$100 MILLION EXPANSION BY TIER ONE AEROSPACE SUPPLIER

Aerospace Dynamics recently purchased two five-spindle profilers to share a 120 ft X-axis rail for multi-part machining of titanium components for increased production of Boeing 777 parts, and to add 787 and Airbus A350 parts. The expansion includes the installation of two U5 universal machining centers and two boring mills.

Earlier this year, Aerospace Dynamics International, Inc. (ADI; Valencia, CA) increased production of titanium parts for the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 with two new 5-spindle Ti profilers from MAG (Erlanger, KY) that were ordered in the first quarter of 2011. The new machines are part of a $100 million expansion that includes two recently delivered U5 universal machining centers, two MC 1600 boring mills and Freedom eLOG monitoring software.

ADI is an award-winning Tier One supplier of structural and assembled components for a Who’s-Who of OEMs, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus, NASA, Spirit and others. It is part of The Marvin Group, whose companies specialize in engineering, design, and production of critical products and components for the aerospace and defense markets. Founded in 1963, The Marvin Group possesses some of the largest and most advanced machining capabilities in the U.S., and provides major assemblies and products to key OEMs in support of defense and aerospace programs.

One of the specialties of ADI is large, complex titanium parts. The company’s volume has been increasing steadily in recent years, with legacy work on Boeing 737 and 777 and Airbus A380 and A330 programs all increasing in rates. The expansion program includes a new 120,000 sq ft building that will house a 60,000 sq ft assembly hall, as well as increased engineering and inspection resources.

The two newest machine tools join 32 other profilers at the facility, including a five-gantry multi-spindle system on 210 ft rail and two three‑gantry multi-spindle systems on 234 ft rails. ADI is also planning to acquire two additional 5-spindle Ti profilers, as well as two 5-spindle wide-range machining centers with 50-taper tools. “These new profilers and others like them in our shop simply make us more efficient and competitive in the global aerospace machining market,” said ADI president and CEO John Cave. “The key is that we can complete up to five parts per setup and always have the spindles making chips, while new workpieces are being setup in another work zone to minimize out-of-cut time.”

While the Tier One supplier supports the Boeing 787 program, “We’re acquiring these profilers for new work – production of complex assemblies for the Airbus A350,” explained Cave. “The work involves a large, complex structural assembly that includes electrical and hydraulic systems. The new profilers are brutes, designed for high metal removal rates with titanium, which further improves our competitive position in pursuing this work.”

“In machining titanium,” Cave continued, “a single-spindle machine is limited to about the same speeds and feeds as our profilers and, even with a fast toolchanger, a single-spindle machine is no match for one that completes five hard-metal parts in the same cycle. We get five parts in the same cycle time that a single-spindle needs for one part. That’s productivity enhancing performance that we pass on to our customers.” ADI also purchased tooling and applications support from the Productivity Solutions business of MAG to ensure world-class competitiveness and productivity in machining titanium.

The Ti profiler was introduced in 2007 in response to surging demand for aerospace titanium parts. The spindle motors are rated 51 kW (68 hp), with 2,523 Nm (1860 ft-lb) torque and a speed range of 10 rpm to 3500 rpm. To apply this much power with stable dynamics, the machines are engineered with a new spindle support housing and an extremely stiff, heavyweight machine structure providing superior damping. The ADI profilers utilize 60-taper tools to support highly efficient roughing and finishing operations. Five 6-pocket tool exchangers, located at each end of the work zone, permit five tool exchanges per machine. X-axis motion is powered by rack-and-pinion drives on both rails, while Y and Z axes are driven by large-diameter ballscrews, with a counterbalance and brake on the Z.

The company also recently acquired two 5-axis U5 rail-type universal machining centers and two MC 1600 boring mills with pallet shuttles. The U5s are engineered to machine aluminum and titanium, and equipped with 5-axis contouring heads. These feature continuous C-axis to keep the spindle in-cut without running out of C-axis travel. “The 5-axis contouring head is a great asset for us,” noted Cave. “It provides a balance of agility, speed and power for us to cut aluminum skins for the GE 115 aft engine cowl assembly for the 777, which helped justify the machine. We’ve also used it in some unique machining of titanium parts for the F-35, A350 and 787, as well as some of our own tooling.”

The U5 machines include machine/production monitoring software known as eLOG, a tool to enhance overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). eLOG categorizes machine availability into six different areas, and its reports allow rapid visualization of inefficiencies and identification of root causes to facilitate improved utilization. “Our OEE already exceeds 90 percent, but our manufacturing people are always looking to improve and they expect to achieve 100 percent with this software,” added Cave.

As someone who started in aerospace machining by sweeping floors and benching parts, before graduating to profilers and lathes, Cave said he gained early respect for these machine tools in hard-metal cutting. “Competitively, these machines are a great asset for us,” he explained. “From a productivity standpoint, they are hard to beat, and from an investment standpoint, they can give multiple lifetimes of service because they are designed to be easier to rebuild than other equipment. For us, that’s a big part of the value proposition.”

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