Triumph Group secures MRO agreements, certification

Departments - Maintenance, Repair, & Overhaul

Unison Industries continues AAR partnership; GE awarded $180 million contract to support T700 engines; Initial Aviation to distribute parts from Aerocycle’s aircraft dismantling; Atlas Group names Jim McMullen CEO; Boeing Global Services earns fleet contracts; Vertex Aerospace awarded Navy contract; GA Telesis, Liebherr-Aerospace to support E-Jets.

August 18, 2020

Triumph Systems & Support won a four-year contract for F-35 joint strike fighter hydraulic utility actuation (HUA) valves, extending an existing two-year order with Lockheed Martin that makes Triumph Group the sole provider for the HUA valve.

The proprietary design of HUA valves provides directional flow control for critical hydraulic systems.

Triumph Group also obtained a five-year, non-exclusive, fixed-price agreement with a North American independent maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility for engine accessories on CFM56, CF34, and CF6 jet engines for commercial and military aircraft. Triumph has provided engine accessory component repair and overhaul services for the major independent MRO facility for more than a decade. Work for the agreement will be performed at Triumph’s Accessory Services facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Wellington, Kansas.

Triumph Systems & Support’s aftermarket accessory services facility in Grand Prairie completed AS9110 certification for aerospace MRO management systems, updating its previous AS9100 certification for quality management systems. The certification guarantees that the site can implement, monitor, and comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 regulations.

The Grand Prairie site supports repair and overhaul of pneumatics, hydraulics, environmental systems, actuation, engine mounts, lubrication units, heat transfer, engine controls, fuel accessories, and gearboxes for commercial and military aircraft.

Unison Industries continues AAR partnership

Global supplier of gas turbine engine, electrical, and mechanical systems components, Unison Industries LLC, is expanding its longstanding partnership with AAR Corp. as its exclusive worldwide aftermarket distributor for aviation, aerospace, military, and civil vehicle products. The more than $1 billion agreement includes new product introduction spanning multiple aircraft platforms throughout 11 years.

AAR will market, forecast, warehouse, and distribute Unison original equipment manufacturer (OEM) replacement parts. In addition, AAR will provide 24/7 aircraft-on-ground (AOG) call center support to rapidly deliver Unison products.

Components covered by the program include turbine ignition systems, engine-dedicated alternators, sensors, switches, wiring harnesses, bellows and metal tubing/ducting consumed by commercial and military aircraft operators, maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities and other industry customers, worldwide. The agreement also includes repair services management backed by AAR’s supply chain and customer support network.

GE awarded $180 million contract to support T700 engines

GE Aviation has been awarded a five-year, $180 million contract by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to repair and overhaul T700 rotorcraft engines in support of the U.S. Navy’s MH-60 Seahawk, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-1Z Viper and Bell UH-1Y Venom/Huey helicopters.

T700/CT7 turboshaft and turboprop engines power 15 types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft with more than 130 customers in more than 50 countries. The T700/CT7 family has surpassed 20,000 delivered units and more than 100 million total flight hours, more than five million flight hours in hot-harsh combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Initial Aviation to distribute parts from Aerocycle’s aircraft dismantling

Headquartered in Mirabel, Québec, Canada, Initial Aviation has partnered with Montréal, Canada-based Aerocycle Inc. to distribute spare parts obtained as part of Aerocycle’s aircraft dismantling activities.

Aerocycle President and CEO Ron Haber says, “As a certified disassembly and demolition company, we can now count on the expertise and distribution network of our new partner for consignment sales of aircraft parts.”

Hugo Beaudry, president of Initial Aviation, says, “We are able to give our customers around the world access to a large inventory of quality parts, as well as to provide faster and more proactive sales and shipping services from our new premises in Mirabel.”

Aerocycle provides end-of-life aircraft disassembly, part-out, teardown, and recycling services.

Initial Aviation provides sourcing and sales services for aftermarket airplane and helicopter parts and components, including disposal of surplus parts through customized consignment programs. The company holds a Transport Canada Certificate of Approval for the distribution and certification of previously certified aeronautical products.

