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