Whitepapers

IT Strategies for Aerospace and Defense

The outlook for growth in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is quite good. Major platforms are standing up in both the commercial sector and the defense sector, which will carry manufacturing activity for at least the next 10 years. Other segments such as air freight, business jets, and network-centric warfare remain robust, which adds to industry optimism. Meanwhile, the industry is in tremendous transition thanks to new contracting vehicles and new approaches to design, supply chains, and aftermarket service.

Simplified 5-Axis Machining

The appeal of multi-axis machine tools is obvious to machine shops of all sizes. These machines typically require only one setup to machine an entire part, saving time and improving accuracy between operations. These advanced machines also have the capability to change the tool axis direction in order to reach machinable areas with shorter, more rigid tools or to reach undercut zones that could not be cut at all with standard methods. These benefits make it easy to justify the cost of upgrading to the latest technology.

Laser Trackers Shrink Aircraft-Sized Manufacturing Problems

Building aircraft has always been a struggle between the size of their components and the need to craft them carefully. More than any other device, airplanes epitomize the concept that “the devil is in the details” because in small errors lies the potential for great mischief such as increased drag and decreased range. The trend is for smoother transitions and, where possible, jointless design.

Benefits to the companies from using the 5S (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain) methodology include raising quality, lowering costs, promoting safety, building customer confidence, increasing factory up-time and lowering repair costs. Lista International assists companies in implementing 5S methods as part of the lean manufacturing programs to drive waste out of manufacturing processes. The Lista products offer waste elimination through space reduction, organization improvement and inventory management.

Aircraft and rotorcraft parts made from high performance composite materials are superior to earlier generation metals due to their increased strength, reduced weight, and increased service life. For these reasons most aircraft part designers choose to create new parts out of carbon fiber reinforced plastic despite the challenges involved, namely that the manufacture of CFRP parts are more complex than traditional materials and can therefore make parts more costly to produce.

Here's a step-by-step approach to efficiently designing systems that work right the first time.

The Five C's of A & D Success

This paper discusses some important considerations for A&D manufacturers in the context of enterprise information systems and how they can help in addressing five important areas of concern—compliance, control, communications, competitiveness, and cutting cost, waste and complexity. Enterprise systems are essential tools for running a manufacturing business effectively, but the demands of the A&D market can place demands on system that are not easily addressed by one-size-fits-all products that are not specifically tailored to this environment.

Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) are used in practically every industry that requires precise dimensional inspection of manufactured parts. In today's competitive environment, manufacturers demand CMMs that are accurate, reliable, fast, economical, and provide maximum flexibility with respect to operating environment.

The business of manufacturing is a colossal world of outsourcing: from product design to parts to services. This practice makes it possible to leverage expertise when you need it. In a field such as metrology where the difficulty of finding and training qualified staff remains an industry-wide issue, outsourcing is a growing nationwide trend.

Electrical conductors and the shields used to protect them from electromagnetic interference (EMI) have not changed fundamentally since their inception. Advanced materials, improved connectors and other changes to electrical conductors and shields have brought incremental technology advances to platforms that are subjected to increasing design challenges demanded by vehicle operators from a variety of industries.;

Finmeccanica is a leading global aerospace and defense group that operates a number of companies and joint ventures. Together, these operations make Finmeccanica a leader in the design and manufacture of helicopters, defense and security electronics, civil and military aircraft, aerostructures, satellites, space infrastructure and defense systems, as well as in the transportation and energy sectors.

C. Jeffrey Knittel, President of Transportation Finance at CIT, gives an update of the Aerospace industry.

Optodyne, ISPEN

Recently, Zhijiang University have done a detailed study onthe laser vector measurement method.  They have tested
On a CNC vertical machining center.  Using the laser Vector or Sequential Step Diagonal method to measure and
compensate the 3D volumetric positioning errors. The machine positioning errors were reduced Significantly.

