Manufacturers secure £90 million investment into aerospace manufacturing

Around 1,400 jobs could be secured across the UK, including at Renishaw in Gloucestershire and GKN Aerospace in Bristol, thanks to a nearly £90 million investment in aerospace manufacturing.

The government-industry funding for the five projects through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme aims to improve manufacturing within the aerospace industry, developing technology to make production lines quicker, more efficient and more cost-effective.

The projects receiving funding include the GKN Aerospace-led ASCEND in Bristol which is aiming to develop new lightweight, composite technology, a Renishaw-led project to develop a 3D metal printing machine to mass produce smaller components for aircraft and LiveWire and a project led by Bristol-based Q5D, a spin-out from UK tech companies M-Solv and Cel UK, to automate the addition of wiring to aerospace components. Wiring is typically done by hand at the moment and Q5D is working with Safran and others to develop its robotic tooling for the aerospace market.