AVIATION
Manufacture and servicing of tooling — custom mechanical equipment used to service gas turbine aviation engines at the Pratt & Whitney Christchurch Engine Centre.
Industry: Aviation sector. Tooling licence agreement with Raytheon Technologies Corporation (USA), parent company of the Pratt & Whitney Engine Centre, Christchurch.
The brief: Selected, audited, and engaged on regional locality and reputation for toolmaking excellence. Shamrock contract-manufactures and services a broad range of equipment used by the P&W Christchurch Engine Centre in servicing gas turbine aviation engines.
Our process: Project management of tooling manufacture and servicing to client-supplied design briefs, with strict IP protection and traceability control. Multi-axis CNC machining, manual milling and turning, EDM wire cutting and sink eroding, surface and cylindrical grinding, and welding/fabrication, followed by GD&T compliance validation, surface finishing or plating, final assembly, and load and functionality testing as required. Sourced through a global supplier base and supported by subcontractors for specialist services.
Materials used: Ferrous tool steels, aluminium alloys, and stainless steels, with specialist materials including titanium.
Technology used: 5-axis CNC machining centres, mill/turn lathes with live tooling, manual mills and lathes, surface and cylindrical grinding, EDM wire cutting and sink eroding, MIG/TIG/stick/gas welding, CNC coordinate measuring machine (CMM), digital microscope/camera, digital surface roughness tester, ultrasonic cleaning, laser engraving. Specialist subcontract services include heat treatment, black oxiding, anodising, and plating.
Quality mechanisms: ISO 9001
Outcome: Componentry supplied in full, on time, and in specification, with quarterly performance reporting to the licensor.