MAA members go inside Rolls-Royce Control Systems

Rolls-Royce Control Systems hosted this Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) event at the Derwent Building. Forty visitors from a broad spectrum of aerospace companies saw presentations on RRCS products, strategic direction and supply chain methods. This was followed by site tours of electronic and hydromechanical manufacturing and engineering test facilities.

The event was sponsored by MAA Director Robin Hill, Head of Electronics at Rolls-Royce, as the latest in the series "Inside  . . .  with the MAA" which started in 2011.

Positive participant feedback

• Tour very interesting, Rolls-Royce personnel very knowledgeable
• The openness of Rolls-Royce was really appreciated the opportunity to meet people at RR that I would struggle to get access to was great.
• Very worthwhile event
• Procurement team are hard taskmasters! Technical team very informative
• The procurement summary was informative
• Great event, invaluable for updated information both market and company wise.
• Very informative, unprecedented access to areas not normally available
• A very good event to be introduced into a local facility
• I really enjoyed the day, an excellent day and it was very interesting to be shown the full product range and capabilities in the Rolls-Royce Controls business
• Great balance of information and presentations and tours and networking. Invaluable for long term understanding and insight into Control Systems
• The tours were excellent and members of staff seemed enthusiastic and proud of the company and their work.

Perceived communication challenges

In discussion, it was recognised that innovative potential suppliers – and even current suppliers -- can find large aerospace companies like Rolls-Royce difficult to penetrate or persuade of the mutual benefits of new ideas and improvements, and that the whole ecosystem can suffer as a result.

Helping overcome some of these barriers is a big focus for the MAA, working with Rolls-Royce and Tier 1s in the Midlands to:

• create regular “Inside . . . with the MAA” events like this
• organise major B2B meetings events like Aerospace Forum Birmingham
• run collaborative R&D programmes like NATEP with the big companies as end users