Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010 - (Page 98)
Consolidated Precision Products (CPP)-Minneapolis
www.cppcorp.com / HQ: Pomona, Calif. / Projected 2010 revenues: $56.5 million / Employees: 400 / Services: Aircraft castings Mark Krings, vice president: “One of the things that’s helped us through the economic downturn is the usage of helicopters overseas.”
Cast in Sand
new techniques and products are streamlining production of aircraft castings. by russ gager
cpp-minneapolis’ products have been used on the space shuttle and delta rockets.
CPP-Minneapolis,formerly known in the aerospace industry as Hitchcock Industries, started making castings a few years after its founding in 1916 and has amassed an enviable reputation for doing so. Today, it makes aluminum and magnesium castings mostly for airplanes and helicopters. The family-owned company was sold to Consolidated Precision Products (CPP) in 2005. The castings are produced by pouring metal into a form made of sand that is chemically bonded into the complex shapes required to cast aircraft parts. Among these parts are large airframe and engine structural 98
manufacturing-today.com SUMMER 2010
castings, gearbox housings, generator bodies, fuel system housings, wing pylons, transmission housings, and castings for the Space Shuttle and Delta rockets. “We just are in the process of gaining first article on some large tilt rotor gear boxes for the Bell V22 Osprey,” announces Mark Krings, vice president of operations. The Osprey is a new military aircraft that looks like an airplane but takes off vertically like a helicopter. First article is an extensive and lengthy process in which each dimension of a cast part sample – which can be up to 5,000 dimensions – is vali-
dated. The part is cut open and examined with X-rays and penetrating fluorescence to verify that it matches the dimensions and metallurgical characteristics of the blueprint exactly. It is inspected with fiber optic scopes and ultrasonic thickness gauges. Depending on the part’s use, its heat characteristics may be checked and it might be pressuretested in a water tank to ensure it does not leak. “If anything is found wrong, we do tool corrections and go through the first part again,” Krings asserts. Gaining first article can take from eight months to two years.
http://manufacturing-today.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
Contents
Washington
Global Strategies
Continuous Improvement
Smart Pricing
Supply Chain
Business Value
Moving Forward
Westmark Products
Byrne Dairy
Ultrafryer Systems Inc.
Wil-Rich LLC & Wishek MFG LLC
American Precision Fabricators
Aqua Products Inc.
Bennington
Black Diamond Equipment
Columbian Home Products
Control Devices LLC
Endustra Filter Manufacturers Inc
Heil Trailer International
Assembled Products
Order-Matic Corp.
Professional Building Systems Inc.
Smart Start Inc
Bosal International
Ausco Products Inc.
Brodart Company
Cambrex Corp.
Chapin International Inc.
Cleveland Gear Co.
Consolidated Precision Products
Control Flow Inc.
Douglas Autotech Corp.
Fetzer Architectural Products
The FNA Group
Fourslide Spring and Stamping Inc.
G.A. West & Company
Great Lakes Power Group
Grimm Brothers Plastics
Legends Furniture Inc.
National Tube Supply Co.
Optex Systems Inc.
Sunburst Electronics
V.E. Enterprises Inc
W. Soule & Company
Manufacturing Tomorrow
Manufacturing Today - Summer 2010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2011summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2011springsummer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2011spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2011winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2010fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2010summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/businessmedia/mt_2010spring
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com