Bombardier wins 2019 MacRobert Award for UK engineering innovation

Courtesy Bombardier

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, as Royal Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, presented the MacRobert Award to the team of engineers from Belfast-based company Bombardier in the 50th anniversary year of the UK’s most prestigious engineering prize.

The winning Bombardier team members honoured at the Academy’s Awards dinner at London’s Banqueting House last night are: Mark Braniff, Head of Strategic Technology, Composites; David Patterson, Engineering Fellow, Aerostructures; Trevor Poots, former Chief Manufacturing and Tooling Engineer; David Riordan, Engineering Fellow, Engine Nacelle Design; and Sam Wilson, Senior Composites Specialist.

Bombardier’s innovative, resin-infused advanced composite aircraft wing underpins the Airbus A220 and is the first certified commercial aircraft wing made using resin transfer infusion (RTI). The RTI process sees a complex structure created by placing dry fabric into moulds before impregnating it with liquid resin, which then sets into shape under heat and pressure.

While other processes involve pre-impregnated carbon fibre requiring intensive refrigeration before manufacture, the RTI process uses less energy, fewer parts and results in a lighter wing. Compared to a conventional metal wing, Bombardier’s carbon composite wing is approximately 10% lighter helping to reduce fuel burn in flight, with an accompanying reduction of CO2 and NOx emissions.

The £520 million investment in Bombardier’s aircraft wing programme is the largest ever single inward investment in Northern Ireland and around 200 suppliers across the UK are directly involved with the programme alongside many others throughout the supply chain.

Bombardier was chosen from a shortlist of four finalists that included Darktrace, M Squared and OrganOx.

Founded in 1969, the MacRobert Award is overseen by the Royal Academy of Engineering and is the UK’s longest running engineering prize.

The Award honours the winning organisation with a gold medal, and the team members with a cash prize of £50,000. It recognises engineering teams that demonstrate outstanding innovation, tangible societal benefit and proven commercial success within the UK engineering sector.

Dr Dame Sue Ion DBE FREng FRS, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award judging panel, said: "The four finalists reflect the very best of UK innovation today, from mechanical, chemical, materials and optical, to medical and digital engineering. Each entry represents a significant advance in their respective fields and provides a glimpse of how engineering will shape the world over the next half century. They demonstrate UK engineering talent at the top of its game.

"Bombardier’s composite wing reflects how excellence in aeronautical engineering benefits both society and the environment. At a time of uncertainty for Belfast’s engineering community, we hope this award helps them achieve the world-wide recognition they deserve.”

Michael Ryan CBE FREng, Chief Operating Officer, Aerostructures, Bombardier Aviation, commented: “Bombardier Belfast is thrilled to win the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2019 MacRobert Award. It’s a fantastic recognition of our highly-skilled workforce, who have created a unique, cutting-edge technology to produce composite wings in Belfast which fly on commercial aircraft around the world.

"I’m extremely proud of our employees’ engineering innovation, the significant support of our supply chain, and of Northern Ireland as a global leader in aerospace technology.

“We’ve been developing our advanced composite expertise in Belfast for half a century and it’s an immense honour to receive the gold medal in the MacRobert Award’s 50th year.”

Over the last 50 years, MacRobert Award winning innovations have changed the world, delivering enormous economic and societal benefit and contributing to the UK’s standing as the world’s eighth largest manufacturing economy.

The first award in 1969 was made jointly for two iconic innovations: to Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine used in the Harrier jump jet, and to Freeman, Fox and Partners for the Severn Bridge.