Wed, 12 February, 2025
TWI started a new project in January 2025 to assist the European Space Agency (ESA) with the development of smart manufacturing solutions for the space sector.
Smart manufacturing has already found applications in a range of industry sectors and also has the potential to be an enabling technology to support the optimisation of manufacturing for space with improved models, processes, digital twins and virtual testing solutions.
The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) will enable smart manufacturing to reach its full potential, providing cost-effective and safe solutions for innovative manufacturing within the space sector.
The recently-launched project, ‘Smart Manufacturing Competence Development,’ will establish a minimum viable product (MVP) to integrate sensing technologies with manufacturing processes and AI-enabled analysis.
The project team will seek to benchmark AI methods for the analysis of manufacturing process data, with the MVP being demonstrated to technology readiness level (TRL) 3 through laser welding and composite filament winding.
The Smart Manufacturing Competence Development project builds upon our existing partnership with the ESA as ESA Technology Broker UK, where we are helping to bring innovations from other industries into the space sector and assisting organisations to expand into this growing market. You can find out more about our work as the ESA Technology Broker UK on the dedicated website, here.
The Smart Manufacturing Competence Development project team are looking to engage with other providers in the space sector to discuss requirements from such a product. Any interested parties are encouraged to email contactus@twi.co.uk to learn more.