- The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has announced a groundbreaking new R&D facility as part of the new South Yorkshire Investment Zone
- COMPASS - Composites at Speed and Scale - will place the UK in world-leading position to make the global aviation industry more sustainable
- The new facility will develop new ways to manufacture lightweight aircraft components, create high-skilled jobs and drive new investment into the UK's aerospace sector
- COMPASS' first R&D project is with Boeing and set to be a game-changer for the aerospace giant's production system
- The £29.5m ATI funding for COMPASS is the University of Sheffield AMRC's largest research grant to date
- South Yorkshire is the UK's first Investment Zone to be announced.
A groundbreaking new research and development facility has been announced as part of the new South Yorkshire Investment Zone.
COMPASS (Composites at Speed and Scale), announced by the UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, is one of the North of England's largest ever research and innovation projects. It will be based at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and has been announced as part of the South Yorkshire Investment Zone. The new investment zone is the first to be announced in the UK. It will build on the success of innovation-led transformation around the Sheffield/Rotherham border and beyond - driving opportunities for more inward investment, skills and jobs for the region.
Making passenger jets lighter is seen as one of the major ways to reduce the environmental impact of air travel and help the aviation industry reach net zero. However, the manufacturing processes currently used to produce these aircraft parts are time consuming and inconsistent. COMPASS will provide the technological advances needed to make lightweight aerostructures - key components that make up the fuselage, wings and stabilisers of passenger planes. It will be home to a raft of state-of-the-art equipment secured through a £29.5m grant from the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) to support new capabilities, technologies and processes that aim to reduce cost, waste, production time and associated carbon emissions.
COMPASS will be built as an extension to the AMRC's Factory 2050 - a hugely successful advanced manufacturing research centre that has set the standard for academic and industry R&D. It will be built with support from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Sheffield City Council and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
