Pines Technology of Westlake, Ohio was honored recently by Boeing in Philadelphia for the performance of its CNC tube benders for the V22 Osprey Program. The Pines benders are used to make replacement fuel and hydraulic lines for the Osprey.
The benders are built in two configurations – one for mobile land operations and one for fixed, shipboard-based applications. They are designed with a small physical footprint to fit into compact maintenance trailers for land-based operations and to fit in the cramped maintenance decks of aircraft carriers. The machines are specially built to withstand shock, vibration and temperature variation and are equipped with intuitive controls for easy operation.
The benders are linked to a coordinate measuring machine which takes precise measurements of the lines pulled from each plane. The results are fed into the control and the bender then makes an identical copy. Dimensions differ slightly from plane to plane and the custom bending approach ensures a more precise fit, speeds installation, and gets the aircraft back into service more quickly than ever before.
“We’re very thankful to Boeing for their faith in our company and for this award, and are extremely proud to be an integral part of the V22 program,” said Ian Williamson, Pines CEO.
Boeing Philadelphia has also nominated Pines for small business supplier of the year – only one of six companies to be selected. The company has shipped over 300 bending machines for the US Government and other military applications around the world.