TEX Plastic Products, the Barnstaple division of TEX Injection Moulding secured a new contract with a UK based premium Aircraft Seating manufacturer. It involved a complex suite of 19 tools producing 38 parts, which will fly on Business Class Aircraft early 2009.
Both our customer and TEX were faced with parts being needed within 11 weeks with the challenge of the raw materials only available in North America and the tool manufacture in China. The project included the need for secondary operations to source and fit a range of threaded and formed inserts.
Integrated logistics between all parties ensured materials and inserts were sourced and promptly shipped into our Chinese toolmakers in readiness for tool completion.
Our experience in moulding high performance engineering polymers coupled with an eye for detail in tool design and construction ensured T1 sample delivery was achieved. The inevitable design issues common with such a complex project were promptly resolved through meticulous project management by TEX’s UK personnel who were present during the trials and Manufacture of parts at our Chinese toolmaking partners, and moulding facilities that was also supported by UK operations.
Timeframes for the first production parts were met to enable our customer to meet dates for pre-booked validation trials and the First Article Inspection function, which was carried out by our customer and the associated airline.
Working with such complex tooling to manufacture these type of parts will always be slightly different and to that end, the Tex team ensured that they are always on hand for support should any local problems arise.
Our customers SQA Engineer commented: “We are always open minded towards working with advanced products, but the learning curve is always expedited when a supplier-partner supports their product in the manner that Tex Plastics does. Having specialists locally to support us has proven to be a huge benefit.”
This project was a further example of TEX Injection Mouldings Global resource and capabilities available to both existing and potential UK customers.