Increasing the sustainability and environmental friendliness of aviation is a challenge, especially with the growing global demand for affordable mobility. This also drives technological developments: New processes like additive manufacturing are gradually complementing established production methods while maintaining high quality standards. Especially considering price developments for materials and energy, securing competitiveness requires cooperative research projects. In the joint project “Digital Aerospace Factory,” new insights into efficiency improvements in industrial production processes for medium-sized aerospace suppliers are being developed through the cooperation of HEGGEMANN AG, Matplus GmbH, and verlinked GmbH.
A fully digitalized and connected process chain is being implemented, combined with digital twins for products and materials. Solutions are being developed at the material, process, and control levels, with the goal of reducing resource requirements for energy, materials, and time. Meeting aviation-quality standards poses demanding challenges. Through collaborative industrial research, entirely new knowledge is being generated, which will be depicted as a transferable reference architecture upon successful project completion.
The targeted innovations in the development and manufacturing process of metallic structures for aviation will strengthen the future of small and medium-sized businesses in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
July 1, 2022 - December 31, 2024
