Spirit AeroSystems has opened a new composite manufacturing facility at its site in Prestwick, Scotland.
The facility will be used to make the Airbus A320 family spoiler, Spirit said.
‘This is the result of a three-year journey to secure production of the spoiler in the UK,’ said Scott McLarty, Spirit AeroSystem's senior vice president. ‘This new facility allows us to utilize innovative technologies like the Spirit developed resin transfer molding (RTM) solution to better meet the needs of our customer.’ The company’s RTM process helps produce spoilers and other monolithic components at a higher volume with better quality and cost savings, he added. Spirit plans to manufacturer approximately 700 aircraft and 7,000 spoilers annually, and create more than 100 new jobs in Scotland.
‘The opening of this new facility is part of Spirit's journey to become a leader in advanced out of autoclave composite technology,’ said McLarty. ‘It demonstrates how we can develop cost effective new technologies and manufacturing processes that will play a central role in the next generation of aircraft programs.’
This story uses material from Spirit, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.