Products Finishing

JUN 2014

Products Finishing magazine is the No. 1 industrial finishing publication in the world. We keep our readers informed about the latest news and trends in plating, painting, powder coating, anodizing, electrocoating, parts cleaning, and pretreatment.

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Leeming says the entire installation included the two boilers, hot water system pumps for each unit, an air sepa- rator and an expansion tank. He estimates that Able will save from $30,000 to $100,000 a year in heating costs over electrical units. "This is a newer line of hot water boilers that incorporate a built-in finned convective section in addition to the standard boiler tubes," Leeming says. "These heavy-duty finned tubes are placed above the standard Parker tubes, and they signifi- cantly increase the amount of heat absorbed from the flue gases, thus increasing boiler efficiency." Able's processes entail working directly with aircraft operators to repair and overhaul work or damaged aerospace components, whether on helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. Hoverson says that, traditionally, rotor and fixed-wing operators and maintenance facilities would replace these components with new OEM spares. "In the past, there just was no other alternative," he says. "But that has changed." The company's service and product base includes thousands of repairs and approved replacement parts from manufacturers such as Bell, Sikorsky, Eurocopter, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing. Able's parts usually run just a fraction of new-part costs, Hoverson says. Huge Savings For example, a sampling of Able's customers includes Delta, American and Cathay Pacific airlines. One of the components in which Able has specialized over the years is the carriage Able owner Lee Benson stands with U.S. Commerce Assistant Secretary Rebecca Blank and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith. mechanism that moves the wing flaps on Boeing 747 aircraft. The cost for a new replacement carriage mechanism would run between $150,000 to $250,000; Able can mechanically refurbish and plate the parts to specification for a fraction of the new-part cost, a considerable savings to its customers. And since Able has dozens of these parts—and many more like them—on hand at its new facility, there is no 20-to 30-day waiting period for the parts to be refurbished. "We have a healthy inventory, so we can usually swap them out for a new one that we have just machined and finished," Hoverson says. The savings to the airline and helicopter industry has been enormous, and this is the reason Able has been growing at a rate of about 20 percent, compounded annually, for the last 9 years. "We saved our customers about $85 million last year alone," Benson says. Kudos from a Legend The turnaround of Able Engineering & Component Services has been so dramatic over the last decade—especially consid- ering that others in the industry have faltered—that when Benson had former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch review his management system, the business legend told him: "That's the best business management system I have ever seen." In fact, Welch and Benson eventually launched a business partnership in 2012 called "Execute to Win" to market Benson's system, which includes a cloud-based software application that uses employee evaluations to drive orga- nizational accountability, profitability and growth. More than 30 companies globally are currently using the system, Benson says. "At Able, we developed behavior-based values based upon the best observable behaviors of our most successful employees on their best days ever," he says. "Imagine having 50 percent or more of your employees performing like the top 20 percent." For more information about Able Engineering & Component Services, please visit ableengineering.com. For information on CJI Process Systems, please visit cjiprocesssystems.com. For information on Parker Boilers, please visit parkerboiler.com. What's Next For Aerospace NESHAP? Will it be business as usual or are major changes in store for the aerospace industry as feds look at 40 CFR Part 63 Subpart GG, commonly referred to as the Aerospace National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollut- ants, or NESHAP. short.pfonline.com/neshap 18 JUNE 2014 — pfonline.com AEROSPACE 0614_PF_AbleFEATURE.indd 18 5/16/2014 1:35:53 PM

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