NIAR (National Institute for Aviation Research), has unveiled the Hub for Advanced Manufacturing Research (HAMR), at Wichita State University. We had the honor of being present at the Grand Opening.
Overall, it was an impressive display of organizational focus and ambition.
Over 2000 employees, over 2 million square feet, More than $600m in R&D.
One work stream stood out: since 2020, NIAR has been working on the Digital Twins program for the B-1B Bomber, as well as other aircrafts, helicopters and complex systems.
“Digital Twin” is a hyped topic, we agree.
But NIAR’s B-1 project is going well beyond scanning & reverse engineering.
The Digital Twin became much more powerful than a data-bank of CAD drawings.
NIAR analyzed the upstream and downstream implications of its data-driven B-1 project. Just to quote some of the outputs: Supply Chain assessment, Maintenance & Repair handbooks, guidelines for the pilots, new assessment of the aircraft’ life expectancy.
To do all this, a Digital Twin must be combined with Digital Threads. That is the missing part of several Digital Twins Sales pitches we’ve heard at Batteries and Manufacturing shows over the past few years.
The team lead by Jeswin Joseph C is now to be considered a reference for the US in mastering Digital Threads.
Advanced Manufacturing is a key element of HAMR. We saw a diversified portfolio of machines and are especially intrigued by the possibility for NIAR to incorporate AM in the wider picture of the competences of this campus.
An absolute treat for our VP of Sales and Marketing, Luigi Alzati, to have been invited to the NIAR Family dinner.
#Aeronautics #Defense #AdvancedManufacturing Shawn Ehrstein Matt Tomblin Ryan Longwell #DigitalTwins #DigitalThreads