Europe’s aerospace industry is booming, but factory floors are struggling to keep pace. Order books are full, yet bottlenecks in precision part manufacturing threaten to slow deliveries and increase costs. The challenge is not demand — demand is strong — but under-utilisation, labour shortages and inefficient workflows are dragging down output.
Hakan Aydogdu (pictured below right), CEO at
Tezmaksan Robot Technologies, said: “Automating electrical discharge machining (EDM) systems offers a realistic route to unlock latent capacity, reduce lead times and strengthen Europe’s supply base.”
EDM is central to many of the sector’s most demanding components, from turbine blades to fuel injectors. Unlike conventional machining, which cuts metal mechanically with rotating tools, EDM removes material using controlled electrical sparks between an electrode and the workpiece submerged in dielectric fluid. This enables the cutting of extremely hard metals into complex shapes with micrometre accuracy, while avoiding the mechanical stresses of traditional cutting.
However, EDM is often slow, operator-intensive and difficult to scale. While not the only bottleneck, EDM remains one of several processes where automation could unlock capacity. If Europe wants to stay globally competitive, EDM cells must become lights-out, traceable and repeatable.
The market pressure is real. According to the
Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), Europe’s aerospace and defence turnover reached 290.4 billion euros in 2023, supporting 1.03 million jobs and continuing more than 10% year-on-year growth. Demand is surging, but production is not keeping pace. Germany’s aerospace sector revenue rose to 52 billion euros in 2024, a 13% increase from the previous year, with civil aviation alone contributing 39 billion euros, up 18%. The UK faces record backlogs in commercial aircraft and engine production, while Spain’s aerospace turnover exceeded 12 billion euros in 2024.
Even a modest increase in EDM machine utilisation — moving from single shift to two or three shifts per day or enabling weekend/night runs — could unlock dramatically more production without new machines or factory space. Yet adopting automation also requires investment capacity, robust infrastructure and compliance with aerospace certification standards — hurdles that can be significant for SMEs.
EDM delivers final accuracyEDM remains strategically irreplaceable because it makes possible what no other process can. Modern hot-section components like turbine blades and vanes are manufactured from nickel-based superalloys and require thousands of precision cooling holes and intricate internal geometries. These cannot be reliably produced by milling or drilling without risking thermal damage, tool wear or dimensional inaccuracies. EDM, especially fast-hole EDM drilling, can produce holes as small as 0.3mm with aspect ratios over 150:1 while preserving the material’s structural integrity. When paired with lasers for roughing, EDM delivers final accuracy within microns.
Spain’s aerospace sector illustrates the potential. Many suppliers still operate single-shift EDM processes with heavy manual intervention. Introducing automated EDM cells could allow these companies to run around the clock, multiplying output without expanding headcount. Germany faces similar pressure, with MTU Aero Engines already operating what it describes as ‘almost fully automatic systems for turbine blades’, signalling a national push toward lights-out manufacturing. In the UK, Rolls-Royce, Airbus UK and their Tier One and Tier Two suppliers are facing record engine backlogs.
One example of practical automation is the EDMCell CUBE — a fully integrated automation cell that transforms a conventional EDM machine into a continuous, high-productivity system. It combines a Mitsubishi MV1200R Connect wire-cut EDM machine, a Mitsubishi MELFA RV20FRM six-axis industrial robot and a CubeBOX Pallet Pool, all coordinated by RoboCAM management software. Raw parts are stored in drawers within the CubeBOX Pallet Pool and automatically loaded into the EDM machine by the robot, then removed as finished components without human intervention. RoboCAM manages the full workflow, assigning programs to each part, scheduling jobs and recording complete production traceability data.
By enabling lights-out operation, the EDMCell CUBE extends machine uptime into nights and weekends, effectively adding extra shifts without additional labour. It stabilises quality through consistent robotic handling and fixture positioning, and compresses lead times by eliminating setup delays and idle changeover time.
Mr Aydogdu concluded: “Europe has the orders, the technology and the know-how. What it lacks is time on the machine. EDM will remain critical to aerospace manufacturing, especially for the hot-section engine parts that determine fuel efficiency and performance. But as long as EDM remains manual, slow and stop-start, it will remain a bottleneck. If Europe wants to maintain its edge in aerospace, embracing EDM automation is not optional — it is essential.”