Sikorsky Main Rotor Bearing

Lord Corporation (Dayton, Ohio) manufactures the Main Rotor Bearing for the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter. Recently they were awarded a new contract that increases the requirement for this part from 60 to 80 pieces per week (a 33% increase). Lord Corporation operated a 5 days per week schedule. Meeting the new production requirement would require facility utilization of 7 days per week. This would not increase labor hours, but no time would be available for machine maintenance. Not wanting to work 7 days a week, Lord Corporation requested that the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) review the complete process and provide a solution to achieve the 80 pieces per week. After reviewing the present part process, it was determined that with the new requirements, a part had to be produced in 75 minutes or less. This was based on 80 pieces at 80% machining efficiency running 24 hours per day and 5 days per week. The longest operation on this part required 100 minutes actual machine time while all others averaged 35-40 minutes. The immediate need was to reduce this operation time to meet the new production requirements. NCDMM recommended "state-of-the-art" tooling and advanced machining techniques. Specifically, these recommendations consisted of newer drills, solid carbide end mills, face mills, thread mills, and reprogramming with advanced cutting parameters resulting in significantly improved machining times.