Tri-Mack Plastics Manufacturing, a Rhode Island manufacturer of high-performance engineered components, is the first supplier named by General Electric Aviation to receive its new Supplier Quality Awareness Award — which recognizes high standards for productivity and quality.
“We are very proud to receive this award,” stated Tri-Mack v.p.-operations William Kain. “Like GE Aviation, we strive every day to meet or beat all of our customers’ requirements with high-quality, high-performance materials, processes, and products. An award like this is confirmation that we are reaching our goals.”
The award recognizes Tri-Mack’s services and achievements in supplying parts for the GEnx-1b, a turbofan engine that uses a new oil-cooling technology involving a surface flow cooler on the outer flow path of the aft fan case. This design uses lightweight composite fairings for which Tri-Mack manufactured six different injection-molded parts in extremely complex mold tooling.
The production was carried out on an accelerated schedule, and to reduce lead-time Tri-Mack’s engineering staff worked concurrently with GE to optimize the GENx-1b part designs for “producibility” and cost-effectiveness.
Tri-Mack’s tool design used proprietary hand loads to mold complex geometry, including molded in-place metal inserts. It also used selective laser sintering technology to save development time.
The plaque presented to Tri-Mack with the award states, “GE Aircraft Engines’ customers are constantly demanding a high-quality product at an affordable price. This translates into GE Aircraft Engines’ focus on productivity and quality as the cornerstones of its operating strategy. We’ve asked our suppliers to meet continually rising standards for productivity and quality. This acknowledgement award is in recognition of your support and performance.”
Tri-Mack has worked with GE Aviation (formerly known as GE Aircraft Engines) for over 30 years, including product development as well as production.
