Airframe Designs expands green credentials

Image courtesy Airframe Designs

The organisation has increased the number of solar panels it uses to generate energy for its site in Blackpool from 80 to 150 panels, increasing the battery storage capacity from 22.5 kilowatts to 37.5 kilowatts.

At the same time, the company has committed to a new waste process to ensure all refuse is recycled at its recently expanded site.

The PLA polymer used by Airframe Designs in the 3D printing process is also being recycled into PLA filament for re-use in the manufacturing process.

Jerrod Hartley, CEO of Airframe Designs, said: “The energy we generate from the solar panels is enough to run our engineering operation, but we are seeking efficiencies across all of our site. These incremental initiatives all help towards our longer term plans of being a sustainable business contributing to carbon reduction and NetZero.”

Airframe Designs recently proved its commitment to environmental management and continual improvement by successfully achieving the prestigious ISO 14001 certification. The audit required the organisation to assess environmental issues relevant to its operation including waste management, use of resources and efficiency.

ISO 14001 is an internationally-recognised standard for environmental management systems which validates a company’s commitments to regulatory environmental requirements in the way it operates its business.

Airframe Designs continues to grow its specialisms in producing highly complex components to some of the largest aviation, defence and space organisations worldwide.

Recent projects undertaken by the company include the integration of new systems into heavy lift drone platforms, conceptual design at a platform level for new uncrewed air-systems, test rig and tooling for electric vehicle propulsion systems and most recently the design and analysis of operator consoles for a special mission aircraft.