Event report • Committees Aéronautique - Aérospatiale

Greenpoint Technologies Hosts Aerospace Committee

2 October 2019

Recap from the October 1st meeting.

The FACC-PNW Aerospace Committee met on October 1^st at the Greenpoint Technologies facility in Bothell. The fourth meeting of the committee this year, representatives from around 30 different companies attended the meeting including: Daher, SAFRAN, Bolloré Logistics, Tect Aerospace, MTorres and many more. Speakers discussed last June’s Paris Air Show, the upcoming A.F.A. Summit and the Seattle European-American Air Forum 2020.

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October 1 - Meeting Minutes:

Jean Michel Hillion (Corporate Senior Vice President at Safran) on Paris Air Show 2019 :

The Committee was introduced as Jean-Michel Hillion from Safran gave a brief summary of the news from Paris Air Show 2019, a relatively quiet event compared to last year’s. Broadly speaking, despite the Max 737 crisis from the beginning of the year, Boeing received an order for 200 aircrafts from I.A.G., while Airbus negotiated a contract for the sale of 250 Airbus 321 XLR and A.T.R. was granted with numerous orders as well; C.F.M. engines sales rocketed but the G.T.F. engines suffered from its technical issues. The acquisition of Bombardier Inc. by Mitsubishi was however the major event, as it brings Japan more firmly onto the aeronautics market with a significant footprint. Issues were brought to the floor, whereby several startups proposed fresh views on the market with encouraging projects slowly leaning to an ecologic transition and environment sensitivity in terms of aircraft propulsion and regulation: the main topic of the event with autonomous and robotic evolution.

Julien Acis (Business Development Manager at Daher) on Daher’s latest acquisitions:

Mr. Julien Acis from Daher presented on Daher’s acquisition of Idaho-based Quest Aircraft, bringing the Kodiak 100 to the widening portfolio of T.B.M. models, one-pilot and easily-manoeuvrable aircrafts. He also announced Daher’s acquisition of Dutch company K.V.E. Composites, responsible for the creation of a patented process for called Induction Welding Thermoplastics, hoping to reduce by 75% the rivets from the fuselage. In the continuity of the environmental question of Paris Air Show, Mr. Acis also introduced the Ecopulse hybrid engine, a joint project with Airbus (optimal aerial design) and Safran (engineering development), scheduled to launch its first flight in 2022, the first step towards electric-propelled airplane. Daher seems keen to the automated perspective as well, as Mr. Acis presented different project of digital enhancement and automation.

Brian Canfield (CEO of Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance) on their 2019-2020 calendar:

Brian Canfield then presented the P.N.A.A. cluster, an opportunity to bring together a network of strong aeronautics companies. He presented a summarized schedule of their events and visits planned for 2020: the conference on Aerospace on February 3^rd to 6^th and the conference on Defense in May, for instance. Mr. Canfield specified the different actions proposed by the P.N.A.A., ranging from sponsorships to events organization, or committees, field trips, trainings to provide insight market analysis and intelligence and connection of startups with sponsors. They now count more than 235 members, a 20% growth from last year.

Michel Merluzeau (Director, Aerospace & Defense Analysis at Air Insight Research) on Seattle European-American Air Forum 2020:

From Air Insight Research, Michel Merluzeau presented the S.E.A.A.F. 2020, planned for June 3^rd, 2020, and the potential topics which will be tackled on that occasion: understand and identify the trends (most probably environmental and automation), the North-American and international trade markets. Mr. Merluzeau is positive on this meeting allowing reshaping international trade, while we enter a transportation revolution with the arrival of 4.0 industries and a global supply chain.

Erin Herringshaw (Director of Strategic Engagement at Aerospace Future Alliance) on the upcoming A.F.A. Summit on October 16^th:

Ms. Erin Herringshaw then shortly talked about the upcoming A.F.A. 14^th Summit on October 16^th, 2019, where innovations will be presented in the fields of robotics, aerospace and propulsion, while providing advocacy for small companies and startups.

Gérard Zytnicki and Lewis Johnson (Co-founders, CEO & CSO of NonLinear Materials Corporation) on their company and innovative technologies:

Finally, Mr. Gérard Zytnicki and Dr. Lewis Johnson gave a presentation of their joint company: NonLinear Materials Corporation. They went on with an innovative technology to tackle environmental and technical problematics: according to Moore’s law, the density of components within a computing system would decrease exponentially every 18 years, starting from large-motherboard computers in the 70s, onto optimized technologies and cloud storage in early 2000s. According to the N.L.M. spokespersons, the next step should be optical computing systems using photons to allow a faster, more precise and less energy-consuming data delivery. They presented a chip-scale electro-optics modulator 200 times smaller (750 μm) and 1000 times less energy intensive (0.2V) than most modulators currently in use. While its production is complicated as it cannot be automated, the processing aspects and field application are limitless, and NonLinear Materials made quite the impression among committee members.

The October 1st Aerospace Committee Meeting was a resounding success, with detailed presentations under the sign of environmental sensitivity, technological innovation and inter-company cooperation aimed at improving and developing industry cooperation. If you are interested in receiving invitations to the FACC-PNW Aerospace Committee Meetings, please email info@faccpnw.org. Please note: attendance at these meetings is restricted to members of the FACC-PNW at the Corporate level and up.