Trentino Sviluppo

«Maybe I’m a romantic, but I’m still surprised to see that by flipping a switch, you can light a room. I always think about the complex world existing behind the switch: connections, kilometers of wires, people, basins, energy plants, and cables that spread all over Europe. It makes my head spin. It’s very difficult to understand the entire picture. For some people, this is science, for me it’s a mystery.

The same happens when a plane takes off: it’s an almost magical moment. I usually enjoy every second of this experience by sitting next to the window, right over the wings. The dull and constant sound of the turbines has a soothing effect on me, it reminds me of the typical sound of a summer storm in the mountains. The polished metal set out of my reach catches the eye and the attention; I know that under it runs an engine of such an incredible power that allows me and hundreds of other passengers to soar into the air.

The airplane is an Airbus, the jewel in the crown of global technology. The engines are manufactured by Rolls Royce, but I’m not thinking about their cars. My focus rests solely on the ground that is getting further and further away, on the inclination of the plane, and on the piece of Trentino that is making me fly.

In technical jargon it’s called Fun case, while less educated people like myself call it Giant turbine container. This component is manufactured in a modern factory located in Grigno, Valsugana. I can’t help but smile when I think that this is what globalization really entails; the fact that blocks of titanium are sent to Grigno to let skilled engineers work on them with cutting edge equipment in order to turn them into high-precision devices for the aerospace industry, where the tiniest mistake is simply not accepted.
I take another look at the turbines and I think about the tests to which they are subjected, particularly the containment ability test of the fun case. They make them explode. I’m not kidding. They use dynamite to make the blades of the engine explode. I’m not sure how fast the blades rotate, but I know that they can’t perforate the casing after the explosion.

It is impossible to manufacture such components overnight and Fly, the company of Grigno that designs and manufactures them, is not an exception. The company moved to Trentino some years ago because it was looking for researchers and a University. Working on titanium alloys isn’t easy and even before having the right equipment, it was important to find the right projects and people.

The collaboration with the University started on the right foot and the support provided by Trentino Sviluppo sped things up. The company needed spaces, services, and high-performance equipment. It needed also economic support and plans on a medium-long term. Fortunately, network and cluster are words that Trentino knows very well.

Trentino Sviluppo found the spaces and the main pieces of equipment were supplied by Pama, a company headquartered in Rovereto (TN) and a global leader in the production of boring-milling machines. The professional competence was found thanks to the collaboration with the Department of Materials Engineering of the University of Trento.
In the aerospace industry, contracts are not renovated on a yearly basis. We are talking about 20-year procurement contracts that must offer the highest quality standard because of the huge investment made. Airbus, through Rolls Royce, selects only partners who can offer the highest quality and the highest level of reliability.

Fly is one of them.»

The experimental flight video