Aircraft parts manufacturers are required to hold some of the tightest tolerances in the metalworking industry. For example, Boeing has a program called Accurate Fuselage Assembly (AFA), which requires that its suppliers meet ultratight tolerances that allow fuselage components to literally snap in place like Legos. Northrop Grumman Applied Digital Technologies Group (ADT, Hawthorne, CA) needed to meet these "snap-together" assembly demands.
The company bought a new machine tool and fitted it with the MP10 machine tool probe from Renishaw Inc. (Hoffman Estates, IL). The probe is used for in-cycle gaging of critical assembly hole locations. By accurately finding hole positioning, scrap was reduced and throughput speed of flight-critical components increased.