Rolls Royce Turbine Blade Facility.

World-class, cutting-edge technology.

This new ground-breaking facility is home to the manufacturing of high-technology turbine blade for Rolls Royce.

The blades manufactured in this building will feature in a wide range of Trent aero engines. This includes the Rolls Royce Trent XWB which powers the new Airbus A350 XWB – the world’s most efficient large aero engine.

Understanding client aspirations.

The advanced equipment in the facility comprises of computer-controlled electrode erosion machine tools and centralised aqueous cutting fluid processing plant. These have a capital cost of approximately four times that of the building alone!

The client’s aim was to achieve the best value for money for the very best of services. It was vital that the environment was as clean and safe as possible for manufacturing the blades.

Overcoming constraints.

The heat gain from the manufacturing equipment is vast, and needs to be reduced in order for the equipment to work safely. We used a high-level displacement ventilation system to offset this gain – it ensures the correct environment for the equipment and, indeed, for the operators to work in.

Impressively, the new ventilation system allowed for the manufacturing to be stepped up to a full 22-hours-a-day 364-days-a-year operation. This is valued at millions of pounds every week. Added to this, incredibly, we managed to reduce the rejection rate for the precision-critical hollow blades, taking it from 25% to less than 1% in the new facility.