Wayne Welch

MoD sets out RAF progress on autonomous systems - "The RAF are committed to the exploitation of autonomy and other complimentary technologies in a range of systems."

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Many organisations waste money on condition-based maintenance. Despite having Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) in place, they STILL experience too many unacceptable and preventable failures. And it's not because the technology is faulty. It’s not because CBM isn’t an effective strategy. It’s not because the vendor has delivered a poor-quality solution. The problem is most organisations are NOT ready for CBM. They are just too reactive, too busy with today’s emergencies to respond to the information their CBM system is providing. I talk about the reason why most CBM efforts fail, why you can't achieve a reliable plant without CBM, and how you can ensure that your CBM delivers value to your organisation. Link to the article is in the first comment. #maintenance #reliability #RoadToReliability

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Many organisations waste money on condition-based maintenance. Despite having CBM, they STILL experience too many unacceptable and preventable failures. And it's not because the technology is faulty. It’s not because CBM isn’t an effective strategy. It’s not because the vendor has delivered a poor-quality solution. The problem is most organisations are NOT ready for CBM. They are just too reactive, too busy with today’s emergencies to respond to the information their CBM system is providing. That’s why in this article I wrote for @ReliablePlant, I discuss CBM in greater detail. I talk about the reason why most CBM efforts fail, why you can't achieve a reliable plant without CBM, and how you can ensure that your CBM delivers value to your organisation. Check out the article that we wrote for Reliable Plant Digital Magazine using this link below: https://hubs.li/Q03_Fj8m0 #maintenance #reliability #ReliabilityAcademy

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#EnvironmentalMoment The Royal Navy is creating the ‘ultimate repair shop’ to increase the availability and effectiveness of its ships. The warehouse in Portsmouth alone now houses some 84,000 items deemed repairable. It’s at 97 per cent capacity – and is expected to be full in about 12 months’ time. There are smaller repairable equipment stores in Plymouth and Faslane. RN Engineers completed a test case resulting in a saving of around £26k per ship fit. Whilst there is a strong business case the issue is scalability, as the commentary from Cdre Prest notes below - Can circular principles be embedded further down the value chain within maintenance planning and design change assessment? What role does the environmental discipline have to play to help the engineering community with #EnvironmentalSupportability? Join the conversation in the comments below and Read more via RN Website https://lnkd.in/eJdjNs-C 3 Feb-26. https://lnkd.in/ePNatTQm

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For critical tasks-Work Instructions must be readily accessible. I’ve been sharing for some time about colour-coded document holders at the work station. ✅ In a critically important environment such as 🛫 Aircraft servicing, you need a quick reference guide to ensure critically important tasks are completed correctly. ✅ Having these held in a colour-coded document holders at the workstation, is simple but powerful. Do your staff have readily accessible work instructions for critical tasks? Link to a simple source of document holders in the comments section

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INSPECTOR COMPETENCE is not straightforward in UK....it's not as simple as the API or NB certs in the USA. Here's a heady mix of inputs into 'Inspector Competence'...and there's more, depending on who you speak to. A lot is left to the preference of the employer

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Delighted to announce that Babcock International Group have become Platinum Sponsors of Team Forces. This partnership will support a broad portfolio of Armed Forces sports, building on our commitment to current servicemen and women, veterans and reservists. This will provide them with opportunities that enhance the health and welbeing of those who sacrifice so much for our country.

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🚢 BAE Systems Opens Major New Shipbuilding Facility in Glasgow A major boost for UK defence capability and regional industry— BAE Systems has officially opened a state-of-the-art shipbuilding hall in Govan, Glasgow. This £100m investment will enhance productivity, support complex Royal Navy shipbuilding programmes, and create hundreds of skilled jobs across the region. With defence spending rising and industrial resilience a national priority, suppliers across the defence sector have a vital role to play in supporting programmes like this—through innovation, subcontracting, and specialised services. 🔍 At Defence Contracts International (DCI), we help businesses connect with real-time defence opportunities like this across the UK supply chain. 📈 Discover how DCI can support your growth: https://lnkd.in/eUrCRzvw #DCI #UKDefence #Shipbuilding #BAESystems #RoyalNavy #DefenceContracts #UKIndustry #DefenceSpending #SupplyChainOpportunities #MODProcurement #NavalInnovation #GlasgowIndustry #DefenceGrowth #SMEOpportunity #PublicSectorContracts

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Great news from the shire as Ribena gets a huge investment in new production lines. Gloucestershire’s Ribena and Lucozade factory gets £25m investment - Gloucestershire Live https://lnkd.in/dKATxAgc

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At Babcock, our people do extraordinary work to support our country and our allies, often in complex and demanding environments - so when they need us most it’s our responsibility to be there for them. That’s why we’ve introduced premature baby leave for our UK based employees and become the first defence company to sign The Employer with Heart Charter in partnership with The Smallest Things charity. Colleagues, whose baby is born premature, will be entitled to additional paid leave, offering families the time and space they need during what can be a difficult and emotional period. The new provision builds on our neonatal leave and forms part of our wider commitments to inclusive family friendly working. Louise Atkinson, our Chief People Officer said: “This commitment reinforces Babcock’s ambition to build a more diverse and inclusive organisation, where colleagues feel supported to grow long-term careers while contributing to the critical work we do for our customers.” Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry said: “By introducing premature baby leave and signing the Employer with Heart Charter, Babcock is setting an important example for the Defence sector, showing that compassion, flexibility and inclusion are powerful drivers of a motivated workforce and a high performing organisation.” Read more: https://ow.ly/JYeO50Yj3es

