Excelling in the air

Exelis Aerostructures can trace its roots back to making floats for early seaplanes. Once part of the giant ITT Corporation, the company has diversified down the years and is now a tier one manufacturer of composite components to OEMs both in the civil and military aerospace sectors.

The company supplies composite vacuum waste and water tanks to the likes of Boeing and makes more than 200 unique parts of varying sizes for the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter. It also supplies valve ducts for General Electric engines as well as major tail assembly components for the Sikorsky CH-53K heavy lift helicopter and major structures for the Lockheed Martin JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile).

Its production capabilities include resin transfer moulding (RTM), vacuum assisted RTM, automated tape laying as well as fibre placement, filament winding, triaxial braiding and hand lay-up.

Mike Blair, vice president and general manager of Exelis Aerostructures, is confident that growth in composite supply chain is set to increase for the foreseeable future.

“It has taken a number of years for the industry to get to the point where we are using composites as part of the primary structure. The big driver coming from the commercial side are programmes such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787. On the military side the F-35 programme will see production rates continue to ramp-up resulting in more volume of composites being used.”

Rapid development

Blair believes Exelis' competitive advantage comes from being able to reduce lead-times on new products and quick development of production techniques.

“One of the key differences between metallic structures and composite ones is the fact that the design and processing of composite components are more closely linked. You have to have the production process in mind as you are designing the component.

“Our front end analysis and design capability allows us to help our customers. Even when they give us a build-to-print project where they have done the initial design work, it still requires development on the processing side. With our understanding of design we can quickly get through the process development stage.”

With automation technology being developed to handle the higher production rates Blair believes the industry will soon be moving towards production rates similar to those seen in metal aerostructures.

Exelis' broad range of production capabilities means it is in a good position to keep pace with increasing demand. However, Blair is pragmatic about what the latest technologies can achieve when introduced into a commercially viable manufacturing environment.

“There is a lot of excitement around the development of thermoplastics and new low cost fibres but there's not one process or material such as out of autoclave curing that is the solution to all the challenges that come when designing and producing an aircraft component. It's a long road to get new materials incorporated into aircraft construction because of the extensive testing times and design standards that have to be achieved. A lot of materials and processes are successfully demonstrated on a one-off basis, but to then move them to a high rate production environment takes a number of years.”

Keeping competitive

So with increasing competition from countries such as China and Brazil how does Blair believe Exelis can maintain its position in the supply chain?

“We have combined our focus on quality and delivery with operational excellence. We want to do Lean manufacturing better than anyone else. We have hired people from the automotive industry who have a high rate production mentality that is different than what may have been traditionally the case in the aerospace sector.

“Delivery of quality parts on time is what is expected from the OEMs. We are very proud to have achieved Gold supplier status with Boeing with a 100% record of on time delivery and quality targets being met; a challenging level to reach with Boeing.

“Our intention is to achieve what we call an accelerated performance environment where we can shrink lead-times on the non-recurring side and also reduce our production times. When you take into account factors such as shipping and lead times we do have the advantage of being closer to many of the final assembly lines here in the US than our global competitors. By doing these things we feel we can compete with lower cost countries in other parts of the world.”

And automation will be a key factor in helping to keep pace with the expected ramp-ups in demand for composite parts.

“We use automation where it is appropriate,” comments Blair. An automated tape layer can put down 15-20 times more material per hour than human operators can by hand lay-up. That really can make a competitive advantage in the right circumstances.”

Blair acknowledges that Exelis' focus is on streamlining and improving production rather than being at the very cutting edge of the latest materials or automated technology.

“Our accelerated performance philosophy drives our technology investments along with getting the right people. We have a first class team of diverse and experienced composite and aerostructure experts that can handle everything from design to the operation of automated machines. Our strategy does not involve developing the very latest automated technology. We employ and adopt technology once we know it has been proven.”

A sign that Exelis Aerostructures still expects growth to continue in the composites market is the investment in a new 250,000ft² composite design and manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City.

“This factory will help us handle the ramp-up rates that we anticipate and increase our capacity and capability in automation. We have installed state-of-the-art fibre placement and automated tape laying machines along with a new work cell able to do filament winding at high rates.

“There is no shortage of opportunities when it comes to the latest aircraft programmes. On the defence side we are fortunate that we are involved in two programmes, the F-35 and Sikorsky CH-53K, which are secure in the current defence budget environment. Our goal is to keep the balance between our defence work and civil work at equal levels.

“There are new platforms being developed both on the commercial and military side and then there are also the upgraded programmes/platforms where there will be new opportunities. We see both of those as an integral part of our growth going forward.”

www.exelisinc.com