Lean manufacturing from Darchem

on +44 1740 632812

Darchem Aerostructures

Advanced Lean Manufacturing.

On their site in the North East of England, Darchem have built 3 factory extensions to pursue lean manufacturing intiatives.

Darchem Engineering Aerostructures,

Ironmasters Way , Stillington, Stockton-on-Tees, TS21 1LB UK

Tel : +44 (0)1740 630461 Fax : +44 (0)1740630 529

sales@darchem.co.uk www.darchem.co.uk

Lean Manufacturing is not just jargon borrowed from American speak. It is defined as "A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement by flowing the product at the demand of the customer." It seeks to involve employees at the work planning stage, it goes beyond the machinery in a factory. It includes the people as part of the infrastructure of the company.

Lean is about economy... of time, inventory, space, people, and money.

Lean is about speed and getting it right the first time.

Lean is about the basics...eliminating costly bad habits.

By focusing and targeting lean efforts on bottlenecks in production you do not spend time unneccessarily, increasing lead times and work-in-progress inventory,tying up needed working capital. Every factory has a few critical, high impact areas where even small changes can deliver major improvements to the bottom line. Eliminating bottleneck machines can reduce or postpone short-term investments and avoid capital outlay.

Look Beyond the Shop Floor....administrative and support functions can be a good source of cash in a downturn. 

High temperature heatshields.

Recent contracts include high temperature heatshields for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet MRJ the next generation regional jet and Bombardier C-series aircraft.

The MRJ is the next generation regional jet. It is to be a 70-90 seat class regional jet with cutting-edge technology that will enable top-class operational economy and outstanding cabin comfort. The MRJ will be the first regional jet to adopt composite materials for its wings and vertical fins on such a significant scale. In combination

with new engines and an advanced aerodynamic design, the aircraft is being planned to reduce fuel consumption substantially and to contribute greatly to enhanced competitiveness and profitability for airlines.

Similarly the Bombardier C-series CSeries claims to be a new benchmark in the 100- to 149-Seat Class. As the aviation industry evolves, the Bombardier CSeries family of

commercial aircraft redefines operational flexibility, cost effectiveness and passenger comfort in its class. That’s because the CS100 and CS300 commercial jets are the only aircraft designed specifically for this market segment.

The Bombardier CSeries also uses advanced materials and leading-edge technology.

IRSS exhaust systems for military helicopters.

Infrared suppression systems include an exhaust manifold and a high aspect ratio exhaust duct along its length. The IRSS minimizes engine exhaust blowing onto adjacent aircraft structure by discharging the flow away from the fuselage at a relatively high velocity to reduce fuselage heating, thus minimizing the possibility of fuselage IR signature. By directing the exhaust stream upward, a direct line of

sight is masked from ground threats. The high aspect ratio exhaust duct and exhaust manifold are also shrouded by an aerodynamic fairing. This augments airflow to further insulate and obscure the high temperature exhaust gas exiting the exhaust duct.

Darchem News.

Latest news from Darchem is their investment in single piece flow and automated welded technologies, welding robots for sheet metal welding, 2D and 6 axis laser cutting and drilling. They now have an environmentally friendly aqueous degreasing facility, a laser scanning 3D inspection facility with new radiography eqipment and a £200,000 metallurgical laboratory.

CATIA V5 and CFD Software.

Darchem Aerostructures uses the latest CADCAM software, 3-dimensional,  CATIA V5 software is the only solution capable of addressing the complete product development process, from product concept specs through to completed manufacture. It facilitates true collaborative engineering across design, mechanical design and equipment and systems engineering, manages digital mockups, machining, analysis, and simulation.

CFD software is Computational Fluid Dynamics software for fluid flow analysis and aerodynamics software.

Darchem Engineering Aerostructures,

Ironmasters Way , Stillington, Stockton-on-Tees, TS21 1LB UK

Tel : +44 (0)1740 630461 Fax : +44 (0)1740630 529

sales@darchem.co.uk  website:  www.darchem.co.uk