Flow International Corp. (Kent, Wash.), a developer and manufacturer of industrial waterjet machines for cutting and cleaning applications, announced on June 26 that Airbus Industrie (Toulouse, France) has awarded Flow a multi-million dollar contract to manufacture and install multiple Composite Machining Center (CMC) abrasive waterjet and routing machine tool systems. These machines will be built and installed over the next 18 to 24 months for use in manufacturing the new Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.

Airbus already has several Flow waterjet systems in production. Airbus will use Flow's CMC waterjet systems throughout all its plants across Europe to cut and trim composite materials – primarily carbon fiber/epoxy composites -- for the wings, fuselage, wing spars, keel beam, and other parts on the A350 XWB, which is Airbus' response to market demand for a medium-capacity, long-range, wide-body aircraft.

Charley Brown, president and CEO of Flow, says, "We are pleased Airbus selected Flow as the only provider of waterjet Composite Machining Centers and that our technology was chosen over other traditional and non-traditional machining processes for use on the A350 XWB. Engineering and manufacturing for these products will take place in our recently announced Advanced Systems Technology and Manufacturing Center which is an expansion of our Jeffersonville, Ind., facility.”