Atlas Group names Jim McMullen CEO

The Atlas Group, a Wichita, Kansas-based supplier of complex assemblies for commercial, business, and defense aerospace customers worldwide, has named former COO Jim McMullen its CEO. McMullen succeeds Rick Wolf, who is retiring after more than 20 years with the company. Wolf will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors, and McMullen and Keith Kranzow, Atlas president and CFO, will also join the board.

McMullen has more than 25 years’ experience leading complex manufacturing operations throughout the aerospace supply chain, joining Atlas in 2016. Prior to Atlas, he served as general manager for Joined Alloys and for two Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC) sites, Cherry Aerospace, and SPS Technologies. Prior to PCC, McMullen served in multiple leadership roles at Honeywell.

Atlas is a portfolio company of private equity firm AE Industrial Partners LP.

Boeing Global Services earns fleet contracts

Boeing has added supply chain and digital solution contracts to manage maintenance, inventory, and operating costs of several international airlines:

Xiamen Airlines, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways – Optimized Maintenance Programs combining advanced data analytics, engineering expertise for greater airplane availability, more efficient maintenance operations

All Nippon Airways – Install 787-9 galley facility in new training center to enhance crew training opportunities, supply 10 Boeing 767 Quick Engine Change kits

Suparna Airlines, Zheijiang Loong Airlines, West Air, Guangxi Air, Urumqi Air, Air Changan (all in China) – Digital solutions to enhance operational efficiency, optimize flight planning

Alaska Airlines – Three-year consumable, expendable services agreement for Boeing 737 fleet; Tailored Parts Package consists of 2,900 part numbers; Boeing anticipates shipping nearly 800,000 parts, four Quick Engine Change kits during agreement

Vistara (India) – Multiyear crew planning optimization agreement

Vertex Aerospace awarded Navy contract

Mississippi-based Vertex Aerospace was awarded a contract seat with the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) in Patuxent River, Maryland, to provide supplies and services to improve Naval Air Systems Command’s fleet readiness.

Vertex’s Aircraft Integration & Sustainment (AIS) division, Crestview, Florida, can compete for all NAWCAD aircraft components, systems, kit production, and installation task orders.

The AIS division site houses multiple high-bay hangars for fixed and rotary wing aircraft modifications and is complemented by more than 500,000ft² of manufacturing, production, and assembly buildings.

GA Telesis, Liebherr-Aerospace to support E-Jets

GA Telesis MRO Services Group and Liebherr-Aerospace are partnering to provide maintenance for Embraer E-Jets. GA Telesis technicians will receive Liebherr-Aerospace technical support and original equipment materials to repair and overhaul landing gear for E-jet operators in the Americas. The repairs and overhauls will be performed in GA Telesis’ MRO facility in Miami, Florida.

Fasten your seat belts…

Departments - From the Flight Deck

August 18, 2020

Bette Davis’ Margo Channing character in the 1950 movie All About Eve evokes a storm-tossed airline flight to warn of a drama-filled party ahead: “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” The same warning applies now to commercial aerospace, as industry analysts forecast economic turbulence for at least the next 12-to-18 months.

Business consulting firm Deloitte recently issued its “Midyear 2020 Aerospace and Defense Industry Outlook” in which its experts estimate 650 to 690 commercial aircraft deliveries globally this year, more than a 50% decline from 2018’s peak. The report also cites International Air Transport Association (IATA) predictions that airline travel won’t resume to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2025. Until then, fewer planes and parts will be needed. What can firms in the aerospace supply chain do to get through this dark period?

I asked Robin Lineberger, Deloitte’s U.S. and Global Aerospace & Defense leader how companies can best position themselves for future growth and stability. Drawing on 35 years as an industry consultant, he says, “In the short term, 1. Cash management, 2. Cost control, 3. Improve liquidity.”

Mid-term, companies should look to other markets for current or new products using their current infrastructure to potentially supply defense programs.

However, Lineberger notes, “Defense programs take a long time to develop, and if you’re not in the supply chain now, it’s unlikely you can benefit in the short term. Mid-term, perhaps.”

With more optimism, the outlook states, “Digital technologies are key to recovery.” It notes, “Companies that remained ahead of the digital transformation curve before the pandemic are more likely to be able to navigate through the crisis. They can better position themselves by accelerating the adoption of advanced digital technologies, such as advanced robotics and automation, to make the manufacturing process more efficient.”

