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Additive Manufacturing at UTC
United Technologies: Pioneering new possibilities for Additive Manufacturing in aerospace United Technologies Corp (UTC), through its Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace businesses, has a long history of innovation in aerospace engineering. As Venkat Vedula, Executive Director of UTC’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Expertise (AMCoE), and Vijay Jagdale, the centre’s Principal Engineer, explain, this tradition is today being continued through the corporation’s cutting-edge Additive Manufacturing activities. This report highlights, with the support of an in-depth case study, the centre’s core areas of activity and UTC’s vision for the future of AM.
From the propeller that powered Amelia Earhart’s non-stop flight across the Atlantic, to the space suits worn by generations of US astronauts and the communications equipment that captured the footage of the first step on the moon, United Technologies Corp (UTC) and its businesses have over decades helped to define the aerospace and defence industries. Today, with more than 110,000 aerospace employees stationed globally at over three-hundred sites, UTC continues to drive innovation in commercial and business aviation, intelligent defence solutions, helicopter systems and spacecraft design and production. The company’s portfolio also powers communications, navigation and surveillance technology for the world’s leading aircraft companies. As part of United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace Systems represent the enterprise’s deep commitment to aerospace innovation. Both businesses have a long history of manufacturing ingenuity, and each played a critical role in building the modern air
Vol. 5 No. 2 © 2019 Inovar Communications Ltd
transportation network. Now, as new technologies fuel rapid advances in the aerospace industry, UTC is building on its legacy of innovation with cutting-edge Additive Manufacturing initiatives. For over three decades, UTC and its business units have been using AM to prototype polymer and non-metallic parts. But more recently,
recognising the vast potential of metal AM, the company has ramped up its efforts through the creation of UTC’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Expertise (AMCoE) in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA (Figs. 1-2). “UTC companies helped build the second industrial revolution in the early decades of the 20th century,”
Fig. 1 UTC’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Expertise (AMCoE) in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA, is responsible for accelerating the adoption of AM across UTC’s engineering and manufacturing organisations
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Summer 2019
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