Aerospace Manufacturing and ARC Abrasives

The aerospace industry is on the cutting edge of technology. The combination of exotic alloys and softer metals like aluminum create many unique challenges for abrasive operators. Technicians in the space are tasked with increasing efficiencies and maximizing cost savings. ARC has a solution for that.

You don’t have to fight those battles alone.

ARC works alongside aerospace manufacturers in the field by analyzing your operations and supplying world class abrasive solutions tailored to the specific needs of your applications.

Read our Aerospace Manufacturing Case study to learn how ARC was able to partner with an end user to increase performance efficiency by a factor of 2 to 1, while simultaneously saving them nearly $40,000.

Aerospace Market Overview

Experts anticipate that the Aerospace & Defense market will continue to expand throughout 2018 well into 2019. Stabilized commodity prices, GDP growth, and increased demand for air travel are all drivers that suggest a strong future.

Prevailing indicators show that commercial aircraft production will grow by 4.8%, whereas the defense sector will expand at a 3.8% clip. Looming mergers and acquisitions also suggest strong A&D market.

Passenger traffic is anticipated to grow at a whopping 14.7% with a production backlog exceeding 14,000 units.

The CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) for Defense spending is moving upward at 3% over the course of the next four years, crossing the $2T at the 2022 mark.

Aerospace mergers and acquisitions will place pressure on OEMs to be more competitive in what is typically a high-margin aftermarket space.

Explore how ARC can increase your bottom-line in the industry.

All of these factors make aerospace and defense a ripe market for the abrasives industry. Let’s explore different sub-sets of the aerospace market and understand where and how abrasives are used:

Aircraft Manufacturers: Machine and fabricate a large variety of titanium, stainless and aluminum parts. It is common to see all levels of fabrication and assembly required for the entire plane. Some components are outsourced particularly engine and landing gear assemblies as well as hard to fabricate items. Most common applications are removing and blending (mismatches) or machining marks on titanium and aluminum. Metallic surface finishing of aluminum wing and fuselage components before paint is also very common.

Aircraft Repair and Maintenance: Repair and routine maintenance of any non-critical airplane parts. This would include non-engine components, landing gear or wing components. Common to see a good amount of metallic surface finishing of aluminum and titanium as well as removing welds and deburring repaired parts.

Aircraft Engine Manufacturers: These companies machine and fabricate exotic metals such proprietary high nickel alloys as well titanium grades. These companies make most if not all engine components turbine blades, shrouds and airfoils. Refining machining marks and removing spot welds are the most common applications.

Other Aircraft Parts: These companies are making non-engine components out of a wide range of metals most notably titanium and aluminum. These companies machine and fabricate parts for larger aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, Cessna, Hawker, Lockheed and others. Most common application is refining machine marks (mismatches) on machines parts. Most of these companies are machining companies picking up work when the larger companies run out of capacity or don’t want to machine certain parts.

Would you like a free Aerospace Kit from ARC Abrasives? If so, fill out the form and we will send you a sample kit!