Ideagen to help Summit Aviation achieve cost and labour savings via First Article Inspection software

Sep 17, 18

The US-based aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and manufacturing organisation will adopt Q-Pulse FAIR to help with contracts relating to Airframe OEM’s

Ideagen has announced it is to work with a prominent US-based aviation organisation in a project that will ease first article inspections and 3D model conversions.

Summit Aviation, founded in 1960, will implement Ideagen’s Q-Pulse FAIR software, part of Ideagen's Q-Pulse Product Management suite, to boost efficiencies and reduce costs during projects with clients such as Boeing, Sikorsky and Northrop Grumman.

As part of its services, the company – acquired by Greenwich AeroGroup ten years ago – is required to carry out first article inspections, also known as FAIs, relating to parts including tailbooms, engines, landing gears and wing ribs.

Andy Bullock, Summit Aviation’s Director of Quality says the project will help the company save “thousands of dollars” and “hundreds of hours of labour”.

“We believe this project will provide us with around a 50% saving in labour,” said Mr Bullock. “In 2016, our Kentucky plant completed more than 1000 FAIs which equated to around 4,000 man hours so you can imagine the costs associated with that.

“Because we work on small manufacturing lots, we conduct many FAIs. The project with Ideagen and its Q-Pulse FAIR software will quicken this process and make our inspections more accurate. It will provide us with an added edge over competitors allowing us to provide products to market quicker and potentially saving us thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of labour.”

An FAI is a key process in aviation and aerospace manufacturing and validates that a product has been manufactured to the correct specification. Q-Pulse FAIR is Ideagen’s dedicated FAI software which improves productivity, efficiency and reliability. It helps organisations reduce time and costs associated with producing an FAI.

Mr Bullock added that its project with Ideagen would also enable them to meet the needs of some of its major clients, including major Airframe OEM’s.

He added: “Many Airframe OEM’s require us to be an approved Digital Product Definition Vendor, which relates to 3D modelling.

“That particular area is the driver for Summit Aviation implementing Q-Pulse FAIR, with the labour savings related to FAIs being an added benefit with potentially significant savings.”

Mr Bullock added: “Anytime a customer informs us of a new requirement, in order to maintain that business, we have to step up and meet that requirement and Ideagen’s software is helping us immensely.”

Headquartered in Delaware, Summit Aviation is the oldest and continuous aircraft company in the state. The company also has operations in nearby Kentucky and North Carolina. In addition to Boeing, Sikorsky and Northrup Grumman, it also counts Airbus, Cessna, Bell Helicopter, Quest Aircraft, Euravia, Raisbeck Engineering, Mahindra, and Blackhawk among its client base.

Ideagen is a UK company which provides quality, safety, audit, performance and risk management software. Headquartered in Nottingham, it has operations across the UK, the European Union, the United States, Middle East and Southeast Asia. The company counts more than 3,700 organisations among its client base including BAE Systems, Emirates, Shell and the European Central Bank as well as 180 hospitals in the UK and US.