AdChem Manufacturing Technologies, Incorporated (ACMT) of Manchester, Connecticut
prides itself on investing in the latest technology. "In our industry, that's what helps us grow,"
said Michael Polo, president and owner. So when a customer came to them unhappy with the
heat-affected zone from laser cutting, ACMT invested in an abrasive waterjet.
Following a stint with his father's manufacturing company, Polo became convinced that there was a market niche for a company specializing in the manufacture of nonmetallic components. ACMT started up in 1987 with just three employees, some heated platen presses and clean rooms.
The company has since grown to 64 employees who operate a wide range of technologies: a full sheet metal manufacturing facility; a rubber molding line; several clean rooms for epoxy, silicone and polyurethane bonding; seam, spot and full-resistance welding; an OMAX® 55100 JetMachining® Center; and a Mazak laser cutting machine. ACMT is capable of machining pieces up to 64" in diameter.
The aerospace sector is ACMT's primary business and they manufacture metallic components for jet engines including externals, hot section, and fan case components on the nonmetallic side of their operation, ACMT makes fan case components and compressor stators, with an entire cell devoted to Fan Exit Guide Vanes (FEGV's). The company also performs OEM and government overhaul, and their latest venture is government manufacturing. They are approved to inspect PW airfoil requirements.
It was a customer that introduced ACMT to the idea of waterjet machining. They were working with titanium recast, and "Laser cutting was becoming unacceptable to them because of the high temperature involved," said Kent Goodridge, ACMT's operations manager. "They were going to be changing the way a lot of their parts were made, from laser to waterjet."
After researching the waterjets available on the market, ACMT attended EASTEC to help narrow their choices. "OMAX and another waterjet manufacturing company were wooing us," said Polo.
"The OMAX people were willing to work with us." Goodridge added, "We brought some problem parts with us to EASTEC, and OMAX had their machine up and running. We made parts right there at the show."
ACMT was particularly interested in how the OMAX would work with an aluminum composite, discontinuously reinforced aluminum (DRA), that's used in the production of fan exit guide vanes. "The material is tenacious - it destroys carbide cutters," said Polo. The part also contained a hollow cavity that lasers couldn't cut accurately enough.
"It had been taking us about 20 minutes to half hour to trim these to length," said Goodridge. "We were using a friction saw for the rough cut, and then milling it for the final dimension, and going through carbide cutters like crazy."
Polo's concern was whether OMAX could maintain the quality and accuracy of the cut. "Once they proved to us that they could cut this vane, that was the turning point. It's light years ahead of how we were doing it." The process, which used to take half an hour, is now finished in four minutes with a more accurate hollow cavity than the laser could provide.
ACMT's transition to waterjet machining wasn't seamless, however. "We bought a machine, trained
the head of the tool room, and thought it would be enough," said Goodridge. When difficulties
arose, ACMT worried that there were issues with their abrasive waterjet. "At the time, we were
new waterjet owners," Goodridge continued. "As it turned out, the machine worked fine.
We thought we had an issue with the software, but what we really needed was more training."
Polo added, "The usage on a waterjet was different than other machines we'd used." The OMAX Corporation, wanting to ensure that ACMT had success with their abrasive waterjet, sent a technician to ACMT for a week of additional training. "It was like the second coming of the Messiah," Polo said.
"When we were having problems, they flew out on their nickel to help us," said Polo. "Now we're sending a couple of people to OMAX for a week for more advanced training, and OMAX is sharing in that."
ACMT found that learning how to properly maintain their abrasive waterjet was also critical. "OMAX customer service has walked us through even basic stuff, because we were novice users. Once you have the parts on hand, it's easy to keep the machine up and running."
OMAX's interest in ACMT's waterjet performance has continued. "They always ask us to send back the replaced parts to see how they failed, so they can show us better ways to do things", said Polo. "They help us with spare parts for our machine, letting us know when they need replacing, and making sure we always have on hand what we need."
ACMT now machines titanium, nickel, Inconel®, aluminum, stainless, tool steel, tile and composites with their OMAX JetMachining Center. While in some cases cutting is a little slower, secondary operations are eliminated, so ACMT is able to complete jobs more quickly.
ACMT's dedication to new technology has allowed them to expand their business - with their OMAX, they can cut extremely thin materials that other companies can't handle. "Our competitors aren't familiar with cutting thin stuff," said Charlie Boglisch, cell leader. "They won't touch it."
Polo said, "We're able to cut a lot of small holes in tight tolerance in very thin material, which no one can do as well as we can with our OMAX."
And the next technological frontier for the innovative people at ACMT? "We're thinking of buying OMAX's new articulated cutting head, the Tilt-A-Jet, to use with our waterjet," said Polo, "It will help us do our work even better."
Michael Polo, President & Owner
Kent Goodridge, Operations Manage
Charlie Boglisch, Cell Leader
AdChem Manufacturing Technologies Inc, Manchester, CT
Address: 21409 72nd Ave South, Kent, WA 98032 | Telephone: 1-800-838-0343 or 253-872-2300
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