Celebratory signing event at Farnborough International Airshow 2014
The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) today announced that Airbus — the aeronautics leader — has joined CCAM’s industry, academic and government consortium dedicated to manufacturing breakthroughs and advancements in applied research.
CCAM, Airbus and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe used the occasion of the Farnborough International Airshow 2014 to announce the new membership during a celebratory signing event.
“Airbus was founded on innovation – we operate daily knowing that using and developing leading edge technology is a requirement in our business, and CCAM is founded on that mindset,” said Charles Champion, Executive Vice President Engineering for Airbus. “This union is a natural one. Tapping the intellects of the greatest researchers in the industry benefits everyone involved from the developers to the end users.”
Speaking about the announcement, Governor McAuliffe said: “The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing is a world-class asset that brings together Virginia’s leading manufacturing companies and top educational institutions to expedite research and turn ideas into real-world technologies and solutions. The addition of a major player like Airbus is a great testament to the pivotal role CCAM plays as a centrepiece of Virginia’s efforts to promote R&D and technology commercialisation, and contribute to a growing Virginia economy. We are thrilled that, as an Organizing Industry Member of CCAM, Airbus will partner with its fellow industry, government and university members and share best practices, experience and expertise to further strengthen advanced manufacturing in Virginia.”
For more than 40 years Airbus has manufactured single-aisle and widebody commercial aircraft, military airlifters, cargo transports and business aircraft that increasingly offer greater fuel efficiency, performance and reliability.
Joseph F. Moody, CCAM President and Executive Director, said: “Airbus is a global leader in advanced manufacturing and a pioneer in applying forward-thinking innovation. As a CCAM Organizing Industry Member, Airbus will bring decades of expertise in engineering technologies and manufacturing systems to the research conducted at CCAM.”
CCAM is based at a state-of-the-art facility in Prince George County, Va., that provides production ready advanced manufacturing solutions to member companies across the globe. CCAM member companies and academic and government partners collaborate on research to innovate manufacturing practices, resulting in new techniques and processes applied in aerospace, defense, transportation, consumer electronics and other industries.
Members guide the research, leveraging talent and resources within CCAM and Virginia’s top universities through a collaborative model that enables them to pool research and development efforts to increase efficiencies.
Collaboration between diverse industry sectors, academia and government increases the pace of breakthrough developments and accelerates commercialisation into industry applications.
CCAM industry and government members include Canon Virginia Inc., Chromalloy, Newport News Shipbuilding, Rolls-Royce, Sandvik Coromant, Siemens, Oerlikon Metco, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blaser Swisslube, Hermle Machine Co., Mitutoyo, Paradigm Precision, Buehler, Cool Clean Technologies, GF AgieCharmilles, Mechdyne, National Instruments, Spatial Integrated Systems, Airbus and NASA Langley Research Center. Academic partners are the University of Virginia, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University.
