Quickstep begins manufacturing trials

Quickstep has achieved another milestone in entering the North American aerospace market, today announcing the commencement of key initial manufacturing trials with North American aerospace giants, GE Aviation and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, says Jeccomposites.com.

Quickstep has completed commissioning of its QS20 composites production machine at NAQCE, located in the heart of the North American aerospace industry in Dayton, Ohio.

Initial demonstration programmes will immediately commence with these major US-based aerospace companies, which have already expressed strong interest in Quickstep's composites manufacturing technology.

Wonderware, a business unit of Invensys, has for the fourth consecutive year received Frost & Sullivan's coveted North American Company of the Year award for innovative software solutions, reports 10.mcadcafe.com.

This year's award was for the adaptive manufacturing and supervisory controls category, addressing the unique requirements of customers implementing human-machine interface and manufacturing technology.

The most recent announcement of the Wonderware System Platform was noted as a significant new market offering that recognises the demand for solutions that are designed to provide substantial savings on life cycle costs.

An independent agency of the Department of Science and Technology, the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS) implementation unit, has allocated about R22 million to a flagship programme that will conduct research and development (R&D) into new technologies for composites over the next three years, reports Engineering News.

The AMTS, formed two years ago, has a yearly R40-million budget for R&D, from which funding has been provided for research into composites. The AMTS implementation unit technical manager, Greg Mitchell, said the AMTS was formed to identify key strategic value in technologies in South Africa.

He explains that research into composites has been conducted for years in SA; however, there is an urgent need to develop new technologies that would be beneficial to the South African industry. Mitchell says: "The flagship programme is not aimed at the development of new products, but new technology."