At Aviolanda Woensdrecht, the Development Center for Maintenance of Composites (DCMC) has been officially launched. Fokker, Delft University of Technology, Airborne and NLR-Netherlands Aerospace Centre have taken the initiative in bringing together their expertise in relation to techniques for the inspection and repair of composites. They will also further develop the technology in this center together with other partners.
Field Lab
In order to accelerate the development of the DCMC, 15 partners submitted an ‘OP-Zuid’ application on 29 February under the project title ‘Field Lab for Maintenance & Repair of Composites’. In the project, businesses and knowledge-based institutions will collaborate in seven innovative programmes encompassing (among other things) robotic repair of composites and advanced inspection techniques. The project also provides for the establishment of a test, development and training centre in the form of a Field Lab at Aviolanda.
Open innovation
The DCMC welcomes participation from partners with additional knowledge and expertise. This will result in a form of open innovation, in which the participating industrial parties develop their own business cases and generate business activity in the West Brabant region and beyond. The activities related to the F-35 can give rise to fruitful spin-offs in the form of innovations in the maintenance of other platforms, and spill over into other subsectors such as the automotive industry, the processing industry and the maritime, infrastructure and rail sectors.
Job creation
In this way, the DCMC and the Field Lab for Maintenance & Repair of Composites provide an impulse towards job creation in the region and the consolidation of Woensdrecht as an international maintenance centre for aviation in Europe. Moreover, if the sector is able to position itself well, the composite cluster in Woensdrecht can help to attract companies from outside West Brabant. The know-how developed by the DCMC in the field of repairing damaged composites will give the region a competitive advantage.
The OP-Zuid project ‘Field Lab for Maintenance & Repair of Composites’ at Woensdrecht is worth approximately € 10 million in terms of project volume.
Participants in the OP-Zuid project:
The partners in the project are: Fokker Services, NLR, Airborne Services, Delft University of Technology, TiaT Europe, ACRATS, Lijmacademie, DCMC, Damen Shipbuilding, BOM, SPECTO, AVANS Hogeschool, AM&TS, Dutch Terahertz Inspection Service and REWIN.
