b"Our team of manufacturing engineers used to say the toilet paperin the bathroom could not be changed without five signatures.robust enough for production, re- update of all process paperworkteam of manufacturing engineers sulting in intermittent dimensionaland another FAI to validate that theused to say the toilet paper in the problems. modifications did not affect down- bathroom could not be changed Previously,Iaddressedthesestream processes. There really waswithout five signatures.kinds of problems with little plan- no tinkering with aerospace manu- Moving from a small shop that ning. I would adjust machine toolfacturing processes. made dishwasher parts to a major parameters, change the fixture orApprovals are needed for every- defense contractor was challeng-maybe buy some new tools and tin- thing when you make aerospaceing, but it prepared me for future ker with things until the problemparts. The consequences of com- career opportunities. I learned to was resolved. I couldnt do that withponent failure in an aircraft demandbe better at planning a manufac-military aerospace parts. Once thevery tight process controls to ensureturing process. I found out that pro-FAI process was complete with allthat every possible risk has beencess control and process change the necessary approvals, we had aconsidered and eliminated. I foundmanagement are key elements for qualified process. Qualified is an- this out early on when I submitted areducing defects. GD&T struggles other way of saying locked down,requisition for new carbide drills totaught me to build better tools and and you cant alter it. If we wantedreplace the high-speed steel drillseventually appreciate the value of to adjust the manufacturing pro- that the company had been usinga CMM. Most importantly, I dis-cess, we had to requalify it. This wassince 1962. My manager refused thecovered that one seemingly small less difficult than an initial FAI/qual- request and said the cost of requali- change can significantly affect a ification, but it still required paper- fying would be greater than the sav- process. It was a difficult but re-work to document the changes, anings from improved cycle times. Ourwarding transition.CTEMicro HoleIt's easy to say your tooling Deburring Cartridges solves problems .It's harder to prove it. We prove it every day. Stuck on a tough tooling challenge? Let us help.The Original and Only Producer for over 20 years Heimatec isnt just a world leader in live tools, angle heads andFor holes from 1mm through 2.3mm multi-spindle drill heads; were your source for problem solving and tooling application expertise. Lower cost per hole With years of hands-on experience and the most innovativeAvailable for Same Day Shipping tooling, we are your TOTAL solution source. from stockin most cases Platinum Tooling is now the exclusive importer of Heimatec products in North America. Consistent resultsUser Friendly 16 E. Piper Lane, Ste.128 Made in the USA Prospect Heights, [email protected] 810-227-1000 Brighton, Michigan www.platinumtooling.comctemag.com/cteguide.com45Pllatinum Tooling AD5771 (H) Color 1/4 pg CTE 2019DefenseMaterials.indd 45 8/17/21 3:57 PM"