AP2 - Automated Production for Aerospace Pallets

FACT是一家总部位于英国的公司，率先生产了一种由复合材料制成的新型航空航天托盘。该公司的托盘比行业标准的铝制托盘轻40公斤，可以为航空公司节省大量的燃料成本和二氧化碳排放。该公司计划提供基于价值定价的租赁和销售模式。托盘目前正在诺丁汉的一个分包商生产。为了充分利用严重依赖托盘的全球航空货运市场带来的机遇，FACT需要迅速扩大生产规模，以满足需求，同时降低每块托盘的生产成本。FACT已经确定，自动化是实现这些目标的关键过程。该公司正在应对这一挑战，进一步发展航空航天托盘生产工艺，它已经率先。具体来说，该公司将致力于减少在模具装配过程中对人工处理的依赖。这项创新将侧重于工业化控制材料沉积的新方法，以FACT已经发展到后期发展阶段的技术形式。该项目的预期产出将是一件能够组装复合航空托盘板堆栈的工业设备，以实现大批量航空航天生产设施。如果没有实现自动化，该产品将不再具有经济可行性，无法在英国生产预期的产量。FACT托盘的目标市场是全球航空货运市场，其中30-40家大型航空公司占全球市场的75%。

FACT, a UK-based company, has pioneered the production of a new type of aerospace pallet made from composite materials. The company's pallets are 40 kg lighter than the industry-standard aluminium pallets and can save airlines substantial fuel costs and CO2 emissions. The company plans to offer both leasing and sale models, based on value-based pricing. The pallets are currently being produced with a subcontractor in Nottingham.To fully capitalise on the opportunity presented by the global air cargo market, which relies heavily on pallets, FACT needs to rapidly scale up production to meet demand while reducing per-panel production costs. FACT has identified that automation is a critical enabling process to meet these targets.The company is responding to this challenge by further developing the aerospace pallet production process it has already pioneered. Specifically, the company will focus on decreasing the reliance on manual handling during the mould assembly process. The innovation will focus on industrialising novel methodologies for controlled material deposition in the form of technology that FACT has progressed to late stages of development.The expected output of this project will be a piece of industrial equipment capable of assembling a composite aerospace pallet panel stack to enable a high-volume aerospace production facility. Without enabling automation, the product would no longer be economically viable to produce in the UK at the volumes expected.The target market for FACT's pallets is the global air cargo market, where 30-40 large airlines account for 75% of the global market.