Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 11 | Page 36

T hrough intentional initia- tives and acknowledgement of each person’s value in the successful fulfillment of client expectations, Qualitel is posi- tioned to positively impact aero- space as the industry progresses. They plan to continue investing in the latest SMT equipment — equipment like that used in the high-volume, high-precision au- tomotive industry, where circuit cards are scrapped if there is a defect. The aerospace industry produces less than a thousand aircraft a year compared to the millions of units produced in the automotive industry. Qualitel strives for this level of reliabil- ity and is adapting the exacting precision of the automotive ma- chines to the aerospace industry, to reduce time and money spent on reworking parts. Qualitel is also investing heavily in automation of component picking and X-ray parts count- ing, to address higher efficien- cies as the industry demands more from its precision parts suppliers. Tuanhai says parts usually take one to five min- utes to pick, put away, and be counted. It now takes only 30 to 40 seconds. This leaning out of the process reduces labor and in- creases accuracy and efficiency. “We have products where we are, literally, an extension of our customers’ production line. We deliver our products, in small quantities, right to the custom- ers’ production line.” 36 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS