Airbus appoints CCO

Photo courtesy
of Airbus SE

Airbus SE has appointed Christian Scherer, 56, chief commercial officer (CCO), replacing Eric Schulz, who left the company for personal reasons. Scherer will report to Airbus CEO Tom Enders.

“With Christian Scherer, we see one of our most customer-focused leaders at the commercial helm of Airbus. I greatly value his international mindset, his strategic vision, and tremendous commercial expertise,” Enders said.

Scherer, CEO of regional aircraft manufacturer ATR (a joint venture of Airbus and Leonardo) since October 2016, held many senior management positions within the group. At Airbus, where he started his career in 1984, he was head of contracts, leasing markets; deputy head of sales; and head of strategy and future programs. At Airbus Defence and Space, Scherer headed marketing and sales.https://www.airbus.com

Mitsui Seiki marks 90 years

Precision machine tool builder Mitsui Seiki celebrates its 90th anniversary this fall. The company offers expertise in machining hard metal aerospace parts in jet engines and structural components.

“Looking back on our history, the foundation of precision measurement – gage blocks – were among our first products,” said Robb Hudson, CEO of Mitsui Seiki USA Inc.

In 1928, the company manufactured measuring devices, including gage blocks and micrometers. By 1935, the company developed its first jig boring machine. Industrialists referred to it as Japan’s first mother machine because other machine tool builders used it to make their critical precision components. The company continues to design and build jig borers, jig grinders, 3-, 4-, and 5-axis CNC vertical and horizontal machining centers – including hybrid variations – and internal and external thread grinders.

Tetsuji Okuda, president of Mitsui Seiki Kogyo Co. Ltd. in Japan, looks upon this milestone anniversary as an opportunity to focus on internal reformation to continue to raise quality, productivity, and reduce lead times from the headquarters factory, located on the outskirts of Tokyo.http://www.mitsuiseiki.com

Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman expands in Ohio, Utah

Northrop Grumman Corp. recently opened a new area of its Beavercreek, Ohio, facility, reaffirming its intent to add manufacturing jobs at the site to produce advanced aerospace and defense composite structures, including high-temperature composites for the U.S. military.

“Northrop Grumman has expanded our operations in Beavercreek and grown our aerospace workforce at this site by more than 50% since early 2017. This has been possible through the development of advanced technologies and innovation by our team, coupled with partnerships with the state of Ohio and the Greene County Community Improvement Corp.,” says Wendy Williams, vice president and general manager, aerospace structures, Northrop Grumman.

The 154,000ft² Beavercreek facility has more than 140 employees.

The company also added 30 new jobs in 2018 at its composites manufacturing facility in W. Valley City, Utah, with the goal of adding 100 total jobs during the next several years. The re-purposed 90,000ft2 facility will accommodate manufacturing programs using proprietary automated forming processes for high-rate production of dimensionally precise composite aerospace structures.http://www.northropgrumman.com

Photo courtesy of WFL Millturn Technologies

WFL Millturn acquires automation specialist FRAI

The Linz, Austria-based manufacturer of multifunctional machining centers, WFL Millturn Technologies, is acquiring FRAI Elektromaschinenbau GmbH, St. Konrad, Austria.

FRAI, founded in 1984, focuses on machine tool automation solutions, primarily gantry robots and cells with articulated robots.

The office and production will remain in St. Konrad. FRAI’s CEO and founder Friedrich Aitzetmüller will stay on for a smooth integration before he retires. WFL Millturn Technologies and FRAI already have a long-standing partnership.

“Automation solutions have a high importance to many of our customers or are in several cases a prerequisite for an order. We see this expansion of our automation competence and individual automation solutions as a significant success factor,” says Norbert Jungreithmayr, CEO of WFL Millturn Technologies.

WFL employs more than 450 people worldwide, while FRAI has 35 employees. http://www.wfl.at; http://www.frai.at