SubscribeBy Ken MacCormac, President Dear Customers & Friends, We are off to a new year and looking forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead of us. I am very excited about the prospects for our AGAS and other programs and pleased to see many new orders on the books. The recent successful test drops of the AGAS equipment at Yuma and Ft. Bragg are very encouraging.
I am also pleased to see the excellent teamwork and improvement in communication between our employees and customers which is vital to meeting our goals. The Management team is committed to and focused on meeting the goals of our Strategic Plan. I appreciate your working closely together with us to keep up the momentum to reach our 2005 customer satisfaction and continuous improvement goals.
Capewell's "AGAS" Precision Airdrop System purchased by U.S. TRANSCOM
By Mike Hickey, Business
Manager Aerial Delivery
Capewell Components Co., LLC of South Windsor, CT and Vertigo, Inc. of Lake Elsinore, CA, announced the first purchase of AGAS (Affordable Guided Airdrop System) by the United States Transportation Command (TRANSCOM). These AGAS units and support activities were purchased to complete integration testing with the Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) Precision Aerial Delivery mission planning System (PADS)
Mr. Kenneth MacCormac, President of Capewell Components, and Mr. Dean Jorgensen, Director of Business Development for Vertigo, Inc. celebrate the initial contract award by the US military for AGAS
Manufactured by Planning Systems, Inc of Reston, VA. Representatives of the Natick Soldiers Center in Natick, MA and the US Army 82 nd Airborne Division expect the AGAS and PADS systems to be employed operationally overseas by the summer of 2005.
AGAS unit loaded and ready to go!
AGAS is rapidly becoming known as “SMART CDS” and is designed to deliver military payloads weighing up to 2,200 lbs. using standard army cargo parachutes and containers, it has proven to be the most accurate, reliable and cost effective system available today and we are confident it will be in the future .
Buffer Stop Assembly (BSA) & Center vertical restraint system fitted onto the C130J aircraft.
Capewell is extremely pleased to announce that we have been awarded a contract to supply 22 ship sets of our enhanced design aerial delivery Container Delivery System (CDS) Buffer Stop Assemblies (BSA) and Center Vertical Restraint Systems (CVRS) for the UK MoD’s RAF C- 130J aircraft. This is the culmination of an extensive and exhaustive evaluation and trial program conducted by the UK MoD. The BSA & CVRS successfully met all of the MoD’s stringent operational requirements. Capewell has also recently received an order for 2 ship sets of the BSA and CVRS from the Swedish Air Force.
Container Delivery System (CDS)C-27J Towplate
Capewell is also extremely pleased to announce that we have been awarded our first contract to supply 21 of our enhanced design aerial delivery Container Delivery System (CDS) Towplates to AAR as part of their cargo handling system for the Alenia/LMCO C-27J aircraft. The C-27J has been sold to both the Italian and Greek Air Forces and is in the competition for the US Army and National Guard requirement for up to 150 aircraft.
Capewell and Aero Sekur (Italy) sign Exclusive Representative Agreement as part of our ongoing strategic alliance.
Capewell ISO9001- 2000 Recertification
By John Knauf, Quality Manager
On February 17 th and 18 th NQA, our ISO9001-2000 registrar, performed an audit on Capewell Components Company. It was, however, slightly different from the audits the company has had over the past three years. This was not just another surveillance audit; it was the three-year recertification. What many people don’t realize is that every three years all ISO9001-2000 certified companies have to be recertified and, if successful, are issued an updated certificate that will be valid for the next three years. Our new certificate will expire in 2008, at which point we will have to have another three-year recertification audit. ISO9001-2000 certification continues to be the single most easily recognized evidence of a company’s commitment to not just quality products and services but to the idea of a continuously improving quality management system. For this reason the ISO9001-2000 standard is a dynamic, constantly evolving document whose content is reviewed by the ISO Technical Committee every five years to keep the standard current with changing marketplace needs.
As the world changes the ISO Standard will also change; companies that expect to survive in the newly emerging marketplaces will have to keep pace with those changes. Those that do not will quickly be left behind in the race for new opportunities. Audits, both third party and our own internal audits, are the vehicles that help us ensure that our evolution is on the right track. They are the lens we look through to see what we have to do to maintain a competitive edge and be recognized as a player on the world stage.
