Aerospace manufacturer Hexcel is using machine learning to cut waste from the sticky process of coating adhesive films onto composite materials at its Duxford site. The problem is straightforward: when Hexcel develops new adhesive films—used to bond lightweight composite panels in aircraft—the current coating process produces unpredictable results, generating scrap material and requiring repeated trial-and-error adjustments. This inefficiency slows down product development and raises costs in a UK composites industry worth £2.3 billion, competing in a global thermoplastic market projected to reach $47.5 billion by 2030. If the machine learning models work, Hexcel will predict optimal processing conditions for new adhesives before production begins, reducing scrap and speeding up the introduction of lighter, stronger materials. The approach could then spread to other Hexcel manufacturing lines worldwide. The immediate impact is industrial: more efficient factories, less material waste, and faster delivery of advanced composites to aerospace customers. There is no direct consumer product here—the benefit is a smarter, more environmentally friendly manufacturing process that quietly keeps aircraft supply chains competitive.
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The UK composites industry is valued at £2.3 billion, while the global thermoplastic composites market is projected to reach $47.5 billion by 2030\. As the surge for global demand of light weight composites and high-performance materials continues to grow, Hexcel's Duxford site is looking for new ways to become more competitive in that market. Duxford produces a large product range for composites manufacture in the aerospace industry which is constantly looking to develop lighter and smarter materials creating a very competitive field. This competitiveness comes from a mix of increasing process efficiency and from finding more advanced ways to trial new products that could fill gaps in the market which may have a new range of material properties to those which we are used to dealing with. For us, innovation needs to be at the forefront of all of our work, pushing us to improve and develop within the market. Improving our adhesive coating technology would put us in a position to increase not only our competitive edge in the market but also allowing us to explore new technologies supported by our internal research and technology teams and by collaboration with academic institutions. The Challenge At the moment we produce a range of adhesive films for customer use and for internal composite panel manufacture. We are reaching out into areas of materials science we are less familiar with and to get these materials into production we need to review the process routes which we have become comfortable with. This means looking towards new technologies to streamline the processes currently running to reduce scrap material, and to improve our predictions for processing conditions when developing new or higher energy material. For this Hexcel are partnering with ASTUTE, a company dedicated to excelling industry within the U.K who have expertise in machine leaning and modelling. The company will provide their academic and process experience to help us navigate this streamlining of current processes and aiding us learn the tools necessary for smoother new product introduction. The future hope would be to use this new knowledge driven approach to branch out to other areas of Hexcel's manufacturing lines both in Duxford and worldwide. It will provide a smarter and more environmentally friendly method of manufacture which is always a driving force in the aerospace industry.
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