AEROSPACE SUPPLEMENT
DREAMS DO COME TRUE
Record-setting
installation
Orizon’s nine-machine
Starrag Ecospeed FMS is
delivering a 30% reduction
in machining times across
all parts
Right: Company CEO Charlie
Newall says Orizon had a
dream in 2016 to create
something unique and build
it in just 12 months
Right, below: Each of
Orizon’s Ecospeeds features
a Sprint Z3 parallel
kinematic machining head,
shown here machining a
non-Orizon part
A dream manufacturing facility envisaged in 2016 is now on stream at
US fi rm Orizon Aerostructures. Achieving incredible production statistics,
continuous improvement is building further on that
Orizon Aerostructures is a manufacturing
10
and technology company that is building
something unique in the USA’s
Midwest. Across six Oklahoma locations
dedicated to aerospace manufacturing and
complex sub-assemblies, the company boasts
100 CNC machines (50 of which are 5-axis or
more) and 763 employees. But it is at the
company’s newest plant, in Grove, a little
under a 90-minute drive from the state’s
second-largest city, Tulsa, where a new page in
manufacturing excellence is being turned.
In a purpose-built factory that is part of a
total investment of $50 million-plus that takes
in 10 Starrag Ecospeed F2060 machines,
Orizon has installed a exible manufacturing
system (FMS) based around nine of those
Ecospeed machining centres. The largest
integrated system of its type in the western
hemisphere, it is setting new standards in the
machining of aerostructures, predominantly via
milling. Bene ts include: a 30% reduction in
machining times across all the parts,
compared to former methods; a massive
improvement in surface nish, with much less
deburring and polishing required; and an
“amazing revenue to capex ratio” and 2-3X
revenue per person over traditional methods of
machining.
“That’s no surprise,” says Starrag North
America’s managing director Udo Herbes,
“when it is realised that the Ecospeed is able
to convert a 550 kg aluminium billet into a
24 kg complex structural part in less than
four hours when the machine is running at a
maximum cutting volume of up to
10,000 cm3/min”.
Says Orizon president Henry Newell: “Orizon
chose Starrag Ecospeed F2060s, each with a
Sprint Z3 parallel kinematic machining head
and an angular milling head, because the
machine produced everything Starrag said it
would, in terms of metal removal, reliable
uptime 97% and excellent surface nishes
courtesy of superb jerk speeds.
“It was also clear that Starrag was a
company we could truly trust and one with
common values in attaining world-class
machining results. Even one chip not removed
in one pocket could cause a $20,000 part to
be scrapped – and nobody can afford that.”
Orizon’s CEO, Charlie Newell, adds:
“In October 2016, we dreamed of building
something unique and building it in just 12
months; a new factory to house a new FMS
that would produce machining ef ciencies to
surpass anything we’ve ever encountered.
“Working from the start with Starrag,
together we have created an unbelievably
formidable and highly successful partnership
for world-class machining of aerostructure
parts. It was clear, even before the rst
machine sale, that Starrag was willing to listen
and to share and support our vision. Starrag
has done this by, for example, offering
excellent levels of knowledge transfer and
assisting us to develop the appropriate
processes around our business systems.
“These include standardising machining
operations using standard tooling across all
the parts and, for instance, the use of online
diagnostic tools that enable Orizon and
Starrag Technology in Mönchengladbach to
‘interrogate’ the system or individual machines
February 2020 www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets
HORIZONTAL /
VERTICAL LATHES
FOR ULTRA
PRECISION
TECHNOLOGY
The Settling Rooms, Springfield Street.
MARKET HARBOROUGH. Leicestershire LE16 8BD
Tel No. 01858 467182
e-mail: simon@kyalmachinetools.co.uk
www.kyalmachinetools.co.uk
/www.machinery.co.uk
/www.kyalmachinetools.co.uk
link