Category: Testing

NTS Acquires Sci-Lab Materials Testing

National Technical Systems (NTS), an independent provider of qualification testing, inspection, and certification solutions in North America, has acquired Sci-Lab Materials Testing, Inc. (Sci-Lab) of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Established in 1990, Sci-Lab has established itself as a regional leader in qualification testing with a comprehensive suite of capabilities, including environmental, dynamics, durability, reliability, and materials testing and certification services for a variety of materials and products, including land, air, and sea vehicle components, electronic goods, plastics, rubbers, metals, coatings, textiles, adhesives, fasteners, composites, and chemicals. Sci-Lab’s 30,000-square-foot facility is ideally located in the automotive hub of Ontario, approximately 60 miles west of Toronto. Tests are routinely performed to OEM-specific and international standards for customers in the automotive, aerospace, military, electronics, and consumer goods industries.

The addition of Sci-Lab brings to NTS a strategic geography in Ontario, a broad scope of testing capabilities, key local customer relationships, and an excellent team of professionals with a longstanding reputation for their expertise, customer service, and on-time delivery. Furthermore, the addition of Sci-Lab to NTS’ two existing qualification testing facilities in Montreal greatly improves NTS’ ability to provide the same one-stop capabilities, seamless access, and service delivery standards in Canada that NTS has long provided to its customers in the United States.

Richard Isaacs, Chemical Engineer, Professional Engineer, and founder of Sci-Lab, stated, “Our management and staff are enthusiastic about our new partnership with NTS. We are now able to provide our growing customer base with a much broader scope of testing capabilities throughout Ontario, Quebec, and broader Canada. I look forward to continuing to lead the NTS Ontario lab as we expand our local capabilities in service of our world-class customers.”

“We are excited to add Sci-Lab to the NTS family,” said Richard Adams, CEO of NTS. “Sci-Lab customers can expect to continue receiving the same great local customer experience they’ve received in the past. As part of our 28-lab network in North America, Sci-Lab customers will have easy access to additional testing services both in Canada and the United States. We are delighted to have expanded our presence in Canada, and with Sci-Lab, we are now even better positioned to serve this strategic market and help our customers deliver products the world can trust.”

NTS is a portfolio company of Los Angeles-based Aurora Capital Partners.

Global AirServices Completes MRO New Generation Expansion

Global AirServices, a Miami FL, USA MRO service provider for commercial aircraft accessory components, announced the completion of a power generation and hydraulic components new generation facility expansion.

Global AirServices has been upgraded with new state-of-the-art test equipment, including full technical factory training to their technicians exclusively on new generation components. The company will be able to overhaul and test CSDs, IDGs and electric generators from all legacy aircraft as well as B737NG, B777, A320 NEO, A330 and A340. Additionally, Global AirServices says it will have the capability to test and repair all servo and non-servo components up to 5000 PSI/50 GPM in accordance with new standards on new generation components.

“This monumental expansion in our company will increase 25% more capability from our existing cap’s on USM components, giving us a significant advantage on new technology and region market share. At the same time, expanding our existing portfolio of high-quality aviation products and MRO services,” said Jorge A. Gonzalez V.P. of Business Development at Avflex-Global AirServices.

Tel-Instrument Electronics Receives Initial $520,000 Mode 5 Test Set Order for the German Military

Tel-Instrument Electronics a designer and manufacturer of avionics test and measurement solutions, has received an initial purchase order totaling $520,000 from its European distributor, Muirhead Avionics for Mode 5 test sets from the contract awarded by the German military. This is a seven-year procurement contract with anticipated orders for the 2019 calendar year of approximately $3.5 million in total.“We are pleased to announce that the German military has selected one of TIC’s market-leading Mode 5 test sets for its flight-line testing requirements,” Jeff O’Hara, Tel’s president and CEO said. “This multi-year contract was originally announced last summer but had been delayed due to an unsuccessful protest from a competitor. The initial test sets will be delivered this summer, and we anticipate that additional orders will bring TIC’s 2019 calendar year bookings for this customer to approximately $3.5 million. This was an important win for our Company and we believe it will further our continued growth and profitability going into our next fiscal year. We continue to work on other substantial domestic and international orders that we hope to secure over the next few months.”

