CIAM Manufacturing and Producibility Improvement Phase 2

The objective of this Composites Manufacturing Technology Center (CMTC) effort is to redesign and manufacture improvements to the CIAM components. This phase will encompass redesign of components, manufacture of hardware for testing, component-level testing, assembly testing and detailed design approval of a solution ready for production verification and validation testing. The primary goal of the project is to implement a solution that lowers non-quality costs by minimizing rework hours and scrap rates, reducing weight, and decreasing recurring fabrication costs.

This effort is estimated to deliver savings to both per-unit and total life-cycle cost-savings. This value encompasses the reduction in production life-cycle labor costs achieved through enhanced erosion coating and adhesive performance, which helps mitigate the increased costs and delivery delays associated with teardown, rebuilding, and retesting. Further, the proposed design will eliminate a significant amount of rework by the hardware supplier. This will contribute to cost reduction and aid in cycle time reduction and delivery reliability. The resulting return on investment (ROI) is 5.8:1.

Upon approval of the detailed design and successful completion of Phase 2, work is anticipated to commence on Phase 3: Production Implementation. Phase 3 is outside the scope of this effort. The estimated duration of Phase 3 is a total of 37 months, which includes all engineering labor, test hardware, test activities, material qualification, production process validation, and production tooling to achieve production implementation. The key to successful production implementation lies in effective system-level strain gauge testing of the new hardware, approval of materials that are new to Rolls-Royce, and the establishment of a standardized manufacturing process for the new design hardware.

*Prepared under ONR Contract N00014-21-D-7001 as part of the Navy ManTech Program.

*DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. DCN# 2024-11-6-309; Approval Date: 11/14/2024