Features / Sector spotlight
Sector spotlight: Aerospace
Fact…
- Aircraft have been designed and manufactured on the Filton site for over 100 years.
- The South West of England’s aerospace cluster is the largest in Europe, worth more than £7bn.
MAJOR PLAYERS
Aerospace has played a huge role in Bristol’s economic landscape for many years. Clustered originally around the airfield at Filton and latterly across different strategic hubs such as Avonmouth and the Bristol and Bath Science Park, many of aviation’s major players can be found here.
Nine of the top aerospace companies are found in the region, representing a third of the UK’s aerospace and defence GDP; household names Airbus, Boeing and Rolls-Royce are some of the biggest in Bristol.
Airbus holds around 50 per cent of the world’s aircraft market. Its facility at Filton is a design, development and test hub where a 4,000 strong workforce participates in a worldwide supply chain, supporting an estimated 37,000 jobs in the south west directly and indirectly. The company has reported a good year, delivering a record 635 aircraft in 2015 (pipped in number by rivals Boeing who handed over 762), sealing an Iranian order for 118 planes worth £17.4bn and securing joint-funding with the government for a new £38m wing research centre.
“The research, design, test and new development work that we do at Filton feeds into the manufacturing of more than 1,000 wings every year in Broughton as well as into the global supply chain,” says Head of Landing Gear and Senior Site Engineer, Trevor Higgs.
“We have delivered more than 9,500 aircraft to 360 customers worldwide. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the operation, an Airbus takes off or lands every two seconds.”
Rivals Boeing are co-located in Filton, hosting around 500 employees, employed largely in defence aerospace to support the Ministry of Defence at Abbey Wood. In November 2015 the company delivered new Chinook helicopters to the RAF and took pre-orders for 9 P-8 Poseidon aircraft.
Bristol is one of six cities in which the firm has strategic partnership universities, calling on academic engineering expertise to help Boeing create and sustain thousands of high-grade, high value jobs in the industry.
Similarly, Rolls-Royce has developed a defence inclination. Located alongside the Airbus UK headquarters, over half of the 3,000 employees work for the company’s defence aerospace business, crafting sophisticated military engines for the UK, US and Korean Armed Forces, among other clients. Teams at the Bristol site also manage the company’s involvement in collaborative military programmes.
In March 2015 Bristol was announced as the location for the firm’s centre of advanced fan system composite technology development, creating a hub of composite knowledge in the UK and securing 120 jobs in the city by the end of 2019, although the news does come on the back of falling profits, cut dividends and a drastic company restructure. This advanced manufacturing facility will be at the forefront of developing the next generation of fan blades and fan cases, made of carbon-fibre composite materials for Rolls-Royce’s future civil aero-engines. £70m has been invested in Bristol over the last few years to bring new work in and counterbalance declining defence spend.
Balloons are often overlooked in aerospace conversations but are the earliest form of manufactured flight. Bristol plays famous host to one of the world’s largest balloon fabricators: Cameron Balloons in Bedminster has been active for 45 years making hot air balloon envelopes including large and complex models. The privately held company has recently added six members of staff, bringing the total workforce to 54, and hit the headlines for producing another, 57m high balloon for another round-the-world attempt by a Russian explorer.
“Nobody else in the world can make that,” says director Hannah Cameron from Cameron Balloons. “There’s always something exciting going on here. We’re in a very different niche business; it’s very competitive,” she continues, pointing out that factories in Spain and Czech Republic instantly cut their wage bills by around 75 per cent, “but it’s full steam ahead.”
SUPPORT AND INNOVATION
Many suppliers have grown around the industry. GKN Aerospace is one of the world’s largest independent first tier suppliers to the global aviation industry supplying items such as engine products, landing gear, wings and fuselage across its wide-ranging catalogue. With a company turnover of $4.5b in 2014, the company employs 1,900 people in Bristol at its plants in Filton and Western Approach, where it has invested £40m and £235m respectively in improving capacity and capabilities.
All Metal Services with a turnover of £27m, is the largest supplier to GKN Aerospace and Airbus, supplying industry with raw aluminium, steel and titanium for wing construction.