If they can, manufacturers should invest in digital (Industry 4.0/Smart factory) initiatives that will allow them to increase automation and productivity with smaller capacity.

The outlook also recommends companies increasingly use technologies such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) during planning and design, given the current remote working environment.

Lineberger and his analysts say companies should focus on leveraging digital tools to transform traditional supply chains into more visible, dynamic, and interconnected networks. He explains, “The tipping point is to get started, likely with an integrator to demonstrate how to get return while deploying quickly, as well as technology ecosystem partners that can innovate alongside the build.”

Depending on the use cases and scale of the transformation, “Manufacturers can expect 20% gains in indirect and direct labor productivity, 15% to 20% in throughput gains (reducing the need for additional capacity), and additional ‘soft’ benefits such as improved employee satisfaction and improved sustainability.”

Sustaining the industrial base and its workforce is a concern at every level and across most capability areas, Lineberger says. “Executives and companies will need to focus on key talent and retention.”

With good advice and careful planning, we can get over the bumps. – Eric

5-axis VMCs for hard metal machining

Departments - Cover Shots

Adaptive tool monitoring system; Fixed abrasive buffing wheels.

August 18, 2020

STC-MTV 5-axis mill-turn machining centers excel in hard metal machining for aerospace engine casings and gearboxes, offering single setup milling, boring, drilling, tapping, and turning of Ti6AL4V and Ti5553 titanium alloys, nickel-based super alloys, and high alloy steels, producing superior surface finishes on complex and thin-wall parts.

A geared A-axis spindle drive with compact 1D-head allows use of short tools and large bearings for high metal removal rates. The steel worm wheel boasts high stiffness and excellent damping due to a specially coated damping disk in the 1D-head. A Siemens 840D controls heavy roughing, semi-finishing, and finishing.

Integrated 200 bar/3,000psi high-pressure coolant permits one-hit turning, and the machines’ 30hp angular automatic milling head enables easy access to internal surfaces and features. The angle head is loaded automatically from the tool magazine and tools in the head can be changed automatically.

Starrag

Adaptive tool monitoring system

The updated tool monitoring adaptive control (TMAC) system version 3.0 performs real-time detection and uses high-precision, multi-range sensors to determine if a tool is worn or broken. TMAC has a high-speed processor that collects data 200x/sec and directly interfaces with any CNC control to react instantly to wear and extreme conditions.

TMAC 3.0’s streamlined user interface offers numerous configurations for viewing tool and sensor data. The processor houses its own web server, making the human-machine interface (HMI) browser-based and enabling real-time monitoring from a network connected device. Users with assigned permissions have live access to all TMAC systems on a shop floor from a single browser.

An adaptive control mode optimizes cutting with conditions changing due to wear, variations in material hardness, consistency, and depth of cut. Using a power sensor, TMAC overrides the machine tool feed rate to maintain constant spindle motor power during cutting, which increases productivity, extends tool life, and reduces cycle time up to 60%.

TMAC also monitors sensors for vibration, strain, coolant pressure and flow, and spindle speed. Users can customize views to show up to 4 sensor channels simultaneously in a single view.

Caron Engineering

Fixed abrasive buffing wheels

Fixed Abrasive Buff (FAB) buffing wheels can reduce the need for buffing compounds. Abrasive grains incorporated into the buffing wheel consistently produce 1Ra to 5Ra surface values.

The tear resistant, waterproof, durable wheels offer longer life than traditional cotton buffs. Premium silicon carbide abrasive, uniformly dispersed and applied to both sides of the cloth, results in more consistent buffing, generating more parts per buff with fewer wheel changes. The wheels can be added into new or existing robotic buffing applications.

By decreasing the need for buffing compound, the wheels offer a more efficient, cleaner, and safer way of buffing that minimizes costs, reducing cumbersome, time consuming clean-up in buffing operations and post-clean-up processes. Also, less buffing compound improves worksite safety and reduces the environmental impact of compound disposal.

