Responding to Market Needs, Suhner Debuts STACKmaster

Smart Manufacturing magazine Editor in Chief Brett Brune speaks with Suhner's Lee Coleman about high-volume machining and how the growth of composites in the market has impacted the Suhner tool strategy. (The company has worked in single-layer materials, such as SMC, CRFP, fiberglass and plastic, for years, but it has had to redesign & develop components/spindles to work in the STACK/complex materials market.) Among the challenges: Abrasive dust, a corrosive environment and, in aerospace, very dissimilar stacks. The Swiss company developed the STACKmaster in part to provide commercial aviation with small, lightweight and powerful units to drill these new complex stack materials. Coleman showed the new product at AeroDef in Long Beach, Calif., in March.