Boeing has opened a new research and technology center in Alabama. The facility opened at the end of June and will now serve as the company’s hub for collaborative technology development with academic institutions and research partners in analytics and simulation in the southeastern United States.
Local government leaders and Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering, operations & technology, John Tracy, joined employees to open the facility’s 80,000ft2 of laboratories and offices that are devoted to the creation and development of technologies for use in current and future Boeing products.
“The next 100 years of innovation start here,” said Steve Swaine, leader of the Boeing Research & Technology-Alabama (BR&T-Alabama) research center. “We’ve brought together a team made up of the best and brightest in data analytics, advanced engineering and many other disciplines to help Boeing create, develop, produce and support the best aerospace products in the world.”
In addition to continuously modernizing and improving Boeing products and operations through analytics and simulation technology development, the 220 engineers, technicians and staff at BR&T-Alabama will develop a variety of other technologies for existing and future Boeing products and services. The team works on technologies that include simulation and analytics, systems analysis, applied mathematics, chemicals, composite materials, metals and ceramics, propulsion, avionics systems and sensors, communication and sensing, cybersecurity, materials and processes, and product standards.
To drive advances in all areas, the BR&T-Alabama team has lab space equipped with autoclaves that heat-treat composite materials, an accelerated rate calorimeter to test heat reactions, state-of-the-art machines to test the properties of metals, and computers to simulate and test vehicle management systems. The team has built multiple computing networks that enable researchers around the globe to integrate simulations and further technology development in a fast and collaborative environment.
BR&T is the company’s advanced and central research and development organization, providing technologies that enable the development of future aerospace solutions while improving the cycle time, cost, quality and performance of existing Boeing products and services. The company’s research and technology development is conducted at 11 Boeing research centers in Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Russia and the United States, including Alabama, California, Missouri, South Carolina and Washington.
