Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) first collaborative project to develop scalable fixtures has been successfully delivered to Rolls-Royce. The scalable fixtures will be installed in the production line of Rolls-Royce’s Fan Blade Singapore facility by end of 2016.
The project was defined and signed in September 2015 between AMIC, Rolls-Royce, German Malaysian Institute (GMI), Strand Aerospace, and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC). AMIC coordinated this collaboration group and saw the project through from concept to production ready fixture within a year’s time.
AMIC CEO, Razman Shah Rajab, explained: “This scalable fixtures project falls under AMIC’s Factory of the Future area of research. We earmarked it as a rapid development project, which was conceptualised with two key objectives in mind:first, to develop Malaysia’s capabilities in innovative design and fixtures development for aerospace; and second, to improve current fixtures used for aeroengine manufacturing through innovative thinking.”
The project achieved the targets set at the start: fast and efficient component setup, improve operational safety; and Reduce time of installation on CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machine.
Dr Bicky Bhangu, a Board Member of AMIC representing Rolls-Royce said: “Rolls-Royce became a pioneer member of AMIC to catalyse innovative development with its members. We are very pleased with what AMIC and our project collaborators have delivered. The scalable fixtures will improve our fixture conversion cycle time which will translate to huge productivity improvements in our facility.”
Rolls-Royce’s Fan Blade Singapore facility produces Wide Chord Fan Blades for the Trent 900, Trent 1000 and Trent XWB aero engines. At full capacity, it can produce 8,600 fan blades a year. In total, about 80 complex processes are involved. Adding to this complexity, the production line consists of a number of different fixtures, which is unique for each fan blade. The project reduces the number of fixtures by developing a single “scalable” fixture, which can be used with a variety of fan blade types.
The project completion handover between Rolls-Royce and AMIC was witness by MITI’s Secretary General Datuk Seri J. Jayasiri, Senior Director of Sectorial Policy (Industry) Datin K. Talagavathi, and Head of NAICO Prof .Shamsul Kamar Abu Samah.
About AMIC
Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) is a not for profit private-public partnership industry-led research centre established in 2011 as part of Malaysia’s strategy to foster Malaysian competitiveness in the Aerospace industry. Membership is opened to Industrial and Academic players.
Members define the strategy of AMIC through a Board of Directors co-chaired by the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the CTO of Airbus Group, including representatives from all AMIC led members (Rolls-Royce, CTRM, UPM, MIGHT, MARA) and stakeholders (MOE, EPU).
AMIC Research & Technology projects reflect the current challenges and opportunities faced by the Aerospace industry in Malaysia. AMIC has managed to establish the technical network comprising of major industrial players, government agencies and academia in order to foster strong collaboration in the research areas that have been classified into two distinct areas: Sustainable Aviation and Factory of The Future.
About University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city.’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and the winner of ‘Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2015. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16. More than 97 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is recognised internationally and it is 8th in the UK by research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for four years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.
Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future.
(Image caption: AMIC Deputy Chief Technology Officer Dr Liew Kan Ern, Rolls-Royce Singapore Integration Manager Teo Wee Kin, German-Malaysian Institute Head of Section, Mohd Tanwyn Mohd Khushairi, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Dr Lim Chin Seong, Strand Aerospace Malaysia Senior Design Engineer Tan Seng Jiu and Rolls-Royce Singapore Programme Manager David Then with other colleagues during the visit to Rolls Royce)
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More information is available from Dr Chin Seong Lim on chinseong.lim@nottingham.edu.my or Josephine Dionisappu, PR & Communcations Manager on +6 (03) 8924 8746, josephine.dionisappu@nottingham.edu.my,
Posted on 20th June 2017