With lead times for aerospace metals commonly spanning years, not just months, manufacturers can ill afford unnecessary waits or extra production steps. Fortunately, they can often save manufacturing time by availing themselves of a supplier’s managed processing capabilities.
For example, New Source Corporation offers a range of managed processing capabilities and services for aerospace-grade aluminum and aerospace metals. In working with experienced vendors to provide solutions for additional processing services, New Source Corporation can help customers get metals that meet their needs more quickly, while also reducing risk, improving pricing and ensuring quality.
Variety of services
“We partner with many suppliers and subcontractors to offer very efficient value-added processes that we can manage for customers,” said Jamie Barron, Vice President of New Source Corporation.
New Source Corporation’s managed processing capabilities include:
- Custom stocking
- Heat treatment
- Machining
- Materials testing
- Precision grinding saw
- Cutting
- Shearing
- Trepanning
- Waterjet cutting
Additionally, it offers value-added advantages like:
- Cut-to-size optimization
- Just-in-time delivery
- Value pricing
- Demand and forecast integration
- Risk mitigation
- Stocking programs
- Vendor-managed inventory
Multiple benefits
Customers benefit in several ways when they use New Source Corporation’s managed processing capabilities for aerospace-grade aluminum. When using heat treatment, for instance, they can increase the strength and hardness of heat-treatable alloys to meet the required specifications that otherwise may not be readily available for many months or even years.
“This allows you to get the tempering right without placing a full order. So, it’s cost-efficient,” Barron said.
New Source Corporation also ensures that all processing is done in accordance with all industry-standard specifications and customer-specific requirements (ie, Nadcap, AS9100, or other requirements as applicable).
Customers can also get more favorable pricing by placing their processed orders through New Source Corporation than they would if they were to get it on their own. New Source Corporation maximizes the price point by working on behalf of multiple customers. By sending multiple orders at once, New Source is able to maximize the amount of product yielded for each processed order.
New Source Corporation mitigates risks for customers as well by assuming responsibility for the heat-treated materials. “The supplier of the material is liable if it fails, not the customer,” Barron said. “It is our responsibility to work with the processors and advise our customers on what has a higher success rate or not.”
When New Source Corporation provides a service like precision grinding, a customer can meet a difficult requirement like using a material with a hard-to-find thickness without taking extra time to have the material produced at a new mill run or grind it on its own. “We can eliminate that stage of the process by working with our processors and the material can go right to the assembly line so that they can produce quicker and more efficiently,” Barron said.
Cutting similarly saves time. With New Source Corporation, a customer can have metal bars cut to custom lengths with a cut-to-length service that meets their exact design needs without having to go elsewhere for finishing. In addition to that, New Source Corporation will cut certain materials in-house, allowing for orders to be shipped overnight, saving their customers additional time.
“One of the biggest issues now with machine shops is having the manpower to do base-level machining. We can help by managing a lot of preliminary prep work,” Barron said.
And, with ongoing supply chain challenges New Source Corporation can help a customer save valuable time by recommending a larger extrusion that can be cut to size. “Many times, this is beneficial for a customer,” said Stephanie Barron, New Source Corporation’s Marketing Director and Customer Relations Manager. “If they are facing an 80-week-lead time, they can send us a drawing and we can supply an alternate, slightly larger part, which our customer may then be able to machine to size in-house.
In reducing waits and eliminating steps through its managed processing capabilities, New Source Corporation helps customers get the right parts at the right time and at the right price.
Do you want to learn more about New Source Corporation’s managed processing capabilities? Contact us today! We will be happy to help you meet your needs.