Future in Finishing

Brush Research Manufacturing

The Flexhone Tool in Aerospace applications: The Flex-Hone Tool is a resilient, flexible honing tool with a soft cutting action. The tool’s unique construction allows the abrasive globules or “stones” to float, assuring the tool will be self-centering, self-aligning to the bore and self compensating for wear. The Flex-Hone is available in 11 different grits and nine abrasive types.

Technical Guide: How to Match Todays Laser Cutting Technology

Spartanics

These basic facts about laser cutting are as true today as they were when laser cutting systems were first put to practical industrial uses in the 80s. However, recent advances in laser cutting technology, and especially those that relate to the sophistication of the software engineering underlying laser cutting controls, have created dramatic improvements in the type of outputs that can be expected from laser cutters. Todays lower cost laser cutting systems made from less expensive components have far superior capabilities to the expensive systems that were designed and engineered only a few years ago.

Laser Trackers Shrink Aircraft-Sized Manufacturing Problems

Faro

Building aircraft has always been a struggle between the size of their components and the need to craft them carefully. More than any other device, airplanes epitomize the concept that the devil is in the details because in small errors lies the potential for great mischief such as increased drag and decreased range. The trend is for smoother transitions and, where possible, jointless design. Even the ubiquitous rivet is disappearing, at least from exterior surfaces, replaced by composites that flow uninterrupted from one section to another.

BAE Systems uses LOWSTIR to optimise welding processes

British Aerospace

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a welding process invented by TWI in 1991. The process involves a spinning tool, in contact with the material to be welded, with sufficient down force to create frictional heat in the material (about 80% of the material's melting point). This causes the material to become soft, allowing the spinning tool to create the weld.

Open Architecture Design Ideal for Airframe Structural Test

VTI Instruments

The LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation (LXI) standard extends the capabilities of Ethernet by addressing key functional areas that are necessary to ensure instrument interoperability, performance and usability. This high-performance instrumentation platform is ideally suited for a wide range of applications, with the ability to scale up from small to very large testing requirements.

Engagement Marketing: Partnering With Your Customers for Success

Silverpop

As the venerable mass-media age of broadcast advertising yields to the digital era, an exciting new landscape of marketing channels and one-to-one relationships is emerging.

THE TRADE BALANCE MATTERS: Focusing on Trade Imbalance to Create/Restore Millions of Jobs

Global Shop Solutions

Government dialogue about job creation is typically accompanied by extensive government expenditures or stimulus intervention. That dialogue, while intended to bolster the economy and reduce unemployment (particularly in sectors like manufacturing), excludes a leading cause of the current recession: foreign trade deficit.

InterTech Assembly & Test White Paper: Test-Centric Assembly

InterTech Development Company

Test-Centric Assembly is best defined as the upfront consideration of real-world test requirements in test-intensive assembly operations that is proven to lower production line inefficiencies.

The Change Management Life Cycle: How to Involve Your People to Ensure Success at Every Stage

ESI International

This paper introduces a three-phase Organizational Change Management Life Cycle methodology (Identify, Engage, Implement) designed to help organizations successfully manage a change initiative. For each phase of the life cycle, the paper describes valuable techniques for involving the people within an organization. It also discusses the importance of developing a flexible, incremental implementation plan.

Provided with permission by ESI International

Freedom to Redesign

Redeye

Direct digital manufacturing is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CAD data, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is far-reaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.

Freedom of Design

Redeye

Direct digital manufacturing is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CAD data, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is farreaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.

Bridge to Production

Redeye

Direct digital manufacturing, otherwise known as rapid manufacturing, is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CADdata, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is far-reaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.

Jigs & Fixtures

Redeye

Direct digital manufacturing, otherwise known as rapid manufacturing, is a process that employs additive fabrication technology (aka rapid prototyping) to produce end-use items. Directly from CAD data, components are manufactured without molding, casting or machining. The impact of direct digital manufacturing is far-reaching, and the opportunities and advantages are extensive. This is why direct digital manufacturing is heralded as the next industrial revolution.