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Manufacturing & Prototyping

New SAE Standard Focuses on Manufacturing Management

A soon-to-be-published SAE International standard, AS6500, is designed to encourage suppliers and OEMs to put more focus on manufacturability during the early phases of a product’s life...

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News
Defense

KUKA Aerospace Announces Everett, WA, Facility

KUKA Aerospace, a developer of automated manufacturing systems for aircraft manufacturing and assembly, is locating its first U.S. facility outside of Michigan in Everett, WA. The 29,000-ft²...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

NASA 3D Printing Technique Creates Metal Spacecraft Parts

Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are implementing a printing process that transitions from one metal or alloy to another in a single object. JPL scientists have been...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

Custom Surface Inspection System for Safety-Critical Processes

Researchers have engineered a high-precision modular inspection system that can be adapted on a customer-specific basis and integrated into the production process. Before a...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

GKN Aerospace to Lead Research Collaboration into Additive Manufacturing

GKN Aerospace is leading a consortium of U.K. companies in a 3½ year, £13.4 million research and development program called Horizon (AM) that builds on GKN...

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News
Defense

GE Aviation Breaks Ground on Jet Engine Assembly Factory in Indiana

GE Aviation recently hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new $100 million jet engine assembly facility in Lafayette, IN. The 225,000-ft² facility will assemble the...

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Product Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Noncontact Laser Scanner

Hexagon Metrology’s Leica T-Scan 5 handheld system for laser trackers is said to operate more than 15 times faster than the previous model. The unit is ideal for noncontact laser scanning for CAD-to-part inspections...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Strut Integrated Isolator

For fuselage-mounted equipment, ITT’s strut integrated isolator technology incorporates a fail-safe elastomeric cartridge directly in a strut, eliminating the need for separate elastomeric mounts. The isolator...

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Manufacturing & Prototyping

Boeing Reveals at Farnborough Innovative Method of Building 777 Fuselages

Boeing announced on the opening day of the Farnborough Air Show that it is in the final phases of testing and production readiness of a new method for building 777...

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Manufacturing & Prototyping

Northrop Grumman Breaks Ground on Maryland Space Assembly and Test Facility

Northrop Grumman Corp. broke ground on a new $20 million Maryland Space Assembly and Test (M-SAT) facility on its Baltimore campus adjacent to Baltimore Washington...

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Aerospace

H-D Advanced Manufacturing Acquires Aerospace Gear Manufacturer Sungear

H-D Advanced Manufacturing Co. (H-D) has acquired San Diego, CA-based Sungear Inc., a manufacturer of complex, high-quality, precision gear components for many of the...

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Articles
Test & Measurement

Planning for a Digital World

Volkswagen Group’s Chairman, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, believes the automotive industry is poised to undergo a huge technological and cultural upheaval: “And digitalization is increasingly redefining the...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tools Reduce Cycle Time

BENZ Inc. has four new tooling systems: the LinA and LinS broaching tools, C-axis Angle Head, and Mini Flex-Angle Head. Both the BENZ LinA and LinS broaching tools perform I.D. and O.D. broaching with one tool. I.D. and O.D. keyways, splines, torx, and hex shapes can be machined with the same tool. Use of the LinA and LinS...

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Manufacturing & Prototyping

ATK to Provide UltraFlex Solar Arrays for Upcoming Mars Mission

Lockheed Martin Space Systems awarded a contract to ATK to provide UltraFlex solar arrays for NASA's InSight Lander mission, which will place a lander on Mars in 2016 to study...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Mobile Robots Help Technicians Manufacture Airplanes

A new mobile assistant is being developed to support technicians in the airplane manufacturing industry when applying sealant, measuring, and testing — without putting them at risk. In the...

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News
Defense

GE Aviation Breaks Ground on West Jefferson, NC, Facility

GE Aviation recently broke ground for its new machining factory in West Jefferson, NC. The new 80,000-ft² expansion will allow for increased capacity as the shop assumes additional...

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News
Defense

RTD Sensors

Omega’s PR-21 series of RTD (resistance temperature detector) sensors with M12 connector feature a welded 316L stainless steel housing and an integral four-pin M12 connector for easy connection. They provide a fast response time...

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INSIDER Product
Aerospace

Cable Installation Simulator

A cable installation simulator from W. L. Gore & Associates aids in evaluating the stress of installation on microwave airframe assemblies, thereby minimizing the risk of cable assembly damage or failure during...

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News
Aerospace

Field-Deployable Computing Platform

Elma Electronic Inc.’s S50J computing platform is a reliable and rugged, field-deployable system with abundant configurable I/O for maximum design versatility. Most I/O schemes can be supported using...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

3-D Manufacturing of Titanium Components Takes Off

With such challenges as base closings, shrinking defense budgets, and sequestration, the worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector is projected to experience a significant...

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Technical Innovation
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Igus Develops 3D-Printable Bearing Material with Low-Friction Properties

igus has developed what it claims is the world’s first tribologically enhanced plastic filament for 3D printers, which are used to print full-size, three-dimensional...

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Product Briefs
Defense

Anti-Static Filters

SwiftStaticDischarge filter elements from Swift Filters employ a media technology that dissipates triboelectric charges generated via the flow of fluids through filter media. The technology ensures a low charge across media and fluid over long time periods to mitigate sparking. Electrostatic discharge is a common problem with...

News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Airframe Drilling and Countersinking Book

A new book from SAE International focuses on automating the process of drilling and countersinking holes during airframe manufacturing. Since this is an area of major return-on-investment potential for...

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News
Materials

Systems-engineering a New 4x4 Benchmark

"We set a high target for this program: Create the industry’s most fuel-efficient four-wheel-drive system, with the greatest off-road capability and functionality,” said Mike Kirk, Chrysler’s...

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Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Preparing Carbon-Coated Current Collectors for High-Power Lithium-Ion Secondary Batteries

Achieving high-power capability of a battery requires minimizing the overall resistance of the electrochemical system. For lithium-ion batteries, much...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Design and Fabrication of a Radio Frequency Grin Lens Using 3D Printing

Engineered electromagnetic materials and meta-materials have been researched to explore devices that enable access to electromagnetic properties that are not available in nature. This new class of devices can not only open the door to new functionality, but also be effectively...

Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Manufacturing Robotic Tools for Piping Inspection and Repair

Fleet piping systems are complex, space-constrained systems that are difficult to inspect using standard external inspection techniques. Pipe lagging, as well as limited space, makes...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Sikorsky Awarded Contract to Replace ‘Marine One’ Helicopter Fleet

The U.S. Navy selected Sikorsky Aircraft to build the next fleet of Marine One helicopters for the Office of the President.

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News
Defense

ATK to Build Composite Launch Vehicle Structures

ATK reached agreement on a $178 million contract award as part of the U.S. Air Force's Phase 1 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) buy from United Launch Alliance (ULA). The order value...

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