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This paper aims to document the approach, effort and cost of advance composite technology implementation suited for small and medium enterprises on the example of composite main rotor blade development for ILX-27 helicopter.

This work was carried out as part of a development project for main rotor blades used on the ILX 27 helicopter. The paper presents all stages of the design of the blade structure in parallel with composite technology development. The data were gathered and documented during project execution. The stages of R&D work in terms of labor intensity and important processes influencing quality and efficiency were assessed.

The paper provides key aspects for successful composite capability introduction. The incurred cost of equipment and staff training is evaluated. The paper also summarized the cost of composite parts manufactured with developed technology.

The paper provides detail example of composite capability development including basic technologies, processes, equipment and cost of the project. Presented details can be great guidelines for small and medium enterprises with the goal of composite technology introduction for aerostructures design and manufacturing.

This paper present clear, complete and verified process of composite capability development for aerostructures design and build suited for small and medium enterprises. It presents detail cost, calculated in Polish economy environment, of each phase and final cost of the product.

Composite design software is helping engineers from British Aerospace to reduce significantly engineering time on composite parts for the Eurofighter 2000 aircraft. FiberSIM’ simulation software from Composite Design Technologies (CDT), Waltham, Massachusetts, allows manufacturing engineers to define the composite lay‐up on a computer, eliminating the old, industry‐wide trial and error process that was used to lay composite plies onto a complex surface. The new technology ensures that manufacturing reflects the design intent and reduces weight by avoiding unnecessary patches. British Aerospace also expects additional production time savings by using the software to program laser projection equipment.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation saved four months on the S‐92 Helibus helicopter project by simulating composite material performance on the computer prior to fabricating tooling. Despite the communications and logistical challenges of working with international manufacturing partners on the project, the flow time required to move the complex canopy structure from basic data to completion of production parts was reduced by 27 percent compared to previous similar projects. This first womb‐to‐tomb use of simulation of Sikorsky also cut engineering, prototyping and tooling costs by reducing the number of revisions required during the tool tryout stage by more than 90 percent of the normal number. The key to the success of this project was the ability of the FiberSIM simulation software from Composite Design Technologies, Wiltham, Massachusetts, to detect wrinkling, bridging and similar problems during the basic design phase, so they could be fixed before they reached the shopfloor.