Key applications for FAB wheels include automatic or semi-automatic buffing, cut buffing, and mush buffing. The wheels are effective on hard alloys as well as soft metals such as aluminum and brass. They are available in 5" to 22" OD, in 12- or 16-ply, 2- or 4-pack (waviness of the buff face), and various ID hole designs.

Norton|Saint-Gobain Abrasives

Jim Taiclet becomes Lockheed Martin president, CEO

Departments - Checking In

Schatz Bearing achieves Boeing Premier Bidder Status; Tri-Mer in anodizing conference; magniX powers Grand Caravan on 30-minute all-electric flight.

August 18, 2020

James D. Taiclet, 60, became president and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp. June 15, 2020. He succeeds Marillyn A. Hewson, 66, chairman, president, and CEO since 2014 and president and CEO since 2013 in a 37-year career with Lockheed Martin. Taiclet will continue to serve on the corporation’s board, which he joined in 2018. Hewson will become executive chairman of the board.

Taiclet is former chairman, president, and CEO of American Tower Corp., a wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure company, which grew its market capitalization from $2 billion to more than $100 billion during his leadership.

Previously, Taiclet was president of Honeywell Aerospace Services, and prior to that was vice president, Engine Services at Pratt & Whitney. He was also a consultant at McKinsey & Co., specializing in telecommunications and aerospace strategy and operations.

In other executive leadership appointments, Frank A. St. John, 53, became chief operating officer, a newly created position. Stephanie C. Hill, 55, succeeds St. John as Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business executive vice president. Yvonne O. Hodge succeeds Hill as senior vice president, Enterprise Business Transformation.

Schatz Bearing achieves Boeing Premier Bidder Status

Boeing Commercial Airplanes has recognized Schatz Bearing Corp.’s sustained level of high performance in flexibility, consistency, and short lead times with an invitation to participate in its Premier Bidder Program.

For almost 40 years Schatz Bearing has supplied the aerospace, defense, and space industries with precision ball bearings for rotating and oscillating applications, manufacturing products in its AS9100 Rev D, ISO9001:2015 certified facility in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Tri-Mer in anodizing conference

Tri-Mer Corp. Director of Finishing Systems Gary M. Kriesch will be a panelist at the Aluminum Anodizers Council (AAC) Remote Conference and Workshop Oct. 14, 2020. Kriesch has 36 years’ experience developing and manufacturing anodize and plating systems and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

magniX powers Grand Caravan on 30-minute all-electric flight

A 9-passenger Cessna 208B Grand Caravan became the largest aircraft to fly solely with a battery powered single electric motor, a magniX 750hp (560kW) Magni500 motor replacing the plane’s usual Pratt & Whitney PT6A 675hp (503kW) turboprop engine. Testing, engineering, and certification firm AeroTEC modified the plane.

The Caravan’s 30-minute flight on May 28, 2020, at Moses Lake, Washington, was twice the duration of a magniX-powered electric flight of a Harbour Air de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver in December 2019.

Roei Ganzarski, magniX CEO, notes that 30 minutes of continuous flight covers about 100 miles at the Caravan’s 214mph cruising speed, and about 5% of all worldwide airline flights in 2019 were less than 100 miles. The half-hour flight cost less than $6 in electricity compared to more than $40 in fuel for an equivalent turboprop powered flight.

Triumph Group secures MRO agreements, certification

Departments - Maintenance, Repair, & Overhaul

Unison Industries continues AAR partnership

GE awarded $180 million contract to support T700 engines

Initial Aviation to distribute parts from Aerocycle’s aircraft dismantling

Atlas Group names Jim McMullen CEO

Boeing Global Services earns fleet contracts

Vertex Aerospace awarded Navy contract

GA Telesis, Liebherr-Aerospace to support E-Jets

CSD-300II front-facing twin-spindle lathe

Departments - Just Landed

Fasten your seat belts…

Departments - From the Flight Deck

5-axis VMCs for hard metal machining

Departments - Cover Shots

Adaptive tool monitoring system

Fixed abrasive buffing wheels

Jim Taiclet becomes Lockheed Martin president, CEO

Departments - Checking In

Schatz Bearing achieves Boeing Premier Bidder Status

Tri-Mer in anodizing conference

magniX powers Grand Caravan on 30-minute all-electric flight

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