AAM Manufacturing Best Practices: J.R. Hammond

Giovani Izidório Cesconetto

March 28, 2022

AAM Manufacturing Through JR's LensOne week after hosting the 2022 Open House event, the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM) takes flight once more with the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Manufacturing Best Practices event. The event will see the release and conversation on the AAM Advanced Manufacturing Whitepaper, led by Professor Anoush Poursartip, Ph. D., Founder & Director, Composite Knowledge Network Canada (CKN). Read the following interview with J.R. Hammond, Founder & Executive Director, CAAM, to learn more about the whitepaper, its importance, and who is Professor Poursartip.

AAM Manufacturing Best Practices though J.R. Hammond lenses

What is the AAM Manufacturing Best Practices event?

The AAM Manufacturing Best Practices are eight months of research, and meetings with leaders in the advanced manufacturing industry have led to the production of a report that summarizes our current learnings about AAM best practices for manufacturing. It is also an opportunity to showcase the ongoing work coming out of the Composite Knowledge Network (CKN) in partnership with CAAM to understand how we will manufacture at near automotive rates for the future Advanced Air Mobility industry here in Canada.

And why does it matter to organize this kind of event?

We are starting to identify the bottlenecks and complexities of the entire value chain of Advanced Air Mobility, from material sourcing, manufacturing, operating, and, of course, life cycle analysis of the whole value chain. We are leaning into the next biggest hurdle: how we will manufacture these aircraft for them operating here in Canada.

Why is CAAM championing something like the AAM Manufacturing Best Practices?

The importance of manufacturing gives Canada as a country a more significant opportunity to lean into the whole value chain that Advanced Air Mobility presents. Not just benefiting from the operation of these aircraft, but ensuring the research and development, pilot training—as seen by CAE—as well as our future manufacturing opportunities benefiting Canada as a whole rather than just a part of the whole rather than just one part of the value chain.

Who is Professor Anoush Poursartip, Ph. D., and why did you invite him to speak at the event?

Professor Anoush Poursartip is one of the founders and directors at the Composite Knowledge Network in Canada. He is a global leading expert on composites manufacturing, which will play a critical role in how these future aircraft are manufactured and designed. He was also the lead in developing the report in partnership with CAAM for the release of the AAM Manufacturing Best Practices in Canada.

Lastly, why should people sign-up for the event? I’m asking that because it seems like a very technical conversation, so is it something that everyone can enjoy or is it more focused and will benefit more industry and academia stakeholders?

We designed the event for a more technical audience. Still, there are some key themes that the executive summary will release that will showcase how the general public, government, and critically industry can see the opportunities for manufacturing AAM aircraft in Canada, and also the space where we have a lot of room to grow as well.

By Giovani Izidorio Cesconetto