BRITISH Aerospace has taken delivery of the first of four multi-million pound Advanced Contouring Machines.

The Machining and Treatments centre will use the machines to carry out detail work on Eurofighter Typhoon centre fuselage frames.

A spokeswoman for BAe said: "The ACMs will greatly assist the manufacture of the centre fuselage frames by providing a combination of increased metal removal rates and higher feed rates along with reduced set-up times over existing manufacturing processes."

The commissioning of the ACMs is the result of a four-year partnership between Samlesbury employees and German supplier DS Technologies.

Dave Wright, manufacturing manager in machining and treatments, said: "We are delighted that the first ACM is in place."

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