Quintus delivers high-pressure fluid cell press to Alestis Aerospace

The new 800 bar (11,600psi) fluid cell press will replace aging low-pressure equipment at the Alestis facility in Vitoria, in northern Spain. The modern press will allow reduction of manual labour, decrease the number of process steps, and extend capacity to accommodate an anticipated ramp-up in production demand.

Located close to the Airbus assembly centre in Toulouse, France, the Vitoria plant is the Alestis centre of excellence for sheet metal fabrication and sub-assemblies, concentrating on various aluminium alloys and new titanium alloys.

The 17,000t press-force Quintus press, with a forming area of 700mm x 1800mm, will introduce a number of production efficiencies. The hydroform process requires only one rigid tool half, generating significant tool cost savings and eliminating several forming operations, intermediate heat treatments and operator dependencies.

Jan Söderström, CEO of Quintus Technologies in Sweden, commented: “Quintus supplies the most advanced high-pressure equipment available, and our technology has a strong role to play in helping aviation industry suppliers lower costs in an increasingly competitive arena. Alestis is moving ahead on a growth trajectory that includes globalising its operations, and we expect our long-term technology transfer program and comprehensive training and support to give them a head start.”

Jean Fernandez, Quintus sales manager for South Europe, added: “There is a clear trend within the European lower tier aerospace supply chain to carefully review and evaluate how to potentially cut labour-intense fabrication steps. These initiatives are critical to match competition from low-cost countries, as well as to manage the requirements for increased production capacity. The ability to combine a higher level of forming die design with modern high-pressure forming technologies provides substantial time and cost savings to meet market demands.” www.alestis.aero

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