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NTRODUCTION:
The Defense Industry is a highly attractive industry for precision machine shops to target. The Prime Contractors like Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Textron, General Dynamics and others have a long history of producing mechanical intensive products. To support the manufacture of tanks, planes, radar systems, drones, ordnance and the entire family of Defense related product, an enormous supply base is required. This supply base of machine shops all over the country is the backbone of these Prime Contractors. Gone are the days of large in-house machine shops. Companies ranging from mom and pop to multi million dollars are able to supply these Prime Contractor demands.
For many parts, the difficulty isn’t always in the manufacture of the parts themselves. More often than not, the precision CNC machining features have relatively easy tolerances. The biggest problems come from specifications and documentation. Many of these parts have specifications that are long, confusing and even interrelated. Specs reference one another and must be properly interpreted by the manufacturer. Along with untangling specifications, documentation must be kept rigorously. Traceability requirements are usually quite strict across the board from the Primes themselves, DoD and AS9100.
Here are 3 very important things to remember when dealing with Defense manufacturing:
1. Get all the specs…and read them!
2. Ensure displined documentation practices
3. Comply with all ITAR requirements
CONCLUSION:
Working with the Prime Defense Contractors is no easy task. Great care must be taken beyond simply making CNC Machined parts. Ensuring that all specs are obtained and understood is crucial. The devil is in the details. Maintaining disciplined documentation practices and traceability is a very important to most jobs in this industry. Lastly and certainly not least, is complying with ITAR requirements. These are all systematic activities that must be maintained with discipline throughout the organization. To learn how PEKO Precision ensures compliance with our Defense customers, contact me direct at sbaxter@pekoprecision.com or click below:
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