GKN Aerospace, in collaboration with McLaren Automotive and other UK partners, has announced the successful completion of the ASCEND – Aerospace and Automotive Supply Chain Enabled Development – programme.

The four-year, £39.6 million initiative has significantly advanced the UK’s composite manufacturing capabilities focusing on high-rate production, Industry 4.0 and sustainable manufacturing.

The programme brought together 16 partners from the UK’s composites supply chain, each contributing their unique expertise to advance automation, material processing and tooling. GKN Aerospace led the consortium alongside Assyst Bullmer, Airborne, Cygnet Texkimp, Des Composites, Far-UK, Hexcel Composites, Hive Composites, LMAT, Loop Technology, McLaren Automotive, NCC (the National Composites Centre), Rafinex, Sigmatex and Syensqo, with collaboration and investment support from Axillium Research.

Significant progress was made in developing new methods, materials and processes and the programme’s success was highlighted by two flagship projects – a GKN Aerospace bladed wingtip and a McLaren rear floor component, both demonstrating the integration of aerospace precision with automotive production rates.

The consortium, led from GKN Aerospace’s £32 million Global Technology Centre in Bristol, supported up to 130 jobs through 2023 and 2024.

“Through ASCEND, we have accelerated the development of next-generation lightweight, cost-effective advanced composite technologies that are critical in the transition to more energy-efficient aircraft and vehicles,” said John Pritchard, president of GKN Aerospace Civil Airframe. “Successfully developing and demonstrating high-rate manufacturing capabilities across the UK supply chain has reinforced our position as an industry leader and underscored our commitment to sustainability. With the support of the Aerospace Technology Institute, which continues to play a vital role in advancing the UK’s position in next-generation aircraft, we have delivered key technological breakthroughs while achieving benchmark levels of price, quality and repeatability.”

Loop Technology

The FibreFORM, FibreEYE and FibreROLL technologies of Dorchester-based Loop Technology were all enhanced under the ASCEND programme.

FibreFORM is a pick and place end effector that can manipulate large plies of carbon fibre and other composite materials into a multitude of profiles, including 3D double curvatures for automated high rate lay-up onto a mould.

FibreEYE is a composite inspection system that uses 3D laser profile technology and segmentation algorithms to provide highly accurate ply placement monitoring. It also leverages advanced imaging techniques with Artificial Intelligence to create a comprehensive inspection ecosystem and document defect characteristics and locations. FibreROLL is a scalable storage pick and place system that can lay-up dry fibre plies up to 20 metres in length.

www.looptechnology.com