Rolls-Royce plc invests in knowledge-based design software

Citation

(2000), "Rolls-Royce plc invests in knowledge-based design software", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 72 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2000.12772fab.015

Rolls-Royce plc invests in knowledge-based design software

Rolls-Royce plc invests in knowledge-based design software

Keywords: Rolls-Royce, Knowledge Technologies International, Software, CAD

Leading power systems company, Rolls-Royce plc, has invested over $2.5 million in state-of-the-art design automation software and consulting from Knowledge Technologies International (KTI). EDS, the IT services provider to Rolls-Royce has recommended the software, The KBO Environment^(TM) with "ICAD® Built In". It is being used by Rolls-Royce to speed development of its Trent 500 series aero-engines destined for use in the Airbus A340-500/600, a 380-capacity intercontinental passenger jet, set for first delivery in 2002. KTI's knowledge-based software is reported to allow Rolls-Royce to capture its corporate knowledge base along with best practice and performance, manufacturing and cost criteria into a virtual model. This is said to allow engineers to quickly and accurately explore and test multiple "what ifs" against all known constraints. Because they are able to do this, they can optimise designs in record time.

The KBO Environment is also being used within several other design areas at Rolls-Royce. The savings in time, cost and man-hours is said to have been dramatic. One example quoted is a turbine throat area calculation. This used to be a two-week job by a skilled CAD modeller. It is now a two hour ICAD task by an aerodynamicist or designer – a time and cost saving reportedly of 97.5 per cent. Another example is the creation of a 3D solid model of a turbine blade. This used to take a month on CAD. It can now be done in one day on ICAD – a reported time and cost saving of 96.6 per cent. Another benefit claimed is the ability to maximise quality, accelerate innovation and optimise performance. Rolls-Royce is also taking a lead on its rivals by using ICAD in a new area – to explore manufacturing gains. It is currently in the preliminary stages of tooling automation, which is expected to result in optimised compressor and turbine-blade castings. This purchase of KTI's "The KBO Environment" will be used throughout Rolls-Royce including its Derby and Bristol facilities in England, as well as Rolls-Royce Corporate in Indiana, USA and Rolls-Royce Deutschland in Berlin, Germany. Rolls-Royce has also purchased application consulting from KTI as well as maintenance on the software.

Chic Connolly, staff technologist, turbines, Rolls-Royce plc, said, "The dynamics and timescales present in today's global economy demand that we are agile and rapid in offering product solutions. These solutions need to exploit and focus the intellectual capital built up inside our company over many decades. By using ICAD technology, Rolls-Royce with EDS have captured the process knowledge. This provides engineers with applications that both dramatically reduce the lead time and cut the cost of components and systems which highly influence our business".

KTI also informs us that Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (CASA) has started this millennium with a new application designed to further secure its competitive position in the international aeronautical marketplace. Based on Knowledge-Based Engineering software, this application is thought likely to change forever the way the industry develops stretch form tools.

As Spain's principal aeronautical company, designing and manufacturing empennages, wings and other substantial components for most of the world's major aircraft companies and consortia (including Airbus, Boeing, Eurofighter, Saab), CASA's Stretch Form Tool application will help to get many future commercial and military aircraft into the air much sooner. The application, now in production, is used to manufacture leading-edge sheet metal parts for aircraft wings and empennages. It reportedly enables the design of stretch form tools, which previously would have taken at least ten to 15 days, to be completed within a day.

According to Pedro Muoz Esquer, manufacturing engineering director, the main benefits of using The KBO Environment have been in "Manpower and cycle time reduction, repeatability and standardisation, in the sense that there is no ambiguity from one designer to another. Formerly, the people who designed the tool might have interpreted the design in different ways, but now all tools are produced to the same design criteria. It has also enabled us to accurately document the process for the first time".

The viability of the stretch form tool application has led CASA to invest in further ICAD licences, and together with the Universities of Madrid and Seville, which will act as a development body for future applications, CASA plans to develop applications in other areas, such as composite tooling. They will also start to use The KBO Environment tool at the front end of their processes, in order to be able to make "manufacturability" assessments at an early stage, as well as for downstream activities, preparing more information for the shop floors.

CASA's current involvement with the major commercial and military aircraft programmes, as well as future development of its work with transport military aircraft, means that the stretch form tool application can potentially be used on any aircraft anywhere in the world. It bears out CASA's commitment when it started to invest in KTI's technology last year, to "offer the best products in the shortest timescales".

Details available from Knowledge Technologies International. Tel: +44 (0) 1707 892371; USA: +1 781 676 2129.