Australia’s HeliMods wins government grant to digitise design and manufacturing processes

Australian aerospace technology manufacturer HeliMods, with assistance from the Australian government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), has partnered with Siemens to leverage its Xcelerator software portfolio to fully digitalise its entire product design and manufacturing process. The implementation of Closed-Loop Manufacturing (CLM) across its manufacturing capability using Siemens’ Manufacturing Execution System (MES) will enable HeliMods to achieve development and production of high complexity, high value, scalable solutions using a single digital thread across the entire product lifecycle. The implementation of the software was enabled by a A$350,000 co-investment grant from the AMGC and will support HeliMods’ global and local growth trajectory in aerospace, defence, air ambulance and other key industries. In total, the project will see an investment of A$808,543 from combined AMGC, industry and in-kind contributions. The solution will also help HeliMods reduce development timeframe and cost and increase efficiency while also allowing increased levels of product innovation. HeliMods was recently approved by the Australian Defence Aviation Safety Authority (DASA) as one of only two active organisations in Australia to receive DASR 21, Section A, Subpart G – Military Production Organisation Approval (MPOA) status, establishing HeliMods as the only Australian business with Defence Production Approval that is leveraging this unique combination of digital technologies. The new system will enable HeliMods to connect to physical manufacturing infrastructure anywhere in the world without the requirement for person-centric links. It also provides complete product traceability, oversight and data trust. The agreement extends Siemens’ existing relationship with HeliMods that has seen HeliMods use Siemens’ software to design and deliver the world’s-first Powered Aero Loader (PAL) to customers such as Ornge, an air ambulance and medical transport organisation in Canada, and helicopter fleet transformation services to RACQ LifeFlight in Queensland. Utilising Siemens’ NX computer-aided (CAD) software integrated with Teamcenter Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software, both from Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, HeliMods has interactively designed all product components and leveraged the diverse array of advanced software integrations available, such as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) to effectively iterate and create optimised product solutions for its customers. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]