Tag: manufacturing (Page 4 of 10)

Delta Air Lines Orders Additional 30 Airbus A321neo Aircraft

August 24, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Herndon, VA, August 24, 2021 – Delta Air Lines has ordered 30 additional Airbus A321neo aircraft to help meet the airline’s future fleet requirements. The newly-ordered aircraft are in addition to the airline’s existing orders for 125 of the type, bringing the outstanding orders from Delta to a total of 155 A321neos.

Delta’s A321neos will be powered by next-generation Pratt & Whitney PW1100G turbofan engines that bring significant efficiency gains over Delta’s current, already-efficient A321 aircraft. Equipped with total seating for 194 customers with 20 in First Class, 42 in Delta Comfort+ and 132 in the Main Cabin, Delta’s A321neos will be deployed primarily across the airline’s extensive domestic network, complementing Delta’s current A321 fleet of more than 120 aircraft. The airline is slated to receive the first of its 155 A321neo aircraft early next year.

Many of Delta’s A321neos will be delivered from the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility in Mobile, Alabama. The airline has taken delivery of 87 U.S.-manufactured Airbus aircraft since 2016.

As of the end of July, Delta’s fleet of Airbus aircraft numbered 358, including 50 A220 aircraft, 240 A320 Family members, 53 A330 widebodies, and 15 A350 XWB aircraft.

Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Manufacturing Facility at the Skunk Works® in Palmdale, California, merges the power of human and machine - manufacturing artisans will work with digital tools to execute operations with maximum efficiency. Manufacturing and office space will accommodate 450 employees.

Lockheed Martin Unveils Intelligent Factory At Skunk Works In Palmdale, California

August 10, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has completed construction of an advanced manufacturing facility at its Palmdale, California, campus.

The 215,000 square foot intelligent, flexible factory has digital foundations to incorporate smart manufacturing components, embrace the Internet of Things and deliver cutting edge solutions rapidly and affordably to support the United States and its allies. This is one of four transformational manufacturing facilities Lockheed Martin is opening in the U.S. this year.

This new building incorporates all three of Lockheed Martin’s advanced production priorities: an intelligent factory framework; a technology enabled advanced manufacturing environment; and a flexible factory construct to support customer priorities with speed and agility while bolstering manufacturing capability in the United States.

Merging the power of human and machine, manufacturing artisans will work with digital tools to execute operations with maximum efficiency. The incorporation of robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality reduces the need for hard tooling, elevating the human experience to drive rapid innovation, a hallmark of the Skunk Works.

In addition to manufacturing, the facility includes office and break spaces to accommodate more than 450 employees. The company has created over 1,500 new jobs for California since 2018.

This project is the cornerstone of over $400 million in capital investments being made across Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale campus to address growth in support of its customers’ missions.

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works is responsible for many aerospace firsts, including the United States’ first jet fighter (P-80), the world’s first stealth fighter (F-117) and the world’s first 5^th generation fighter (F-22). With a proven way of working based on 14 simple rules, the Skunk Works is known for rapidly solving urgent national needs. With eight Collier trophies and a National Medal of Technology and Innovation awarded from the office of the President of the United States, the Skunk Works continues to define what is next in aerospace.

Lockheed Martin and NASA executives officially opened the STAR Center in Florida on July 15.

Lockheed Martin Opens Orion Spacecraft Advanced Manufacturing Facility

July 15, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

TITUSVILLE, Florida, July 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] opened its Spacecraft Test, Assembly and Resource (STAR) Center today. The STAR Center features business and digital transformation innovations that will expand manufacturing, assembly and testing capacity for NASA’s Orion spacecraft program and ultimately, future space exploration.

Lockheed Martin currently assembles the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I and II Moon missions at the nearby Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The addition of the STAR Center provides much-needed space for the new production phase of Orion, allowing future Orion spacecraft – starting with the Artemis III mission – to be built faster.

