Foam tooling for manufacturing a composite aerospace fuselage was programmed in Mastercam X6 Multi-Axis and cut on a CMS Ares five-axis machining Center with a large 15.8 x 5.9 × 3.9' (4.8 × 1.8 × 1.2-m) work envelope.
built, Bledsoe said. “When we build something and our customer likes it, we can tell them what was different about it from other parts so they are better able to implement these ideas in their own plant. We can do this be- cause we maintain tight control of our own manufacturing processes.” It seems that aerospace customers like Blue Force Technologies products and services a lot. The company’s orders have quadrupled in the past 12 months. ME
For more information from Master- cam/CNC Software Inc., go to www.mas- tercam.com, or phone 860-875-5006; from CMS North America Inc., go to www. smsna.com, or phone 800-881-0574.
Shaping Tool Management Today
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hape Corp. (Grand Haven, MI) is a supplier to global automakers who depend upon Shape and its sister company NetShapes to design, develop
and produce cutting-edge energy management components to meet required regulations and standards. Energy manage- ment systems are components that work together to manage energy during an impact, protecting passengers while reduc- ing damage to the vehicle. Products consist of high-energy ef- ficiency bumpers and bumper energy absorbers for passenger vehicles and light trucks, pedestrian impact energy absorber systems, lightweight bumper beams and energy management modules that integrate impact and other structural functional- ities into a single finished part. “We pride ourselves on listening to client pain points–and then developing customized, cost-effective solutions that enable them to be significantly more productive and profit- able,” said Wes Griffes, group leader-process improvement and a 16-year veteran of the company that also specializes in advanced roll-forming expertise.
“From concept through design, in-house testing in our lab, and final production, we can develop a single part or a Continued on page 116