Surface Finishing: Digital Manufacturing Breaks the Bottleneck in Aerospace & Defense

Surface finishing and other post-production processes are integral in manufacturing as they transform raw components into industrial-grade products with superior properties, performance, and aesthetics. For procurement teams, however, surface finishing requirements tend to add complexity to part sourcing and are often the source of production bottlenecks. 

This complexity is particularly notable when manufacturing partners don’t have the necessary finishing processes available and procurement teams have to coordinate with multiple production partners for a single product. For example, with a CNC machined aerospace component that needs a specialty finishing process like electroplating, procurement teams will often find themselves coordinating between several different suppliers. This inevitably leads to more complex logistical planning, longer lead times, greater risk, and even higher costs.

As we’ll see, the emergence of digital manufacturing platforms is helping not only to overcome production bottlenecks driven by surface finishing complexity, but to simplify the procurement process overall. German online manufacturer FACTUREE, for instance, functions as a one-stop shop for procurement teams, where custom part requests are placed and high-quality, fully finished and fully inspected parts are delivered. This approach to procurement is particularly impactful in Aerospace & Defense (A&D), a sector in which the complexity of manufacturing and surface finishing are magnified by stringent compliance requirements. 

Surface Treatment Solutions as a Bottleneck 

In the production cycle, it is not uncommon for bottlenecks to occur in more downstream processes. This is because post-production steps like heat treatment, surface finishing, and coating tend to be slower, more variable, and less scalable than upstream manufacturing processes. 

Bottlenecks can be attributed to several factors, including the complexity of certain surface finishing steps and the manual requirements of finishing processes. For example, while many surface finishing processes are described in one word (i.e. anodizing, galvanizing), they involve multiple steps, like cleaning, surface preparation, setup, dyeing, sealing, etc. Surface treatment environments must also be maintained and monitored to ensure optimal results. 

Another downstream production bottleneck is related to the fact that the supplier landscape for surface treatments is highly varied and fragmented. Put another way: no one manufacturer can specialize in all coatings and surface treatments and finishing options. This leads to a dynamic in which procurement teams must build complex supply chains for parts that involve various vendors and complex logistical coordination. 

In highly regulated industries like aerospace and defense (A&D), this complexity is only exacerbated by the need for specialty processes and compliance with strict standards and certifications. For example, it’s not uncommon for an aerospace bracket to be manufactured at one facility and then sent on to a separate electroplating plant for finishing. If ever a flaw is found or the part does not meet industry standards, the part has to be reworked or remade, resulting not only in higher costs but longer lead times driven by production and logistics demands.

Manufacturing Under a Single (Digital) Roof

Fortunately, digital manufacturing platforms like FACTUREE are overcoming this bottleneck and facilitating a one-stop-shop approach that reduces the complexity of surface finishing for procurement teams. 

The company operates as a sole contractual partner for procurement professionals, centralizing resources from a broad and qualified network of manufacturers, including surface finishing specialists. From the customer’s perspective, this means that once a custom part request has been placed via FACTUREE’s secure online portal, all manufacturing partner selection, production, finishing, quality assurance, and logistics are handled by the company. Procurement means can therefore rest easy knowing their custom parts are being taken care of.

With FACTUREE, efficiency occurs at every step. Upstream, the digital manufacturing platform matches requests with the best manufacturer in its network based on factors like material, tolerances, finishing requirements, availability, and cost. This matching process in itself unburdens procurement teams from the time-consuming process of identifying qualified production partners. 

In many cases, FACTUREE manufacturers will be equipped to both produce and finish parts on site. However, in cases where a specific finishing process is offered by a different supplier, FACTUREE oversees the delivery of the raw part to be finished and ultimately inspected. Meanwhile, the entire process is carefully monitored and documented for traceability and quality. In short, customers simply tell FACTUREE what they need, and the company takes care of everything.  

This one-stop-shop production model gives FACTUREE customers access to a wide spectrum of 50+ different surface treatments, including:

Overall, FACTUREE’s holistic approach, which selects the optimal candidate for both production and finishing, while also overseeing quality, reduces the risk of failed parts and breaks down inefficiencies at every step.

Meeting the Requirements of Aerospace and Defense

The value of FACTUREE’s digital production offering can be best understood by looking to customers from highly regulated industries like aerospace and defense. These sectors have some of the most complex and demanding surface treatment requirements since final parts must have a combination of excellent corrosion and temperature resistance, fatigue and wear resistance, chemical stability, and general environmental resistance. 

In other words, simply achieving tight tolerances for components in upstream processes is not enough: parts for aerospace and defense applications must undergo heat treatments and aerospace surface treatments to reach optimal properties and performance. 

Common finishing processes in A&D manufacturing include treatments for improving corrosion resistance (hard anodizing, chromating, PVD coatings, zinc phosphating); thermal protection processes (thermal spraying, ceramic coatings, plasma-sprayed aluminum oxide); and various hardening and cleaning treatments (nitriding, shot peening, passivation, ultrasonic cleaning, and more). 

The skills and equipment required for many of these processes, combined with the strict regulatory framework in place for A&D parts, means that the pool for qualified manufacturers and finishing providers is limited. For customers ordering these parts, lack of availability can translate to long lead times and complex procurement chains.  

With digital manufacturing networks like FACTUREE, however, A&D procurement teams can circumvent these hurdles and ensure their parts are made and finished by qualified, certified (such as ISO 9001 and AS 9100) manufacturers. Parts including aircraft frames, engine mounts, heat shields, gearbox housings, and more. 

For instance, FACTUREE maintains a selection of qualified electroplating specialists in its network. This highly specialized finishing process is common for aerospace parts as it enhances hardness, wear resistance, and fatigue strength. In conventional procurement workflows, teams might struggle to coordinate raw part production and electroplating requirements since many manufacturers do not offer this finishing process. 

With its digital manufacturing platform, however, FACTUREE facilitates the production and electroplating of A&D components without adding complexity by way of coordination, quality assurance, and logistics. Importantly, it does this without significantly extending overall project lead times. Furthermore, FACTUREE, as the sole contractual partner, offers the security, diligence, and compliance required by aerospace and defense customers. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, what FACTUREE’s one-stop-shop business model offers to the A&D market highlights a broader dynamic that is at play: that any industry with high-quality requirements benefits from more agile and resilient surface treatment procurement. 

By turning to digital manufacturing platforms rather than pursuing conventional part sourcing processes, procurement professionals are alleviating challenges related to complex logistics and surface finishing bottlenecks. They are unlocking a more reliable, streamlined process—fully managed by FACTUREE—that gives them the time and resources to focus on other core tasks. 

In the end, working with a digital manufacturing partner like FACTUREE takes the legwork out of sourcing surface finished parts, resulting in a less complex end-to-end process, faster procurement and lead times, and a bottleneck broken.