The Fan Case Mount Ring (FCMR)

Case study

Engine Fan Case Mount Ring 6

The challenge:

For the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine family powering the Airbus A220 and Embraer E2, GKN Aerospace needed to deliver a flight-critical Fan Case Mount Ring that bypassed traditional supply chain bottlenecks, reduced material waste, and met rapid production ramp-up demands.

The solution:

Utilizing proprietary Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) technology, GKN produces the core "hot size ring" structure at its advanced facility in Trollhättan, Sweden and in Newington, Connecticut, in the USA, creating production lines geared for high-rate serial production on two continents.

The impact

The additive fabrication of the FCMR has achieved full FAA certification and has been in serial production by GKN Aerospace since the end of 2025. By transitioning from traditional forging to laser-fused additive technology, GKN delivers:

  • Massive lead time reduction: Manufacturing timelines dropped from a traditional nine months down to just four weeks.
  • 70% material savings: Material consumption and raw waste were reduced by over 70%, drastically lowering production costs.
  • Enhanced sustainability: Minimized raw material waste, reduced energy usage, and optimized logistics significantly cut lifecycle carbon emissions.
  • Component commonality: The standardized AM design streamlines development, simplifies certification, and eases maintenance across the entire GTF engine family.