When one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers needed to improve their speed and efficiency of applying torque to specific critical components, Crane Electronics were called upon to provide a suitable, precise solution.
The customer is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aircraft nacelles and cowlings, supplying the global market and all of the major aerospace engine manufacturers. On an aircraft, a nacelle is a housing or cover that is separate from the main fuselage, that incorporates part of the plane, typically the jet engine. Cowlings are similar but they can be opened or removed easily for service maintenance, repair or general inspection.
One of the issues facing the customer, was that their manufacturing process was relatively slow, utilising older manual click wrenches for tightening critical fasteners around the nacelle, and data was also logged manually. The customer wanted to improve the speed of their fastener tightening and testing process, without compromising on quality. In addition they also wanted to be able to improve the efficiency of the process as a whole and to provide complete traceability to their customers and end-users.
Working with the Manufacturing and Engineering departments, Crane Electronics were on hand to demonstrate their torque management expertise within the Aerospace industry.
Crane Electronics suggested the introduction of their innovative IQWrench2 series of digital torque wrenches, in replacement of the current manual click wrenches. The IQWrench2 offers all of the features of a high specification torque wrench but with built-in torque data collection and auditing capabilities. The IQWrench2 was designed specifically with the Aerospace manufacturing environment in mind, being fully FOD compliant to ensure no foreign debris such as screws could accidently fall out of the wrench and contaminate production.
The wrenches were also supplied with a series of specially made, bespoke ID wrench heads. These individual ID heads incorporate a chip that communicates with the torque wrenches to automatically compensate for the critical length between the wrench and the fastener. This would allow the users to quickly and easily switch between jobs, using the same wrench, with no concerns about data inaccuracy.
In addition to the IQWrench2’s, Crane’s OMS (Opta Management System) software was also introduced to help provide the customer with a complete management system for all of productions torque data records per tightening process.
The customer was extremely happy with the new equipment and the updated processes, with the new solution being implemented by engineering for the production operators. This was a first for the customer, as previously they had only been planned to be introduced solely in a quality auditing capacity.
The IQWrench2 torque wrenches and accompanying OMS software allowed the customer to improve their level of quality and traceability recording and reporting significantly. The new process also allowed them to link a nacelle serial number via a barcode scan, to the recorded data for each and every component tightened on that unit.
In high quality and precision engineering environments, such as those in the Aerospace industry, the application of torque when fastening and testing critical components is vital. The solution provided by Crane Electronics gave the customer complete peace of mind that components within the nacelles, such as high-pressure hydraulic pipes, were secured correctly, with zero chance of any unsecured fasteners.
Ian Brown, Sales Manager at Crane Electronics, comments:
“We take pride in being able to suggest and deliver new innovative solutions for our customers and our level experience and knowledge of the aerospace industry allows us to understand their applications and be able to deliver a real solution that works for the customer.
In this case, the customer was completely open to implementing new technology that would allow them to improve their process and efficiency levels. They took to the new IQWrench2 wrenches and OMS software really quickly and the improvements to their everyday roles means they enjoy using the new system.”
For more information about how we can provide a solution for your business, call us on +44 (0)1455 25 14 88, email us at sales@crane-electronics.com.