Northwest Aerospace News October | November Issue No. 5 | Page 55

PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
W
hile it reads as a straightforward operation, many
describe welding as a “black art.” Unlike other manufactur-
ing methods such as machining and laser cutting, the process
can be very unpredictable, and this is further impacted by the
distortion created by heat. Despite the challenges encoun-
tered in the process, aerospace relies heavily on welding due
to the strong metal bonds that it creates. A significant num-
ber of parts on an airplane – and the engine – are affected
by the process. Welding also provides an opportunity
for cost and weight savings and offers a greater degree
of structural integrity, hence there is a large potential
for it to expand to even more parts as airlines and OEMs
become ever-increasingly sensitive to cost and fuel burn.
The power of collective feedback
Exotic Tool Welding has embraced the challenges faced in
welding by harnessing the collective power of their employ-
ees and the feedback they provide, securing their reputa-
tion based on quality. For each new job they receive,
they carefully record and define how the job was done
and what the outcome was. This is then captured in
shop technique sheets so that other employees can be
trained, ensuring repeatability, consistency and allowing
all non-conformances to be traced back to the welder and
their expertise. However, the feedback and training go far
beyond paper, with the team engaging in live training and dis-
cussions, in addition to quarterly management reviews to look
for trends. “That’s the benefit of working with a small welding
shop,” says Scott Lathrop, company president, “We can train
people one on one and in real time.” This includes training
directly from Lathrop, who was himself a welder at the
company for ten years before purchasing it in 1984.
Embracing the customer as part of the
feedback process
While Exotic Tool Welding employs twenty people, they con-
sider their team much bigger in size and continually engage the
customer as part of the process by providing feedback, photos
and red lines on drawings. The customer can then proac-
tively participate in future welding efforts and enhance
the quality of the process – and thus the final part – by
making adjustments on their end.
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