GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK, Nov 6, 2025 – Renishaw has joined the Digitally Enabled Competitive & Sustainable Additive Manufacturing (DECSAM) project. Led by Airbus, this £38 million, four-year UK aerospace programme will develop and deploy the latest additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, such as beam shaping and in-situ process monitoring, to make metal laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) more cost-effective, productive and sustainable for flight-ready parts. The project, which runs until June 2028 is a research and innovation project funded through Innovate UK, the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and the UK Department for Business and Trade.
The project brings together 11 leading organisations covering aerospace OEMs, Tier 1&2 suppliers, SMEs and research institutes, providing full UK AM manufacturing chain coverage. The partners including Airbus Operations Limited (lead), Renishaw plc, ASTM International UK, Authentise Ltd, The Manufacturing Technology Centre Limited, GKN Aerospace Services Limited, Additive Manufacturing Solutions Ltd, APEX Additive Technologies Ltd, Domin Limited, University of Sheffield, and ToffeeX Limited.
What DECSAM will deliver?
To cut part cost, raise quality, and shorten design-build-test loops for aerospace applications, DECSAM is structured around four innovation pillars:
- Performance: new and improved alloys, multi-physics modelling and physics-driven design)
- Productivity: high-power lasers, beam shaping, advanced scan strategies, in-situ monitoring and closed-loop control
- Scalability: end-to-end digital thread, automated sustainable factory concepts, and efficient post-processing/inspection
- Application: Integration of technologies developed to demonstrate overall cost benefit on target product applications.
Planned outputs include ground and flight-test demonstrators, validated recycled/repurposed powder routes, widened powder specifications, verified parameter themes for quality and throughput, in-process monitoring software offerings, and guidance for routes to qualification and certification, all targeted at accelerating industrial exploitation.
Renishaw plc will support DECSAM by developing processes and parameters for high-temperature materials, improving process control through modelling and simulation, and extending powder life for greater feedstock sustainability. Using its RenAM 500 series metal additive manufacturing systems, Renishaw will also deliver improvements to productivity, quality, and automation to reduce non-productive time and lower overall labour costs.
Why it matters?
L-PBF is flight-proven, but wider uptake is constrained by end-to-end productivity gaps, fragmented data/QA, and reliance on overseas steps (powder, HIP, advanced heat-treat). DECSAM closes those gaps by linking UK materials supply, machine capability, in-process quality assurance, a robust digital thread, and factory scale-up—so parts are repeatable, cost-competitive, and producible at volume in the UK, supporting net-zero 2050.
The programme is business-case led: recycled/UK-made powders; optimised build and nesting; in-process monitoring with closed-loop control to reduce or eliminate HIP/CT where feasible; and parameter/alloy development to cut finishing time. Cost-modelled demonstrators (e.g., an aircraft floor beam) show the shift from today’s “as-is” to a digitally connected, production-ready “to-be” at a cost point which enables AM to buy its way into serial aerospace production.
Focus use cases include ultra-efficient wing & engine structures and hydrogen subsystems (conformal heat exchangers, fuel-cell manifolds). Alongside performance gains, DECSAM mitigates single-source casting risks, on-shores critical pre-form manufacture, and advances compact AM-enabled actuation toward power-by-wire—delivering more right-first-time, certifiable parts, shorter lead times, a resilient UK supply chain, and cleaner aerospace manufacturing.
DECSAM at a glance:
- Value & timing: £38 million ; June 2024 – June 2028 (48 months).
- Leadership: Airbus (project lead) with 11 project partners across OEMs, Tier-1s, SMEs, RTOs and academia.
- Innovation pillars: Performance, Productivity, Scalability, Demonstration for L-PBF.
- Planned outputs: Ground and flight demonstrators; recycled/reused powder routes; in-process monitoring with closed-loop control; a connected digital thread; factory design for scale-up; and clear pathways to qualification and certification.
For further information about Renishaw’s AM technologies, visit www.renishaw.com/additivemanufacturing
About Renishaw
Renishaw is a world leading supplier of measuring systems and manufacturing systems. Its products give high accuracy and precision, gathering data to provide customers and end users with traceability and confidence in what they’re making. This technology also helps its customers to innovate their products and processes.
It is a global business with over 5,000 employees located in the 36 countries where it has wholly owned subsidiary operations. The majority of R&D work takes place in the UK, with the largest manufacturing sites located in the UK, Ireland and India.
For the year ended June 2025 Renishaw recorded sales of £713 million of which 95% was due to exports. The company’s largest markets are China, USA, Japan and Germany.
Renishaw is guided by its purpose: Transforming Tomorrow Together. This means working with its customers to make the products, create the materials, and develop the therapies that are going to be needed for the future.
Further information at www.renishaw.com.
