We’re delighted to have won the ATI Hub Breakthrough Award which celebrates the UK- based start-up that has shown the most potential to impact aerospace and that will support the journey to net zero 2050 for commercial flight. We accepted the award from Harry Malins, Chief Innovation Officer of ATI and Holly Greig, Deputy Director, Aviation Decarbonisation, Department for Transport.
To win, we had to demonstrate to judges our innovation, the market needs and potential for wire arc additive manufacturing and how WAAM3D is contributing to UK aerospace.
The judges were impressed by our incredible journey following our launch in July 2018 and how we are commercialising the equivalent of over 300 years’ worth of academic research and development and leveraging the knowledge of 300 academic papers, 40 PhD projects and over 100 Master’s projects.
One of the key innovations delivered by the founding team is the achievement of forged microstructures and mechanical properties in structures made by wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM),which is enabling WAAM as a viable option for the production of Class 1 structures.
We’re now leading the way in large-scale metal additive manufacturing (AM) demonstrating feasibility of some of the largest critical structures ever produced. These include primary titanium fuselage components for fighter jets, landing gear ribs, wing spars and ribs. Within large-scale metal AM, we are the only company to provide an end-to-end software solution, from computer aided manufacturing to machine and process control, to post-build data analytics, which powers our flagship large-scale metal printer, RoboWAAM.
Dr Filomeno Martina, CEO and co-founder of WAAM3D said: “We are delighted to win this award. Our relentless innovation is once again spotlighted, as is the strength of our unique team. Our collaborations with leading organisations within UK aerospace have yielded some outstanding results.
“Lead times have been reduced from years to weeks, material utilisation has increased from 2% up to 90%,Embodied Energy and equivalent CO2 emissions have been more than halved, and supply chain risks greatly reduced. In the modern multi-polar world, looking at AM is key to protect and improve your business. It’s a great honour to be recognised by the ATI for our research and development and the positive impact we are having on the aerospace sector, at home and abroad.”
Judges were also impressed with our success securing millions of pounds in grant funding and equity investment, creating 45 jobs in the UK and Singapore, along with our commitment to the local ecosystem, hiring apprentices, delivering tours to schools in partnership with Cranfield University, promoting STEM subjects, and inspiring the minds of potential young engineers.
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