Woodward’s Rock Cut Automation Lab opened in early 2024 with a clear purpose: help the business keep pace with growing customer demand in a tight labor market. Since then, the lab has become a hub for developing, testing, and deploying cobot automation across Woodward’s aerospace manufacturing sites, adding 26 cobots in its first year alone. Unlike traditional industrial robots, cobots are designed to work alongside people, not replace them, making them well-suited for the hands-on environment of aerospace manufacturing.
The lab gives Woodward’s Advanced Manufacturing Engineering team a place to test processes offline and prepare members before automation ever reaches the floor. That hands-on familiarity has made a difference. Rather than pushing automation onto the floor, the team now sees members pulling it in — engaged early, giving input, and helping shape solutions that actually work for their processes.
For operators, the impact is practical and personal. Deburring that once required constant manual attention is now handled more consistently by robots. Machines that used to sit idle during breaks and warm-up time now run overnight, so members come in to parts already waiting. And with routine tasks off their plates, members have more time to learn new machines, support other projects, and grow their skills.
The message from the floor is straightforward: it takes some adjustment, but automation makes the work better for the operator and for the business.
