Pratt & Whitney Kalisz Demonstrates Proactive Process Control Through use of SAE AS13006 as Guidance to Streamline Activities

Pratt & Whitney Kalisz Demonstrates Proactive Process Control Through use of SAE AS13006 as Guidance to Streamline Activities

Pratt & Whitney Kalisz, established in 1992, is located in central Poland. Over 1,500 employees in 4 plants produce components and parts for aircraft engines for Pratt & Whitney – the world’s leader in supplying engines for business aircrafts, communication - both local and intercontinental - and helicopters.

As a production center of excellence, P&W Kalisz is the main supplier in three production areas: complex gears, steering devices and engine main shafts.

P&W Kalisz participates in the production of components for the new type of FGDS gearbox for the latest aircraft engines in Pratt & Whitney – PW 1000 Pure Power. These engines, characterized by exceptional technical parameters, drive among others Airbus A320 NEO.

As an innovative company P&W Kalisz has used numerous tools connected with process control. Those activities were based on customers’ requirements as well as on internal experiences and effort to improve the quality of the process and the product. P&W Kalisz used the SAE AS13006 standard as guidance to streamline the activities that had been carried out for years.

During the AESQ Toulouse Supplier Forum, P&WK representatives - Bogusław Bać, P&WK Quality Director and Agnieszka Kryściak, Manager for Part & Process Approval showed their approach to the application of the SAE AS13006 standard. They presented a case study to picture the implementation of a new product on the basis of the AS13006 standard. Agnieszka stressed: “This standard showed the direction which we wanted to follow - Proactive process control. The standard helps select appropriate control strategies by providing practical guidance on how to identify and implement various process control methods.”

Pictured above from left to right, Bogaslaw Bac (PW-Kalisz), Richard Giorgetti (P&W), Agnieszka Krysciak (PW-Kalisz), Lisa Claveloux (P&W) and Pete Teti (P&W) at the AESQ Supplier Forum in Toulouse, France, October 9, 2019.

Following the requirements of the SAE AS13006 standard there is a graphic representation of 3 process control levels: Product Capability, Process Control Methods and Foundational Activities. All of them lead to proactive process control over traditional reactive inspection. Those 3 levels were described during the presentation with numerous examples, tools and solutions implemented in P&W Kalisz. Some of the examples focused on mistake proofing as the most robust and preferred method: automatic offset adjustment based on tool measurement results saved on a chip, machine probing - automatic correction of tool paths based on in-process measurements, embedded parameters control with automatic switch off or robotic arm ensuring positioning repeatability.

Agnieszka and Bogusław also presented an example of capability study with the implemented solution and statistically confirmed results.

To recapitulate Agnieszka said that the SAE AS13006 helps P&W Kalisz organize all the tools used so far and really focus on proactive process control. The main rule is the implementation of process control as close as possible to the production source. Bogusław highlighted that the application of the standard gives proactive process monitoring with quick identification of possible source of nonconformance which gives first pass yield.

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