Web Industries’ CAD Cut division has announced the opening of its Atlanta ply cutting and kitting operation located at Web’s Suwanee, Ga.-based Composites Center of Excellence. The new facility gives the booming aerospace manufacturing industry additional risk mitigation and outsourced capacity, critical supply chain benefits and virtually mistake-proof delivery of ply-formatted and kitted advanced composite materials.
Ply scanning with video verification facilitates virtually mistake-proof delivery of ply-formatted and kitted advanced composite materials.
The announcement is being made in conjunction with SAMPE, held May 23 — 25, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, where Web Industries occupies Booth L9. At the show, Web Industries is exhibiting a full range of slit tapes, chopped thermoplastics and ply formats. Attendees are invited to bring with them their most challenging advanced composite formatting applications.
Cutting-edge capabilities for ply cutting and kitting operation
The new facility includes five cutting tables, laser guidance devices and quality control systems that ensure every ply in a kit is in the correct order. New video systems positioned above the cutting tables maintain robust records management and traceability for every product.
According to CAD Cut General Manager Ben Winters, growing market needs for formatted composite materials and related support services prompted Web Industries’ $2 million investment in factory space, equipment and highly trained personnel. The facility gives the aerospace industry much needed redundancy for sourcing of ply-formatted and kitted advanced composites. With the facility’s opening, CAD Cut becomes the aerospace industry’s only advanced composites formatting partner having three separate manufacturing locations.
“The Atlanta ply cutting and kitting operation mitigates the risk of supply shortages,” Winters says. “Here in Georgia, we produce the same product as our Denton, Texas and Montpelier, Vermont plants. If for any reason one plant should experience a disruption, production can shift to the other sites, providing customers with an uninterrupted supply chain.”
Meeting aerospace-customer needs
Located within Web Industries’ 225,000 sq. ft. Composites Center of Excellence, the new operation provides extensive room for expansion, a feature that benefits aerospace manufacturers in growth mode.
“Boeing’s mid-2016 Current Market Outlook forecasts overall demand for nearly 40,000 new commercial airplanes during the next 20 years,” Winters notes. “The report also says the aviation sector will continue to see long-term growth with the commercial fleet doubling in size, and that we can expect to see passenger traffic grow 4.8% a year over the next 20 years. We are equipped and ready to support the aerospace industry’s expanding needs for product and vendor managed inventory solutions over the next decade and beyond.”
The CAD Cut operation shares extensive freezer capacity with its Web Industries’ parent, whose freezers are located adjacent to the production area. The freezers enable CAD Cut to store advanced composite materials well in advance of deliveries, saving aerospace manufacturers inventory costs. The facility is a virtual one-stop shop, backed by expert application engineering resources.
Winters says that the expansion to Atlanta allows CAD Cut to continue the mission to save manufacturers costs via logistics efficiencies, the elimination of scrap, and by freeing up cash and reducing waste associated with the purchase of inventory. The business also offloads the need for manufacturers to invest capital in cutting tables and production facilities.
“We can accommodate minimum orders and long lead times and apply our decades of experience to the most challenging of advanced composite applications,” says Winters. “This leaves aerospace manufacturers free to concentrate on what they do best: employ their high level technical competencies on building finished aerospace components.”
Production takes place in a Controlled Contamination Area (CCA) that meets the ISO 14644-1 Class 8 standard. The facility’s conveyor driven cutting tables are separated by spacious aisle ways that contribute to manufacturing efficiency. Finished product is charged at fixed prices. Formatted multi-ply products are supplied as turnkey kits.
The Atlanta operation began processing its first orders in May 2017. The business’ ability to deliver a disaster recovery capability in the form of its redundant manufacturing operations was a key to landing added business.
A 100% employee-owned company, Web Industries, Inc., is the largest and most diverse provider of flexible material converting and end-product manufacturing services for the Advanced Composites, Medical, Health and Hygiene, Multi-Layer Insulation, and Wire and Cable markets. The company’s entrepreneurial culture develops ingenious solutions driven by deep experience-based insights to bridge our client’s capability gaps and bring products to market successfully. Utilizing the widest array of slitting, spooling, winding, and ply formatting configurations in the business, Web formats composites, nonwovens, specialty films, papers, foils, laminates, and foams and delivers converted materials on custom-designed spools, planetary rolls, planetary pads, and ply kits for efficient, cost-effective downstream manufacturing. Web’s facilities hold all industry-relevant certificates (AS/EN9100C, ISO 9001:2008, 13485, 14001, and FDA registration).
Filed Under: Aerospace + defense, ALL INDUSTRIES, Materials • advanced
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