Velocity Composites completes first kits from advanced manufacturing facility in Alabama

Velocity Composites (Burnley, U.K.) reports major development at its first U.S. facility in Tallassee, Alabama which supports its five-year work package agreement with GKN Aerospace (Solihull, U.K.) facilities also located in Tallassee, expected to be worth more than US$100 million in revenue.

The company is a leading supplier of composite material kits to aerospace and other high-performance manufacturers. Its products reportedly reduce costs and improve sustainability for customers including Airbus, Boeing, Safran and GKN.

First production milestone

This milestone is the culmination of an intensive period of training, audits, and approvals, during which the site successfully achieved AS9100, Rev. D accreditation in November 2022. This was followed by several prime customer audits through December 2022 and early January 2023 and concluded in full customer audit approval and authority to proceed with First Article manufacture. This critical step is the ultimate verification by the customer that the site fit-out and infrastructure, training processes and procedures, and quality and transfer plans presented by Velocity Composites exceed the required standard.

The detailed First Article plan with GKN Aerospace can now be implemented, where one of every kit will be manufactured, delivered and verified prior to sustained volume production. This will be on a program-by-program basis leading to the phased transfer of all kits to Velocity Composites for supply. The final program is scheduled to be completed within this financial year and full-rate production should begin at or before the next financial year. In the future, the site will become a launch hub for other customer contracts, and high-level business development activities are already underway with several potential large customers.

"This is a major milestone for Velocity Composites as we expand into North America,” says Jon Bridges, CEO of Velocity Composites. “The whole Velocity team, both in the U.S. and U.K., have worked incredibly hard to deliver a fully operational site, a well-trained team and a plan ready to start delivering flying products to our launch customer. The site can now move forward into production ramp-up with continued support from the U.K. team and close collaboration with our customer to ensure a smooth transfer of the entire project.”

He adds that the customer and industry approvals of this new showcase facility is further endorsement that Velocity Composites’ business model, processes and technology are world class. “Our targeted business development activities are further enhanced by having a capable advanced manufacturing site in North America with significant capacity to grow." New market areas include wind energy, urban air mobility and electric vehicles, where the demand for composites is expected to grow.