Quickstep (ASX:QHL) has signed an engineering collaboration with Sovereign Manufacturing Automation for Composites CRC (SoMAC CRC) and Deakin University’s Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (ISRII). 

The $19.72 million market capitalisation company says the agreement is to help solve one of the key issues in ‘large-scale’ composites production: the relatively high cost of production. 

The collaboration program runs for an initial 12-month period and is valued at $1 million, funded 50-50, and forms part of an expected multi-year development program. 

Further, Quickstep says the collaboration with Deakin University, through the combination of 3D photorealistic digital design, complex artificial intelligence (AI) drive simulations, and new robotic design principles, will mature new manufacturing technologies for cutting-edge airframe design and more cost-effective manufacturing system performance. 

Operations will be led from Quickstep’s facilities in Geelong.

Quickstep says this collaboration will support further developing the company’s capabilities to become a ‘leading’ tier-one manufacturer in the commercial drone market, alongside helping make Australian manufacturing operations more competitive. 

The company adds one of its strategic objectives is to make the production system more cost-effective to deliver the product trifecta of ‘better, faster, and cheaper’, as well as enable a wider application of composite technologies. 

Quickstep is an ASX-listed independent aerospace composite company located in Australia. The company has facilities in Sydney, Geelong, Melbourne, and Dallas, US. 

Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au

Images: Quickstep