CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

20 January 2011

Events News

Delcam to Promote Aerospace Services on US Mission

Delcam will promote its wide range of software and services for the aerospace industry during a UKTI mission visiting Cleveland, Cincinnati and Wichita between February 28th and March 4th. The mission will target leading US companies such as Hawker Beechcraft, Spirit AeroSystems, GE Aviation, Parker Hannifin and Eaton, plus other Ohio and Kansas-based manufacturers and suppliers involved in the aerospace supply chain. During the mission, Delcam will demonstrate how it can help companies to meet the industry’s requirements for the highest levels of quality and consistency, cost-effective production and the shortest-possible delivery times.

Delcam systems have been used, at some stage, on virtually every major aircraft programme in recent years. The company’s customers have undertaken projects in all the various areas that go towards producing a successful aircraft, from developing more fuel-efficient engines, to manufacturing airframe components more effectively, and even in designing more comfortable and more attractive interiors. They have worked on all scales of project, from the manufacture of components for unmanned drones and helicopters up to the production of engines and airframes for the largest passenger and transport aircraft.

In addition, maintenance and repair operations use Delcam systems to enable the fast, efficient repair or replacement of damaged components. By minimising design and manufacturing times, while maintaining the highest levels of quality, repairs can be completed as quickly as possible, so minimising the lost operating time of the aircraft.

Delcam also offers a range of services from its Professional Services subsidiary to help companies whose own engineering resource is needed to maintain its existing operations. The support given can vary from providing extra design and programming resources when existing staff are overloaded, through to developing completely new turn-key processes for the manufacture of novel designs.

A key focus is on advanced manufacturing technologies that bring inspection and machining together to improve the cycle time, quality and profitability of machining operations. In-process inspection is used to collect details about the process and then that data allows it to be adapted in response to issues that typically cause alignment, cycle time and accuracy problems. The results minimise concessions, manual operations and accuracy issues, stabilise process times, and reduce costs. The solutions are open architecture, allowing flexibility in implementation to meet the customer’s needs at the lowest possible costs.

“Delcam has grown its business in the aerospace sector significantly in recent years,” reported Delcam North America President, Glenn McMinn. ““The US Air Force uses our FeatureCAM feature-based machining software around the world for the production of spare parts, while many other of our 10,000 customers in North America do work for aerospace clients.”

The increased popularity of Delcam software is partly due to the new emphasis on efficiency and productivity within aerospace companies that previously would have simply used the CAM system that came with their choice of CAD software. “With the level of global competition now increasing, those companies are looking at their choice of CAM system much more carefully,” claimed Mr. McMinn. “This closer examination often shows that Delcam’s software can give significant savings, both in programming times and in machining times, as well as improving the quality of the finished part.”

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