3D metal printing facilitates quick manufacturing of MRO spares

By OEM Update Editorial September 2, 2022 4:50 pm IST

MRO activities will scale up in the country, and we can expect maintenance-focused supply chains to emerge as existing capabilities, says L. Krishnan, Managing Director, Taegutec India Pvt. Ltd.  

Defence and aerospace businesses can leverage MSME manufacturing. 

The MSME manufacturing sector has geared up for the general requirements of the defence and aerospace businesses. Some key attributes essential to becoming part of the Defence aerospace supply chain include maintaining a robust and certified quality management system. In addition to building excellent in-house engineering and manufacturing capabilities, companies must make part traceability for critical parts while working in the mentioned sectors. The businesses can certainly aspire and be a part of the supply chain by working on the gestation period between part developments and the business cycle’s approval.

The aerospace industry readies to go along with the Make in India campaign for producing aircraft maintenance components.

 Over the last decade, aerospace part production capabilities within the country have significantly increased. Big groups like TATA/ Bharat Forge and many others have set up world-class facilities to be a part of the OEM supply chain. As for maintenance, MRO activities will scale up in the country, and we can expect many maintenance-focused supply chains to emerge as capabilities exist in the country now .

Scope for the 3D manufacturing process 

The 3D manufacturing of metal parts is increasing especially non-metallic parts. We also see a few strong local machine tool players making 3D metal printing machines locally. This would possibly facilitate quick manufacturing of MRO spares in a short time, besides being part of the OEM supply chain. 3D printing is spreading its wings in sectors besides aerospace into areas like medical implants, general engineering, and particular areas of automotive. We also believe it offers exciting possibilities for making tool bodies with complex coolant channels. With time, the industry will find a complementary niche along with traditional manufacturing.

Evolving new methods for tooling to meet growing demands 

The Tooling industry is innovative and constantly thrives on solving machining problems. Machining challenges can arise from new materials, complex shapes, and batch requirements, along with customer productivity and quality demands. Besides new grades and geometry, several new tools are introduced yearly to address these issues. Our SFEEDTEC range of products helps customers eliminate machining bottlenecks and productivity roadblocks. These include small diameter indexable tools, miniature tools, and bi-directional turning tools are a few examples.