Vernon Benson

Tech Fellow, Composites Automation
Northrop Grumman – Aerospace Structures Division

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Mr. Benson received a Mechanical Engineering degree from Utah State University. He has spent the last 41 years developing manufacturing technologies for fabricating composite structures and building a wide variety of composite parts. Much of his career has been focused on composites manufacturing automation, where he has had a significant impact on the composites industry.

Vern is one of the primary inventors and developers of the Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) process and related equipment, and also a new Automated Stiffener Forming (ASF) process. This new automated stiffener forming process has the potential to impact the world of composite stiffening elements, similar to how automate fiber placement has with large composite skins and shells.

Vern remains active in manufacturing development and automation for many different composites applications.