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Please join us in welcoming more of our newest MAA members. 🎉 Each organisation brings specialist capability and innovation to the Midlands aerospace community, strengthening the network across materials, manufacturing and critical processes. ✈️ Duvelco Limited : Working in partnership with industry leaders to deliver advanced materials for critical applications. Its Ducoya® G series is a new-to-the-world high-performance material, designed to perform under extreme conditions and enable lighter, stronger components with improved thermal stability and tribological performance. ✈️ Hyde Aero Products Limited: A division of the Hyde Group, specialising in precision parts and structural assemblies for safety-critical aerospace applications. Supporting both long-term programmes and rapid AOG requirements, Hyde Aero is a strategic supplier to UK and global OEMs, offering a fully integrated, accredited manufacturing service. ✈️ JAL Aerospace Pvt Ltd:  A manufacturer of high-precision aerospace components supporting global Tier-1 suppliers. With a strong focus on engineering excellence, quality assurance and advanced manufacturing, JAL Aerospace delivers components built for performance, reliability and safety. ✈️ CCPI Europe: Supporting aerospace manufacturers with high-accuracy temperature measurement and calibration solutions. With deep expertise in AMS2750, NADCAP-aligned practices and UKAS-accredited calibration, CCPI enables compliance, traceability and process control across critical aerospace applications. Interested in joining our network of forward-thinking aerospace and defence organisations? Find out more about MAA membership here via the link in the comments section.

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The UK government has confirmed a £1 billion aerospace and defence contract with Leonardo to deliver 23 medium-lift military helicopters under the New Medium Helicopter programme. The aircraft will be built at the Yeovil site, the UK’s last remaining military helicopter production facility, securing around 3,300 skilled jobs and supporting a much wider domestic supply chain. Why this matters: - It modernises a core element of UK rotary-wing capability at a time of growing operational demand. - More than 40% of the programme value will be delivered in the UK, strengthening sovereign industrial capability. - It provides long-term certainty for a critical aerospace manufacturing site with deep national heritage. - It reinforces the importance of procurement decisions in anchoring high-value defence manufacturing onshore. After a prolonged period of uncertainty around defence industrial investment, this award sends a clear signal about the role government procurement can play in sustaining capability, skills, and export potential. The bigger question is whether this approach becomes the norm rather than the exception. https://lnkd.in/eBGReYJx

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✈️ Meet the team responsible for maintaining EJ200 engines – helping to power the RAF’s Typhoon aircraft. ✈️ A highly skilled team based at two sites 500-miles apart at RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth, deliver maintenance and logistics services for EJ200 engines on behalf of the MoD. The contract is led by Operations Manager Fletch Fletcher and supported by experienced team leaders: Kay Lee, Asset Control Lead, and Technical Managers John Harper and Mick Degg. The team, many of which have backgrounds in the RAF and vast experience in maintaining both Typhoon and Tornado engines, previously worked through Rolls-Royce, but now work directly with Defence, Equipment & Support (DE&S) – in a new collaborative way of working. Day-to-day work at RAF Coningsby and RAF Lossiemouth is all about supporting the EJ200 Typhoon engines to ensure operational readiness of the Typhoon fleet - both in the UK and overseas. 🗨️Fletch Fletcher, “Direct engagement with the DE&S customer has significantly increased communication between engineering teams and customer task management. By discussing production requirements openly and working together, we have strengthened collaboration and streamlined EJ200 repair activities. 🗨️“This closer partnership is also fostering organic growth, as we identify and explore new opportunities collectively.” #SercoStories #RAF #SercoInDefence Salli Shapcott | Matthew Wakefield | Dougal Monk

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BAE Systems has officially opened its new shipbuilding facility in Glasgow. The hall has capacity for two Type 26 frigates to be constructed side-by-side and, for the first time, allows warships to be built fully undercover - a major boost for UK naval manufacturing. With our precision-machined parts and assemblies supporting the defence sector, including chemical weapons isolation equipment, it’s great to see continued investment in the UK’s defence infrastructure. Read more: https://bit.ly/4eHU0al #UKmfg #CNC #Machining #CNCmachining #Engineering #Manufacturing #ManufacturingUK #TurnedParts #Milling #Defence #GBMfg

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Probably the best explanation I’ve ever read of the key safety concept “normalisation of deviance”, with examples from air traffic control, the Challenger shuttle disaster, cable cars and fire safety. Simon Taylor Dr Jacqueline Ward MBE CPsychol AFBPSs HFSaRS Mark Hansford Andrew Crudgington https://lnkd.in/ejUz78vv

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Compliance and Programmable Elements: What’s Your Biggest Challenge? Programmable Elements (like FPGAs, ASICs, and complex COTS devices) are vital in modern aerospace and defence systems, but they often introduce unique assurance and compliance headaches. I’d love to hear from programme managers, engineers, and compliance leads. Which of these challenges causes you the most pain? 1️⃣ Demonstrating traceability from requirements to implementation 2️⃣ Handling tool qualification & verification evidence 3️⃣ Programme delays from late-stage compliance findings 4️⃣ Interpreting evolving standards & regulatory expectations Drop a comment if your challenge isn’t listed, it’d be great to compare experiences across the community. Visualisation created using AI as clickbait 😉

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