Ripcord Department -Back On Track
By Bill Gorlach & Bill Ehler
Capewell has been continuously producing ripcord assemblies for our worldwide customer base since 1984 when we acquired the Wasley Corporation. We produce approximately 800 different assemblies for the rescue, survival, escape and parachute industries. In order to maintain our world-class status and stay ahead of competition, Capewell has aggressively pursued continuous improvement programs such as the implementation of Lean/Five “S” initiatives. Along those lines, over the past three years, we have made a significant investment in tooling, equipment and time. Some of these improvements include replacing our hard wired electrical outputs with a bus bar system. We now have the capability to easily move equipment to support process improvements. Additionally our reaction time has been dramatically reduced because we no longer require outside services, such as riggers and electricians, to move equipment. We realigned many of our key pieces of equipment to fit into the correct value stream flow. Also we added an electrical wire rope cutting machine that eliminated the kick presses formerly used to cut stainless steel wire rope. This machine now cuts and fuses the wire eliminating the need for a grinding operation to fuse the strands after cutting.
Pin Swage
Additionally, we added the “Wiz-Bang” machine that was designed and developed through the diligent efforts of our own engineering group. This machine dramatically improves the efficiency of cutting and milling the ripcord pins. We are now able to cut the swaged pin to length and mill the end, all in one work station.
Whiz Bang Machine
Another improvement came with the addition of the Laser marking machine. This is really a win-win situation for the customer and Capewell. The tubing no longer can become deformed due to the metal impression stamping and is now extremely clear and legible. We have improved efficiency by adding a multiple grip fixture, programming the computer only once and walking away while the laser is marking the parts. The previous process required press set up every time and an operator at the work station 100% of the time feeding the press. In addition to the time and tube deformation elimination, the laser produces a far superior font with guaranteed repeatability. Another tremendous improvement came from the expertise of our own Tool and Die shop and our sister company Ripley, who together, mastered the techniques of designing and manufacturing repeatable swage dies. We eliminated our outside source who struggled to manufacture reliable pin swaging dies. We saved considerable lead time, sometimes as much as eight weeks, and money since we implemented this procedure.
Laser Marking
Our Engineering and Quality Departments have spearheaded a process control program to provide die wear predictability. We have added additional in-process tests to ensure proper tensile and ductility properties on the pins. Additionally, Engineering is driving an aggressive schedule of designing and fabricating the grip bending fixtures for the major families of ripcord grips. These new fixtures will guarantee repeatability on complex bends and eliminate many hand operations . All these positive changes are just the beginning of a continuous improvement culture. Capewell will endeavor to challenge ourselves to further refine our processes and controls for a more efficient organization.
Goodbye to File Cabinets, Capewell has Gone Paperless!
By Meg Worthy
With the implementation of Image Silo this past month, Capewell can say goodbye to old manila folders and all those trips to the front office to retrieve a file. Paperflow scanning software and Image Silo allows Capewell employees to access a number of files, in digital format, right from their desks. Here’s how it works. Documents are scanned into Paperflow, a “key index” is entered, the documents are checked for scan quality, cleaned up a bit to remove the specks and then saved. IT created a program that uses the key index, which is either a sales order number or purchase order number, to match the index to information in Visual and merge it into the Paperflow software. More quality checks are performed throughout the steps.
Each night, the files are transferred to our Image Silo intranet, and they are available to us online the next morning. Individuals are assigned specific security to access the files they need. When they enter Image Silo, they are now able to search for documents by a number of methods. Among the many features, documents can be annotated, printed, or emailed right from the computer. At the end of the year, instead of filling archive boxes with paper documents, we’ll burn the digital files to CD’s. We are now scanning sales orders, purchase orders, correspondence and quotes for 2004 and 2005. We anticipate that we’ll be done in the next few weeks with those areas and will be ready to add more projects. If you would like more information on the Image Silo, contact Meg Worthy at extension 3408.
Promotions at Capewell
Mark Tattershall
Director of Business Development
In line with our strategic plan, Capewell is pleased to announce the promotions of Mark Tattershall to the new position of Director of Business Development and Mike Hickey to Director of Sales and Marketing - International. Appointments are effective April 1, 2005
Mike Hickey
Director of Sales & Marketing International