies to mature new digital manufacturing techniques.”

Mr Morgan said that IMG is developing its countersinking production system further, so that the technology can evolve with Industry 4.0 trends.

“Further development will enable process monitoring and the analysis of big data to provide an understanding of the quality of the manufacturing process.”