Aerospaces and helicopters

FACC AG has been involved in the development and production of lightweight plastic components for civil aviation for more than 30 years. The company has a total of some 3,400 employees at eleven international sites. FACC has established itself as the No. 1 supplier of larger assemblies and systems with the leading aircraft and engine producers within a very short space of time.
Exceptional demands are made in this sensitive industry with its extremely high safety standards. FACC therefore employs the latest manufacturing technologies.

Perforating machine as starting point

Automation engineer Georg Schrattenecker has experienced and actively shaped the development of the still young CNC competence at FACC. The aerospace specialists had their eyes on MAKA with its know-how in the production of special machines from the very beginning. After a brief intermezzo with a MAKA competitor, FACC soon docked on in Nersingen. The contract for a first machine was signed in 2015. The PM 210 is used as a perforating machine at the main works in Ried. The product is a sound-insulating, weight-saving panel with a thickness of up to 2 mm. The MAKA drills thousands of bores in each “skin”. The panel is used in bonded form particularly in components of Rolls Royce engines, but also in the linings of the aircraft interior. The required noise reduction is achieved by the combination of perforate skin and a honeycomb structure. The sound enters the “void” created between perforated skin and structural component where “it simply dies, so to speak”, says Georg Schrattenecker.

In both cases the material is made of carbon fibres, glass fibres or aramid fibres - at the same time practically the only materials employed at FACC. The honeycomb is delivered as a block, the other materials on reels. The fibres are already impregnated with resin that allows quick curing in the kiln.
For elements with honeycomb structure, the honeycomb cores of resin-impregnated paper have to be installed in a clean room in an intermediate step.

Honeycomb structures on the advance

After the good experience with the PM 210, FACC invested in a second MAKA CNC centre designed specially for large components.
The MM 7 tandem-table stationary gantry machine is used exclusively for the machining of honeycomb structures. The latest project centres specifically around the brake flaps. The machine here forms part of a sophisticated overall process. The material is first cut to size, then fixed using a special vacuum clamping concept and then machined in two steps on the two tables of the CNC centre. As the one table can be loaded while the part on the other table is being machined, the process is very productive.
“One fundamental benefit of the MAKA tandem table technology,” says Georg Schrattenecker. The machined workpiece is a shaped part of the later approx. 2.50 m long brake flap. While the honeycomb structure benefits the lightweight construction, the stability is provided by a carbon core and the composite layers with which the honeycomb structure is packed in the “sandwich”. Finally FACC gives the part its outer skin and its paint finish. The finished brake flap is finally delivered to the customer’s hangar where it is installed.

Further MAKA machines ordered

MAKA’s good reputation at FACC was recently the reason for the purchase of two further MM 7s. They will ensure the high productivity that has become necessary through the steady expansion of the company. “We have massively expanded the production of honeycomb cores,” says Georg Schrattenecker.
And the number of components is also steadily growing. FACC is now producing more and more parts in-house that were previously sub-contracted to external companies. The range of part sizes has also increased at a similar rate. Today it extends from 10 cm up to several metres. The up to 3 metre long honeycomb structures are produced on the three MM 7s with their table dimensions of 3 m x 1.30 m. “This is in line with our stronger orientation to the production of spoilers with their long and narrow form,” explains Georg Schrattenecker. One of the new machines, on the other hand, is designed specifically for small parts. With its compact machine tables (1.60 m x 1.60 m), it is predestined for this task.

Ongoing further development

The new machines are characterised in particular by faster tool changing. In addition, the extraction capacity has been optimised for the large chip volume of the honeycomb core production.
MAKA has presented a new concept to improve the fluidics here. A new solution is now also being used for the positioning of the raw parts that FACC expects to bring a significant boost in production efficiency. “But we don’t want to disclose any details of this innovative technology,” says Georg Schrattenecker.
After machining, the parts are measured using a measuring probe clamped in the spindle. One employee checks the measurement data for deviations from the tolerance. Finally the measurement data on the six sides are transferred to the SAP order system and compared once again in a quality check with the measurement concept that exists for each part and which reflects exactly the component thickness.
The measurement of the part data directly at the machine, the output to the network and the transfer to the SAP network allows no less than 16 measuring tools to be saved in the current project.

Reliable technology, intensive partnership

Georg Schrattenecker describes the cooperation with MAKA as completely problem-free. He particularly emphasises the good training of the technicians. And Georg Schrattenecker is most impressed by the performance of the PM 210, the product quality of the MM 7 and the service. He also praises the reliability of the technicians as “simply perfect”. “The PM 210 runs in extended three-shift operation in our works, and until now there have been only a few minor things to be corrected,” says the automation engineer.
Most of the special solutions employed are the result of intensive meetings with the MAKA technicians. At FACC, MAKA is regarded as the ideal partner on the road to flexible and at the same time highly efficient production with high quality standards and numerous individual details.

Georg Schrattenecker: “With our demands, we can’t use any “off-the-shelf” machines. We are reliant on the CNC know-how in special machine engineering. MAKA is very effective in meeting our needs that in this constellation can’t be found in any catalogues.” The automation engineer gives one example to illustrate what he sees as a perfect partnership: “Sometimes I come up with an idea that saves us time or offers us an advantage over our competitors. Then there’s always someone with a good idea at MAKA who calls the next day to say: Hey, I think I’ve found the solution ….”

Georg Schrattenecker is convinced that FACC’s lead over its competitors on the market is due in no small part to the competence of MAKA as problem-solver: “Without the ongoing further development of the processes, I wouldn’t have the efficiency in production that I have today,” says the engineer.
The Austrian company will therefore continue to count on MAKA in the future: And two further MM 7s have just been ordered.