FARNBOROUGH, VA — The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) has announced that Aerojet Rocketdyne, the missile propulsion and launch system manufacturer, is expanding its membership role in the collaborative research center.

“This is an exciting next step in our ongoing partnership with The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing,” said Warren Boley, President of Aerojet Rocketdyne. “We have had great success in advanced manufacturing techniques and their application to our aerospace and defense product lines. This expanded partnership with CCAM will afford Aerojet Rocketdyne even greater opportunity to innovate and evolve our advanced manufacturing capabilities.”

CCAM is based at a state-of-the-art facility in Prince George County, Va., and is equipped with computational and engineering research labs, high bay production space and commercial scale equipment, and specialized equipment and tooling for research in surface engineering, manufacturing systems, additive manufacturing, machining technologies, composite materials processing, and welding and joining.

Based on affiliation level CCAM member companies may collaborate on generic research and conduct proprietary research to innovate manufacturing practices, resulting in new techniques and processes. Aerojet Rocketdyne became a CCAM Tier 2 member in 2011 with non-exclusive royalty-free license to use Intellectual Property from CCAM generated collaborative research.

As an Organizing Industry Member Aerojet Rocketdyne now will perform proprietary research at the CCAM facility and retain IP ownership of the developments.

Speaking about the July 16 announcement, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said, “The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing is a world-class research facility that is transforming the future of advanced manufacturing. Today’s announcement that Aerojet Rocketdyne will expand its CCAM membership is a tremendous example of the mutual benefit attained by leveraging the talent and resources within CCAM and Virginia’s top universities. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a valued asset to Virginia, and we look forward to the company’s results and success to come as an Organizing Industry Member of CCAM.”

Joseph F. Moody, CCAM President and Executive Director, said, “Aerojet Rocketdyne has gained appreciable benefit from CCAM membership and now is expanding its role to become an Organizing Industry Member. We are pleased that Aerojet Rocketdyne will derive even greater benefit from CCAM collaboration and manufacturing breakthroughs.”

With nearly 20 member companies, NASA Langley Research Center, and Virginia’s leading universities, CCAM bridges the gap between research and commercialization. CCAM industry and government members include Canon Virginia Inc., Chromalloy, Newport News Shipbuilding, Rolls-Royce, Sandvik Coromant, Siemens, Oerlikon Metco, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blaser Swisslube, Hermle Machine Co., Mitutoyo, Paradigm Precision, Buehler, Cool Clean Technologies, GF AgieCharmilles, Mechdyne, National Instruments, Spatial Integrated Systems, Airbus and NASA Langley Research Center. Academic partners are the University of Virginia, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University.

For more information on Aerojet, visit www.Rocket.com and www.GenCorp.com.

For more information on CCAM, visit www.ccam-va.com.