The service centre in Avonmouth was established in 2001 exclusively to support Airbus integrated machining facility (IMF) at Filton, bought by GKN in 2009, with the supply of all aluminium and titanium cut to size products to make wings for the commercial airliner.
“The Airbus product is a large success and locally this has provided unrivalled job security even during the global economic slowdown in 2008,” says Operations Manager Lee Bridges. “The outlook for 2016 is very promising. Single Aisle Aircraft build rates have increased, there will be an increase in the long-range programme too.”
At the Government funded National Composites Centre (NCC) in Emerson’s Green, teams work to capitalise on the high-strength, low weight, corrosion-resistant qualities of composite materials. 50 per cent of its clients are from the aerospace industry working on applications for new materials using leading edge equipment and expertise.
“It’s the jewel in the crown for Bristol’s advanced technology centre,” says Chief Executive Peter Chivers, pointing out that two major new aviation investments – Rolls Royce’s composite centre and Airbus’ wing research facility – have chosen Bristol as a result.
The Rolls Royce facility “could have gone anywhere in the world but came to Bristol as a result of the combined strength of University of Bristol and the NCC”, adds Peter.
More unusual development is ongoing at Bristol Space Planes (BSP) where engineers have been working to build sub-orbital and orbital vehicle which could be used for launching satellites and people into space. “We’re seriously projecting 1m people a year visiting space hotels,” comments managing director David Ashford of the commercial potential for space tourism.
SOFTWARE
Technological advances are increasing the range, safety and ecological efficiency of flying and aeroplane manufacture, many of them from the same aviation seed bed.
Boxarr is one example, an early stage software company based in the Engine Shed that has found a way to model and simplify enormously complicated and interdependent supply chains, affording clients the ability to identify efficiencies and map the potential impact of events. Though not limited to the aviation industry, the product is the part brainchild of a Rolls Royce engineer and has been well received by the aerospace and defence sectors: “they understand the benefits of modelling,” says CEO Alasdair Pettigrew; “it’s a complex industry dealing with complex problems. Airbus spends £30bn a year on components. If there’s an interruption [to the manufacturing process] it’s costly, so it’s helpful to know.”
Clients now include the US Navy, Boeing, GE and Rolls Royce with a turnover of £1.5m projected for this year.
“The Head of Tech in the US Navy said he felt Boxarr could be as significant to the world as spreadsheets have been. They’re a unique and innovative way of looking at complex problems.”
In Bradley Stoke a specialist technology firm has grown to offer software solutions focused on safety, compliance and efficiency to major clients such as BA, Emirates, Quantas, easyjet and Delta. Vistair’s cloud-hosted products can be accessed on tablets to replace paper manuals on flight decks.
Having secured £9m investment in December the privately-held company has aggressive plans to grow tenfold in the coming four years, expanding client base and product offering, particularly in North America.
COMMENT
Barry Warburton; Aerospace & Advanced Engineering Sector Specialist, Invest Bristol & Bath
“The South West of England’s aerospace cluster is the largest in Europe. There are 800 companies and 57,000 people working in the aerospace supply chain. Fourteen of the world-leading aerospace companies have bases in the South West, and that has attracted many other companies who can supply the components they need. This is why Bristol and the South West have been labelled ‘Europe’s Aerospace Powerhouse’.
And we deserve that title: we have a huge talent pool along with various centres of specialised expertise that help us to keep pushing at the limits of aerospace design. The National Composites Centre (NCC), for example, can provide amazing new materials to help reduce aircraft weight and friction. Then there’s the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, a centre producing state-of-the-art robots and automated mechanisms, while Bristol Technology & Engineering Academy specialises in engineering and environmental technologies.
This offers us an opportunity as it’s a great time to be involved in the aerospace industry: air traffic is expected to double in the next 15 years. Between now and 2032 there is a global requirement for over 29,000 new passenger aircraft worth around $4.4 trillion, and provided we appreciate and invest in our local aerospace cluster, Bristol can truly soar.”