Collins Aerospace is planning to break ground in August on an aerospace innovation hub in Singapore that will be dedicated to advanced MRO processes. To open in early 2020 at Collins Aerospace’s Changi MRO campus, the 15,000-sq-ft facility will focus on repair development, digitalization, additive design and manufacturing, robotics, and advanced manufacturing processes.

The facility will include a lab for automation, “smart factory” development, and advanced manufacturing that could be implemented throughout Collins Aerospace (Chalet 344). This includes the digitalization and automation of its MRO and manufacturing operations.

Additionally, the center will become Collins Aerospace’s first additive manufacturing facility outside the U.S. and fourth overall. It will also become the company’s first dedicated to titanium capability, including prototyping, development, tooling, and low-rate production of additive materials.

“We’re experiencing tremendous growth and transformation in aerospace globally, and we are focused on innovation to remain at the forefront of advanced methods and materials for maintenance, repair, and overhaul solutions,” said Collins Aerospace president of aftermarket services Ajay Agrawal.

“We are actively working in the field of additive design and manufacturing for aerospace applications,” added Paula Hay, Collins Aerospace's executive director of additive design and manufacturing. "We are focused on parts across a wide spectrum of materials including aluminum, Inconel, titanium, copper, and nickel, as well as other special alloys. It’s a very exciting time for additive technology as it moves out of the research and prototyping realm and into production.”

The facility is being developed with the collaboration of the Singapore Economic Development Board, expanding Collins’s existing MRO presence in the region that includes MRO for commercial and military customers and a 24/7/365 rotable parts exchange pool.