National Manufacturing Institute Scotland
Boeing Scotland facility
Boeing’s £11.8 million research and development programme with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) will include a focus on additive manufacturing.
The aerospace giant and NMIS announced their partnership in March of this year, with a lease for a facility in the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland now signed. This 60,000-square-foot facility is to be refurbished in order to house state-of-the-art advanced engineering equipment and a purpose-built area dedicated to advancing the use of additive manufacturing in Scotland.
Working with the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) – of which Boeing was a founding member of – an R&D team made up of the AFRC’s forming and forging technologists and Boeing staff will be assembled. Boeing expects personnel to be on site later this year.
The programme, which is part funded by Scottish Enterprise and drew a contribution of £3.5m from Boeing, is being carried out to demonstrate ‘innovative manufacturing processes and technologies related to metallic components.’ It will build upon research already conducted by the AFRC and investigate methods of reducing material wastage, improving safety, and enhancing productivity and environmental impact. The relationship between Boeing and Scottish Enterprise led to the creation of the Boeing Scotland Alliance back in March, which has been set up to explore collaborative opportunities throughout Scotland, potentially double Boeing’s supply chain in the country, and bring tens of millions of pounds into the Scottish economy, with the addition of 200 new jobs across the next five years.
“This facility is a significant step not only in the development of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, but also bolstering the future of manufacturing across the country post-lockdown,” commented John Reid, the new CEO of NMIS. “We are delighted to be bringing Boeing to Scotland at this time to work on such a critical project with our team and play a crucial role in developing the aerospace supply chain across the country for generations to come.”
“We announced our broader Boeing Scotland Alliance with Scottish Enterprise in March at the AFRC because this R&D programme was a cornerstone of that agreement,” added Sir Martin Donnell, President of Boeing Europe and Managing Director of Boeing in the UK and Ireland. “Seeing such progress with the signing of this lease amid the challenges of 2020 is a testament to the teams involved and a precursor of what we know we will achieve through the talent and resources found in the Glasgow City Region and throughout Scotland.”