Lockheed Martin acquired the building that formerly housed the Astronaut Training Experience attraction and spent 18 months and nearly $20 million renovating and modernizing the 55,000 square-foot space into a digitally-transformed factory of the future.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Expand Metal 3D Printing Services

July 10, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd., a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) based in Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, will offer expanded services in metal 3D　printing services commencing on July 15, including prototype production and contract production by metal 3D (three-dimensional) printers applying laser-based Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. In addition to its previously offered Directed Energy Deposition (DED) type metal 3D printers for large-scale parts, the Company will newly add services using binder jetting (BJT) metal 3D printers for small-scale parts. The expanded service lineup will enable manufacture of a full range of metal parts, from small components of 1mm size to ultra-large-scale parts exceeding 1 meter.

The addition to MHI Machine Tool’s lineup is the DMP2500 metal 3D printer developed by Digital Metal, a group company of Hogänäs of Sweden. The DMP2500’s BJT technology not only enables extremely precise manufacturing but also is engineered especially for high-volume production. Currently, MHI Machine Tool has provided metal printing services applying unique DED technology of “LAMDA” AM systems; now, with the introduction of a different type of printer, the Company can respond to a broad range of metal 3D print needs and propose and provide the optimal manufacturing method and equipment for each parts.

MHI Machine Tool concluded a contract with Digital Metal in July 2020 on marketing its DMP2500 and other metal 3D printers in Japan. By adding these BJT type systems to its own sales lineup, MHI Machine Tool will be in a position to offer a broad portfolio of not only sales but also after-sales services.

While metal 3D printers are receiving attention for their innovative advances to production processes, they also present challenges relating to the difficulty of their production and quality assurance, etc. With the new expansion of services, MHI Machine Tool will focus on providing solutions relating to additive manufacturing, including provision of related expertise, to accelerate early adaptation to production parts.

Going forward, MHI Machine Tool will develop its metal printing services structure spanning from small-scale high-precision to ultra-large-scale items, enabling the Company to respond to a broad wide-range of prototype production needs and contract production. In these ways, MHI Machine Tool will encourage manufacturers to expand into manufacturing parts using metal 3D printers and contribute to the industrial supply chain as a whole.

Alstom Successfully Commissioned First Seven Freight Locomotives in Azerbaijan

June 29, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Alstom has successfully commissioned the first 7 Prima T8 AZ8A freight locomotives to Azerbaijan Railways (ADY). These locomotives will run on the main freight transit line, which has recently been converted from 3 kV DC to 25 kV AC.

The Prima T8 AZ8A locomotives will be running initially on the “Silk Road” East-West corridor of Azerbaijan linking the Caspian Sea main ports to the Georgian border and later all across the country.

In 2014, ADY signed a contract with Alstom for €288 million for supplying 50 electric locomotives, including 40 Prima T8 AZ8A heavy freight locomotives which are being produced at Alstom’s JV EKZ in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan and 10 Prima M4 AZ4A passenger locomotives which have been produced in Belfort, France and already delivered to Azerbaijan.

Alstom’s Prima T8 is one of the most powerful electric locomotives in the world. This model is a 25 tons per axle two-section freight locomotive capable of towing up to 9,000 tons and running at 120 km/h, with installed continuous power of 8.8 Megawatts. The Prima T8 AZ8A is designed to operate in temperatures ranging from -25°C to 50°C. It requires minimum maintenance and provides high reliability levels and low lifecycle costs thanks to its modular design.

Alstom’s Prima range is covering all market segments of locomotives from heavy-haul, freight and passenger operation and shunting or track work operation. Over the past 20 years, more than 3,200 Prima locomotives (more than 4,600 sections) have been sold worldwide.

Alstom is present in Western & Central Asia with more than 1,000 people, three country offices in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, five depots, repair center and two plants, EKZ in Nur-Sultan for electric locomotives manufacturing and maintenance and production of on-board transformers, and KEP in Almaty to produce point machines. Alstom is a major contributor to the revitalization of the region’s mobility industry and the development of its economy.