Kaman Measuring Announces KD-5100 Differential Measurement System

The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products announced the availability of its KD-5100 differential measurement system, which provides resolution to a nanometer of positional change. With its stable design, extremely small size, and low power consumption, Kaman says the KD-5100 is ideal for night vision systems, precision telescope positioning, fast steering mirrors (FSM) for space-based and airborne applications, and image stabilization systems. Kaman says their engineers work closely with customers to understand their specific application and optimize the KD-5100 to meet custom requirements.
Featuring a small package size – only 2 x 2.12 x 0.75 inches thick – the KD-5100 is a good choice for applications where space is a limiting factor. It is manufactured to MIL-H-38534, with MIL-SPEC components used throughout the electronics module wherever possible. The KD-5100 features rugged construction, with a mean time between failures of better than 238,000 hours in a space flight environment and 55,000 hours in a tactical environment. Kaman also offers the DIT-5200, a commercial version of the KD-5100 for applications where mil-spec requirements, size, weight and power consumption are not critical.
The company touts that the KD-5100 team has a combined total of more than 100 years of application, design and engineering experience.
Kaman offers high-precision, electro-mechanical contract manufacturing at its 215,000 square foot facility, which has 150,000 square feet of manufacturing area and 220 employees. The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products follows rigorous aerospace quality systems. The manufacturing facility is certified to AS9100 and ISO 9001 and features a class 100 clean room.

Spring Testing Solution Available from L. S. Starrett

The L.S. Starrett Co. has announced the introduction of a basic, affordable Spring testing solution designed for compression and extension springs. The new Starrett S1 Spring Testing Systems were developed for high volume production testing for users seeking more consistent results over manual testing methods.

Starrett says their S1 Systems feature “easy-to-use test templates that enable the user to create a test set up in seconds using one and two-point methods, with test targets being load or height-based.” In addition, the small footprint of the S1 System is ideal for either lean manufacturing environments or in-situ production areas. Spring rate, spring constant, free length, solid height and initial tension can be measured and tolerances can be utilized to determine immediate pass/fail results, which can be viewed in graphic or tabular formats.

“Our new Starrett S1 Spring Testers are a compact, easy to use, powerful, fast and cost-effective solution for basic production testing of springs,” said Emerson Leme, head of Starrett Metrology Equipment Division.

Software features of Starrett S1 Spring Testing Systems enable the use of preconditioning options to exercise springs prior to testing, the ability to scrag for a number of cycles or duration or compress to a load set and hold for a duration. Single or dual test limits may be used and target load or height/length for determining spring rate, spring constant, load and length at target limits, initial tension and measured free length can be specified.

The system’s statistics view displays key statistical information for the user’s batch including mean, range, standard deviations and tolerance results. Custom reports can also be printed out and data can be exported to Microsoft Excel or SPC Software such as ProLink’s QC CALC application.

A Revolution in Defect Measurement for MRO – Portable, Rapid and Accurate

Spectrum Metrology has launched a new, handheld gauging system into the UK for rapid micro-defect/corrosion analysis directly on the shopfloor. The 4D INSPEC inspection gauge is a completely new method of reliably measuring micro-defects in 3D such as scratches nicks, pits, protrusions, radius of curvature of grooves, spheres and shafts – even rivet geometry.

Since its release in 2017 the 4D InSpec has been adopted by the worlds leading airlines and MRO facilities, as well as by inspectors in turbines, heavy equipment, automotive components, medical devices and many other fields.

Traditionally measurement of surface defects on the shopfloor has been a choice between a subjective visual check or a time-consuming lab inspection. Using a patented camera technique for optimum stability, the 4D Inspec is completely portable, allowing you to measure quickly and easily, directly on the shop floor without the need for time-consuming replicas or dismantling of large parts.

Spectrum says the 4D Inspec “reduces scrap, greatly decreases inspection cycle times and improves reporting – giving far more insight into surface condition than ever before.”

The 4D INSPEC takes the guess work out of 3D micro-measurement, quantifying pits, scratches, nicks, dents, bumps, porosity and corrosion on parts with complex geometries such as turbine blade sections (without the need for replication), engine components and drivetrain components. The system identifies features from 5µm-2mm deep over a field of view of 8x8mm (10µm-9mm over 15x15mm with the XL model).

Designed and manufactured by U. S. company 4D Technology, the 4D InSpec is distributed in the UK by Spectrum Metrology.

Hervé Page Is New Barfield CEO

Hervé Page has been appointed CEO of Barfield Inc., the Americas bridgehead of the AFI KLM E&M global MRO network. The new CEO officially took up his duties on September 4, 2018.

Page takes the helm of an entity employing 500 at its Miami, Phoenix, Louisville and Atlanta facilities. He says his priority for Barfield is to continue to consolidate cultures and standardize processes across all sites.

After graduating from the École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in 1986, Page began his career with Air Inter, as an aircraft maintenance engineer. He joined Air France in 1997. as head of the A300, A310 and Concorde Maintenance Department. From there, he has held several positions of leadership at AFI KLM E&M, including vice president of Aircraft Engineering and Maintenance for the Air France since 2013.

“I am delighted to join the Barfield teams to pursue the implementation of the strategy defined by AFI KLM E&M to serve its customer airlines in the Americas,” says Page. “We aim to double our market share in the region and leverage a company where people are happy to work. Barfield, has solid foundations for that and numerous projects have already been launch to turn this challenging ambition into a reality.”