ARLINGTON — On a quiet street in Arlington’s Jensen Business Park, only a block from Highway 9 shopping centers, there’s a booming high-tech business with key roles in the nation’s aerospace industry.
With just over 300 employees, and openings for 10 more, Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies fills four large buildings and has land for future growth. It’s now Arlington’s largest business employer.
AMT’s streamlined, state-of-the-art technology and skilled workforce turn solid slabs of aluminum, titanium and other metals into engine pylons, struts, wing boxes, wing ribbing, wheel well housings and interior structures for every Boeing airliner, plus Bombardier’s Regional Jets, Gulfstream GVs, Hawker’s Beechcraft Premier, Sikorsky’s Blackhawk helicopters, the Airbus A360, A330 and A320, plus the U.S. Air Force’s new F-35.
Its Boeing work includes parts for the 737, 747, 767, 777, 787 and 747-8, which means even more work when the 787 ramps up to full production beginning this year. Years of orders also are expected for 767 parts for Boeing’s newly won $35 billion Air Force contract to build 179 aerial refueling tankers.
Making the future even brighter, the company is ramping up production for all its Boeing programs to meet the aerospace giant’s increasing production rates on all of its aircraft models, said Derick Baisa, AMT’s business development manager. Programs outside of Boeing also are increasing their order rate, except for the Blackhawk, which continues to maintain its current production level.
“To meet the future demand for our products, our parent company, Senior Aerospace in England, has just invested $5 million to install two more MAG spindle machines, bringing our total to five,” Baisa said.
The huge MAG equipment turns blocks of metals into aircraft parts, using machining tolerances as small as 1/10,000 of an inch, he said. AMT also has improved the production of many aircraft parts that once required the assembly of several sections. Now, the MAG machines, run by computer-aided design and manufacturing software programs, turn out a stronger and lighter single solid piece that requires no assembly.
That type of innovation is part of the company’s quality production approach, which pushes for continual improvement.
Installation of the two new production machines is nearly completed, which will greatly increase the company’s manufacturing capabilities and delivery rates, said AMT CEO Mark Riffle. He’s still thinking about how delivery of the new computer-programmable machines was almost delayed indefinitely.
“They’re made in Japan and when the quake and tsunami hit (March 11) our machines were on ships in a Tokyo harbor,” he said. “Fortunately, the port they were in protected the ships from the tsunami and they weren’t close to the nuclear plant that was damaged. Delivery was delayed a few days but they made it.”
Baisa said AMT definitely is part of a world economy, noting that the earthquake in Japan was a reminder of how affected the company can be by world events.
The arrival of the two machines also contributed to the local economy.
“We used local companies to pour 162 yards of concrete for the machines’ foundations, bringing a lot of contractors into the plant,” Riffle said.
“Plumbers and other outside workers also were hired to get the machines installed,” said Matt Russell, AMT’s business development specialist.
The new machines added 20 job openings at AMT. So far 10 of them have been filled but Riffle admitted it’s difficult to find people who have the right mix of experience and skill.
“We’re looking for specific niche experience and skill sets but they’re hard to find,” he said.
Riffle said that while Boeing is AMT’s major customer, it’s also its major competitor for job applicants.
“It’s hard in Boeing’s back yard to find well qualified manufacturing engineers and machinists when Boeing is looking for them, too,” he said.
Another key machine in AMT’s plant is a long-bed, five-axis machining center that produces wing spars and other products up to 39 feet long. One of the integrated assemblies AMT produces in Arlington is a square frame — dubbed a bird cage by workers — used to connect aircraft wings to a fuselage
Much of the company’s success, Baisa said, comes from hiring and keeping highly qualified people. Also, success comes from the leadership provided by an experienced senior staff. Currently, the leadership group at AMT represents individual employment histories that range from 20 to 32 years with the company.
Current production rates at AMT include three shifts a day, including night work, Monday through Thursday, plus weekend shifts Friday through Sunday. Additional shifts could be added if production increases sufficiently in the future. Besides aerospace work, primarily with Boeing, AMT continues to scout for new customers who could use its production capabilities.
“One of our key reasons for our success is that we collaborate a lot with Boeing, working on problem solving and manufacturing techniques. We’re basically a collaborating supplier for all of our customers,” said Baisa, calling it a practical approach that leads to a closer working relationship with customers compared to simply turning out parts and shipping them off to a factory.
Baisa said AMT is “a solution oriented company that works with customers to reduce their inventory issues, help them with a supply-based strategic procurement plan and to implement value engineering from raw materials to complete part redesigns.”
Increasing cost savings for customers includes saving money by efficient use of expensive raw materials, recycling waste materials and using AMT’s vision of lean manufacturing operations.
“We have two ‘lean’ coordinators on staff who spend all of their time specifically on designing and implementing lean manufacturing procedures that save money and improve production,” Baisa said. “It’s part of our very organized way of doing business.”
The organization of the plant’s operations is easy to see. Tools are laid out in uniform patterns, easy to find and use; technology is used to determine optimal harmonic zones for the high-speed spindles that are used in the production of parts; and AMT’s workflow includes keeping the spindle machines at high performance levels by minimizing the time it takes to rotate raw material pallets.
AMT’s parent company, Senior Aerospace, has 27 businesses in 11 countries, including AMT’s next-door neighbor, Absolute Manufacturing, which supports the aerospace, defense and commercial laser markets with components related to fuel flow metering, proximity sensing, power conversion and a variety of other lasers and missile components.
Baisa said the two neighboring companies often trade work on various aerospace components where their respective skills and capabilities offer opportunities to work together.
Learn more
For more information, visit Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, 20100 71st Ave. NE, Arlington, or go to www.amtnw.com.
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