THE CHALLENGE Abipa Canada Inc. of Laval, Quebec, is a Tier 2 supplier of small to mid- sized aircraft engine and structural components. The company wanted to be more competitive with low-labor-cost countries and realized that having stand-alone machining centers with an operator stationed at each machine was holding it back. It specically sought 5-axis machining automation in order to streamline its operation. Abipa’s goal was to produce parts at a ratio of at least 2-to-1 compared to previous processes, without adding labor. The new technology would also need to be exible enough to expand as it pursued future cost reductions. THE SOLUTION As Abipa searched for the right automation and machine tool supplier, it worked closely with Makino and SST application engineers to pr

Join for free to read