Indiana Company Shipping Massive Machine
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA northern Indiana company will ship a 300-ton machine overseas today. The City of South Bend will hold a ceremony to celebrate the shipment of a Manufacturing Technology Inc. welding machine, which will travel on three tractor trailers to the Port of Baltimore on its way to an aerospace research center in the United Kingdom. February 27, 2014
News Release
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A ceremony to celebrate the shipment one of the most advanced rotary friction welders in the world to a research facility in the UK, will be held at 9:00 am Thursday, February 27 at MTI Welding, 1702 W Washington St.
From 9:00 to 9:20 am, the 48-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, and 12.5-foot-tall rotary friction welder will be put on three flat-bed trucks to be taken to the Port of Baltimore.
The shipment of the 300-ton or 600,000-pound machine is the culmination of three and a half years of engineering and development work at MTI.
MTI Welding began supplying parts to Studebaker Automotive in 1926. A leader in the aerospace industry for friction welding, MTI has produced machines for NASA, Boeing, GE, and Rolls-Royce among others. A family owned business, MTI employs 174 people in South Bend, the UK, and China.
Source: The City of South Bend
February 26, 2014
News Release
SOUTH BEND. Ind. – On February 27, 2014, a state of the art Rotary Friction Welding (RFW) machine developed and built by South Bend based Manufacturing Technology Inc., is leaving Michiana to begin a 4,000 mile journey to the United Kingdom. The final destination is the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), a research facility for new manufacturing techniques that bridges the technology readiness gap between development in academia and execution in industry. The machine is designed for research and development on jet engine components for companies like Rolls Royce, General Electric, and Pratt and Whitney.
The MTC-300, which incorporates the latest advanced features in Rotary Friction Welding, extends the capability of the welding process and allows for greater control, tighter tolerances, and greater efficiency necessary for aerospace manufacturing. “The intent of this machine design is to improve friction welding capability in order to produce very near-net shape forgings, and MTI has delivered on that capability,” commented Dan Adams, Vice President of MTI.
“This took a company-wide effort to design, develop, and deliver,” continued Adams. “We're excited about the delivery to MTC in the United Kingdom, and equally excited about bringing the advancements from this project into other areas of our product line.”
Shipment and delivery of the MTC-300 ton machine is the culmination of three and a half years of engineering and development at MTI. The MTC-300 is the show piece of the MTC facility and is scheduled to begin development work in July 2014.
Rotary Friction Welding is a joining process which involves holding one part stationary while rotating the other. The two parts are then forced together under pressure which creates friction and heat, reaching the material’s forging temperature without melting. The RFW process is complete when the weld interface cools; resulting in the previous two parts being bonded at the molecular level.
MTI has established itself as a leader in the aerospace industry for all disciplines related to friction welding. In addition to Rotary Friction Welding, MTI also serves aerospace with its Linear Friction Welding and Friction Stir Welding technologies. MTI has delivered machines to NASA, Boeing, GE, Rolls-Royce, Pratt and Whitney, and many of their tier one suppliers. A family owned business founded in 1926, MTI employs 174 people in their South Bend, United Kingdom, and China locations.
For more information on MTI, and its family of world-class friction welding technologies, visit
www.mtiwelding.com and www.mtiwelding.tv.
Source: Manufacturing Technology Inc.