EKZ, a joint venture of Alstom, employs around 850 people and is working on supplying and maintaining the Prima electric locomotives ordered by KTZ, Kazakhstan’s national railway company and export markets, like Azerbaijan.

U.S. Navy Awards Sikorsky Contract for Nine More CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopters

June 28, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Utilizing proven advanced manufacturing techniques and continuing to drive down unit price, Sikorsky will build nine more CH-53K™ heavy lift helicopters under a new contract for the U.S. Navy. This production award also includes an agreement for the next production contract at an even lower unit price which will decrease further if additional quantity options are exercised, resulting in significant savings for the U.S. government and taxpayers.

The nine helicopters are part of a 200 aircraft Program of Record for the U.S. Marine Corps for a total of 33 production aircraft under contract with 3 of the 33 already delivered to the U.S. Marine Corps. Sikorsky will begin deliveries of the nine additional aircraft in 2024.

Sikorsky and the U.S. Navy also agreed to an even lower aircraft price for the next production contract of nine helicopters, to be exercised no later than February 2022.

Click the link below to read the full story!

https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2021-06-28-U-S-Navy-Awards-Sikorsky-Contract-to-Build-Nine-More-CH-53K-TM-Heavy-Lift-Helicopters-in-Connecticut#assets_all

Navy and Boeing Complete First Unmanned Aircraft to Aircraft Refueling

June 8, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

PRNewswire/ — For the first time in history, the U.S. Navy and Boeing [NYSE: BA] have demonstrated air-to-air refueling using an unmanned aircraft – the Boeing-owned MQ-25™ T1 test asset – to refuel another aircraft.

During a test flight on June 4, MQ-25 T1 successfully extended the hose and drogue from its U.S. Navy-issued aerial refueling store (ARS) and safely transferred jet fuel to a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, demonstrating the MQ-25 Stingray’s ability to carry out its primary aerial refueling mission.

During the initial part of the flight, the F/A-18 test pilot flew in close formation behind MQ-25 to ensure performance and stability prior to refueling – a maneuver that required as little as 20 feet of separation between the MQ-25 T1 air vehicle and the F/A-18 refueling probe. Both aircraft were flying at operationally relevant speeds and altitudes. With the evaluation safely completed, the MQ-25 drogue was extended, and the F/A-18 pilot moved in to “plug” with the unmanned aircraft and receive the scheduled fuel offload.

The milestone comes after 25 T1 flights, testing both aircraft and ARS aerodynamics across the flight envelope, as well as extensive simulations of aerial refueling using MQ-25 digital models. MQ-25 T1 will continue flight testing prior to being shipped to Norfolk, Virginia, for deck handling trials aboard a U.S. Navy carrier later this year.

The Boeing-owned T1 test asset is a predecessor to the seven test aircraft Boeing is manufacturing under a 2018 contract award. The MQ-25 will assume the tanking role currently performed by F/A-18s, allowing for better use of the combat strike fighters and helping extend the range of the carrier air wing.

New Honeywell Turbogenerator Will Run on Biofuel and Power Hybrid Electric Aircraft

March 8, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

PHOENIX, March 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced it is developing a power source for hybrid-electric aircraft, planned for demonstration later this year. At 280 pounds, the Honeywell 1-Megawatt generator weighs about the same as a motor scooter but delivers enough energy to power an entire neighborhood block. This generator will be combined with the Honeywell HGT1700 auxiliary power unit, currently flown on every Airbus A350 XWB, to form a turbogenerator 2.5 times more powerful than the version the company unveiled in 2019.

The new turbogenerator from Honeywell will be able to run on aviation biofuel, including Honeywell Green Jet Fuel, which is chemically similar to fossil fuel but made from more sustainable alternatives, as well as conventional jet fuel and diesel. Honeywell’s turbogenerator can be used to operate high-power electric motors or charge batteries and can satisfy missions from heavy-lift cargo drones to air taxis, or commuter aircraft. The first demonstration of this turbogenerator system will occur in the third quarter of 2021, with ongoing development and qualification to follow.

