A PLACE IN THE SUN

Sun Country Industries (Albuquerque, NM) is an aerospace contract manufacturing company specializing in close tolerance machining and precision assembly of jet engine and airframe components, assemblies, and kits. Founded in 1950 and based in Albuquerque, they are the largest aerospace contract manufacturer in New Mexico, with 150 highly skilled employees utilizing over 55,000 sq ft of manufacturing facilities. A division of McNally Industries, their customers include GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, General Dynamics, Rockwell Collins, Goodrich, and many others.

Sun Country manufactures finished components and assemblies for spacecraft, aviation controls, jet engines, and medical and scientific markets. They are fully equipped to design and manufacture tooling in-house, manufacture product, monitor processes, and complete mechanical assembly and integration to customer specifications. Components are machined from bar, plate, extrusions, forgings and castings using any of 65 precision CNC machining centers to produce close tolerance parts of complex configurations using expert efficient lean manufacturing techniques combined with the latest technology for high speed machining.

The company has extensive experience in large turning with 22 CNC turning centers and milling with 15 5-Axis milling centers, nine 4-Axis CNC milling centers, and 11 3-Axis CNC milling centers. From concept to finished product, the company works closely with their customers to produce quality components and assemblies that meet the highest demands of the global aerospace and defense industries. There are 13 EDMs and assorted grinding operations for medium to large production runs that utilize stainless steel, titanium, inconel, waspalloy, and other high nickel heat resistant aircraft alloys as well as aluminum and alloy steels.

Being in the aerospace industry, most of Sun County?s inspection tolerances are extremely tight. The company is ISO 9001:2000, AS9100 and European aeronautic and space requirements AECMA EASE perEN 9100 P2 (S1) and Snecma QA 00725 requirements quality systems certified. Sun Country is also GE S1000 certified with four DSQRs on staff with full release authority as well as meeting Rolls-Royce RR9000 approvals.

Currently, their main focus is quickly and accurately measuring diameters of 24 in to 40 in. The company previously used a variety of traditional hand tools to measure and inspect their precision machined jet engine and control parts on the manufacturing floor. As is often the case, however, individual operator skills limited the consistency of measurements: the results one operator ?measured? were not always the same as what another would get on the same part.

The off-the-floor option of a fixed CMM would give them the needed accuracy and consistency, but at the price of time and convenience. Not really a great option at all. Instead, the company wanted a system that provided flexibility, ease-of-operation and the ability to measure consistently for in-process and first article inspection and at the point of final inspection. During their research to find the proper equipment, they discovered that the Gage from FARO Technologies (Lake Mary, FL) provided the ease-of-use and consistency they desired, along with the accuracy they demanded. This system is a portable CMM that is not confined to an isolated inspection room. It can be moved right to the machine producing the part, so that measurements can be taken while in-process adjustments and improvements can be made at the point of use ? without stopping production by taking a part off the floor.

The mobility and quick set up of this system has reduced inspection times and, since the instrument automatically records measurements, the variability of hand tools has been replaced with the consistent measurements of the portable CMM. ?Our biggest challenge, obviously, has been the old cliché ?time is money? and having a quick turnaround in inspection techniques and methods,? said vice president of quality assurance and engineering Joe Gonzales. Sun Country utilizes Six-Sigma techniques to drive down costs and improve productivity and consistently offer their customers cost savings and on-time deliveries . . . along with impeccable aerospace quality. This inspection system is another important tool that is now used to reassure that their products are meeting customer specifications ? quickly and at a lower cost.

Sun Country is constantly expanding and improving their technologies and capabilities with investments in new equipment and processes. Everyone was on board to use the new portable CMM technology to make them more efficient. All facets of the manufacturing and quality departments have positively accepted the portable CMM and the benefits it provides. ?On our most complex and larger parts, what once took us two hours now takes only 30 minutes with this system,? noted Gonzales. ?We?ve seen approximately 60 percent savings in our inspection times on large diameter parts."

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Sun Country Industries, 6801 Gruber NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, 505-344-1611, www.suncountryindustries.com.

FARO Technologies, Inc., 250 Technology Park, Lake Mary, FL 32746, 800-736-0234, www.faro.com.