The Fabric that Saves Lives

Quick Start helps Engineered Fabrics Corporation deliver mission-critical quality

At Engineered Fabrics Corporation in Rockmart, Ga., employees unfold and fit-check a giant, fabric fuel tank. It is destined to become one of the 16 carried by a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, a $40-million, airborne gas station that refuels military aircraft on the fly. The tank is bigger than some cars, but the team knows that saving lives can depend on something as small as a quarter-inch bolt.

So does Quick Start.

“The difference this simple production aid makes is amazing,” says Scott Suppes, training manager for Engineered Fabrics. He points out a poster created by Quick Start that reviews quality checks for bolt threading. “Reminding workers to throw out a bad $10 box of bolts versus replacing a $300 or $400 fitting is huge.”

Quick Start’s attention to the literal nuts and bolts of the Engineered Fabrics operation was an impressive surprise to Suppes. “I didn’t expect a team with the abilities Quick Start has, to come in and really learn the details of our processes and break them down into the standardized work instructions that are being created for us.”

Engineered Fabrics, which was recently acquired by Meggitt PLC, employs more than 1,000 people making a large variety of aircraft parts for more than 200 clients, including Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop, United Technologies and Bell Textron. Their products include, in addition to fuel tanks, upholstered interior components and electro-thermal de-icing equipment. The company’s 600,000 square feet of manufacturing space encompasses both a brick-and-mortar facility built by Goodyear in 1929 and a new building equipped with a pressurized clean room where the sensitive, sophisticated de-icing systems are produced.

The company is famous for its quality. Its fuel tanks, made from layers of rubber-coated fabric, sealants and barriers take up to four months to complete. They are designed to survive crashes and even seal bullet holes.

“Each tank is different and very complex. The build operators must have exceptional attention to detail at every stage of the process,” says Tony McCann, Engineered Fabrics vice president of operations. “We’ve had pilots in Iraq come back from a mission not even knowing they’d been hit, except that there was a bullet in the tank.”

With each of the company’s many products requiring its own set of manufacturing instructions documenting build sequence, measurements and placement of components, comprehensive training is mission-critical.

“Quick Start has bridged the gap between engineering instructions and hands-on, day-to-day operations of the facility,” McCann says.

“Working with Quick Start has been a fantastic experience.”

Airship Shape

Most of Engineered Fabrics’ products are tucked away inside aircraft. One, however, will be visible to millions. A crew of 15 has been working for more than a year to fashion a new envelope for a Goodyear Blimp.

The process involves classic craftsmanship — buffing, cementing and sewing together more than 3,500 pieces of neoprene-impregnated polyester fabric. The 192-foot-long envelope will eventually be sent to Akron, Ohio, to be filled with helium and fitted with the 82,656 LEDs that make the tire-and-rubber icon’s signature sign. Goodyear operates a fleet of three blimps, and the company estimates that more than 60 million Americans get a firsthand look at them each year.

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