and true positioning of less than a thousandth. The customer asked for plus or minus one thousandth of an inch, but is getting even greater accuracy and at no additional cost. Each piece of equipment here has its place, its areas where it’s the optimal choice. For titanium, it’s the Mitsuis. For aluminum, it’s the SNKs.” A tool presetter with optical magnifi cation and a shrink-fi t system are the cen- terpieces in a well-organized tooling area at KT Engineering. Tool presetting con- tributes to time savings and human error reduction. Tooling adjustments that can take up to 15 minutes in the machine can be made offl ine in less than a minute on a presetter. The data are transferred directly to the machines rather than an operator having to manually input the fi gures. Tajirian said that shrink fi tting the tools has extended the tool life and run-out on the high-torque trunnion machines cutting titanium signifi cantly.
A wing assembly’s titanium hinge used to take 32 hours to produce; now it’s down to18.
“Everyone is noticing how much our tool life has improved on titanium,” he said. “By at least 15%.”
As a back-up check, machinists use a separate mechanical presetter to verify that the tooling dimensions are indeed correct. While this step takes extra time, it provides additional insurance to avoid potentially costly errors during machining.
Content, Competent Workforce
For many employers, people represent the most challenging aspect of manag- ing a company. KT Engineering is committed to continually provide training to its diverse staff to expand the employees’ knowledge, capabilities, and confi dence. Further, Tajirian cultivates—mainly by example—an atmosphere of respect, dedica- tion, integrity, and striving to improve. He is considered a generous employer; he, in turn, is grateful to the KT team “for their dedicated, persistent effort every day and the value they bring to everything we do here,” he said.
Going Forward
As do most subcontract manufacturers, KT Engineering would like to expand its business, but at a manageable pace to maintain its high level of customer satisfaction. “About 99% of our work is in aerospace and defense,” Tajirian said. “Serving additional industries would diversify our base, which we welcome, but in no way would it dilute our aptitude and interest in our core market, particularly with our growing knowledge in titanium machining now with the Mitsui Seiki equipment. We are extremely dedicated and proud to be a member of this critical, complex supply chain and will do what we need to do to ensure we keep evolving to become even better partners to our current, and new, customers.” At KT Engineering, it’s evident that plan is well underway. ME This profi le was edited by Senior Editor Michael Anderson from information provided by Mitsui Seiki.
March 2014 |
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