Traditionally, aircraft use fuel-burning engines to mechanically turn rotors, propellers or fans. Many new designs, however, use a distributed electric propulsion architecture, in which many electric motors can be tilted or turned off for vertical takeoff and horizontal flight. A Honeywell turbogenerator can provide electric power for multiple electric motors anywhere on an aircraft.

In December, Honeywell signed a memorandum of understanding with British startup Faradair Aerospace to collaborate on systems and a turbogeneration unit that will run on sustainable aviation fuel to power Faradair’s Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft (BEHA). Faradair intends to deliver 300 hybrid-electric BEHAs into service by 2030, of which 150 will be in a firefighting configuration. Honeywell is in advanced discussions with several other potential turbogenerator customers, working to help define power requirements based on mission profiles required by various manufacturers.

Honeywell unveiled its first turbogenerator for urban air mobility (UAM) at the 2019 HAI HELI-EXPO in Atlanta. It combined Honeywell’s HTS900 turboshaft engine with two 200-kilowatt generators. Since then, the company continues to grow its role in the UAM segment, highlighted by advancements in electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems.

Honeywell is a major player in the emerging UAM segment, offering a full line of avionics, propulsion and operational systems—all tailored for piloted and autonomous vertical take-off and landing UAM and cargo vehicles. Honeywell also offers aerospace integration and certification expertise for enabling the commercialization of these vehicles.

Honeywell pioneered the sustainable aviation fuel market with its UOP Ecofining process. Honeywell Green Jet Fuel produced by this process is blended seamlessly with petroleum-based jet fuel at commercial scale. When used in up to a 50% blend with petroleum-based jet fuel, Honeywell Green Jet Fuel requires no changes to aircraft technology and meets all critical specifications for flight.

Rolls-Royce Signs MoU with Fermi Energia for Compact Nuclear Power Stations

March 2, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Rolls-Royce (London: RR.L) and Fermi Energia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study the potential for the deployment of affordable, compact nuclear power stations, known as small modular reactors (SMR), in Estonia. The study will cover all aspects of deployment including grid suitability, cooling, emergency planning, human resources, licensing feasibility, economics and supply chain.

Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium that is designing a low-cost factory built nuclear power station, known as a small modular reactor (SMR). Its standardised, factory-made components and advanced manufacturing processes push costs down, while the rapid assembly of the modules and components inside a weatherproof canopy on the power station site itself avoid costly schedule disruptions.

Fermi Energia is a company founded by nuclear scientists, energy experts and entrepreneurs to bring small modular reactors to Estonia to meet its climate goals, help the economy develop and gain energy security.

The consortium led by Rolls-Royce is working with its partners and UK Government to secure a commitment for a fleet of factory built nuclear power stations, each providing at least 440MW of electricity, to be operational within a decade, helping the governments around the world net zero obligations.

The consortium members feature the best of nuclear engineering, construction and infrastructure expertise in Assystem, Atkins, BAM Nuttall, Jacobs, Laing O’Rourke, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Rolls-Royce and TWI. The current phase of the programme has been jointly funded by all consortium members and UK Research and Innovation.

The power stations will be built by the UKSMR consortium, before being handed over to be operated by power generation companies.

Tesla to set up electric car manufacturing unit in southern India

February 13, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

From Reuters News by By Bhargav Acharya and Aakriti Bhalla…

BENGALURU, India, February 14 (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) will set up an electric-car manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

“The U.S. firm Tesla will be opening an electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka,” the state government said in a brief statement.

The statement was part of a broader document outlining the highlights of India’s budget to its people in the local language of Kannada.

Click on the link below to read the full story!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tesla-set-electric-car-190327441.html

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