IDONIAL has recently travelled to Coventry (UK) to participate in the fifth transnational meeting of the European AILEEN project (Centres of Vocational Excellence in Aerospace & Defence for Advanced Manufacturing) held at the MTC Technology Center headquarters.
At this meeting, all the consortium partners came together to advance the development of training tools and content for the training of personnel specialised in advanced manufacturing for the aerospace and defence sectors. Among them is the Asturias Defence Hub.
On the first day, a validation workshop was held with external experts—from academia, industry, and technical fields—to review and improve several competency units included in the project. The units that were validated are:
- Inspection applied to additive manufacturing
- Design of metal parts in additive manufacturing for these sectors (PBF and DED)
- Welding and brazing processes
- Digital technologies and integrated systems in advanced manufacturing
The exchange with the experts allowed for a review of the content, quality criteria, technical relevance and suitability for the European aerospace and defence market.
The following two days were devoted to the project plenary meeting, which continued with the planned schedule and presented the developments achieved so far. Among these, IDONIAL presented the implementation and results of the additive manufacturing inspection skills competition held at national and European level.
AILEEN: a strategic commitment to excellence in training
The main objective of the AILEEN project is to structure and consolidate a European network of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) specialising in advanced manufacturing for the aerospace and defence sectors. The aim of this network is to:
- Offer specialised technical training (levels equivalent to EQF 4 to 7) in emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing, advanced welding, inspection and digitisation.
- Promote staff mobility between partner countries, as well as cooperation between training institutions, industrial companies and research and technology centres.
- Transfer good practices between training institutions and innovate in teaching methodologies to meet the demands of the aerospace and defence sector.
- Expand the CoVE network in Europe through new nominations — a new call for applications is expected to open in October 2025.
In this context, IDONIAL leads the Spanish additive manufacturing CoVE for defence, which includes the companies Sicnova and Novaindef, and the Asturias Defence Hub. It also participates in the welding CoVE for defence and aerospace, led by CESOL.
INFORMATION:
- Official website: aileencove.eu
- LinkedIn:
- AILEEN
- AILEEN COVE Connect
