Acument Establishing Threaded Aerospace Fastener Presence

Jason Sandefur

Acument Global Technologies Inc. jumped into the threaded aerospace market with a new production center in Rockford, IL, and the acquisition of Southern California manufacturer Saturn Fasteners for an undisclosed sum. \
Acument’s new Camcar Aerospace facility will be housed in two renovated plants that will include a materials research and development operation, along with heading and secondary machines to produce specialty screws and bolts made from titanium and other aerospace grade materials.
The adjoining 37,732 sq ft and 11,236 sq ft buildings are owned by Acument and are located on 18th Avenue in Rockford.
“Our new manufacturing capabilities in Rockford will help address capacity shortages for specialty threaded fasteners generated by the boom in global aircraft production,” stated Martin Schnurr, vice president and general manager of Acument North America. “As worldwide manufacturing of new aircraft grows to almost $140 billion by 2015, there will be strong demand for the high-performance fasteners we will be producing over the next 10 years.”
Camcar Aerospace will produce high-strength, heat-resistant A286 stainless steel threaded fasteners for use in hundreds of applications, including inconel, waspalloy, carbon fiber composites, and other materials used on today”s aircraft. Sizes of these specialty flathead screws range from 3/16th to 1″.
“(Camcar Aerospace) really is zeroing in on a growing marketplace that’s only going to keep growing,” Schurr told FIN.
Likewise, Acument acquired Burbank-based Saturn Fasteners “to augment and strengthen its capabilities in the high-performance aerospace threaded fastener market.”
“Together with our newly launched Camcar Aerospace operation in Illinois, Saturn demonstrates our commitment to the aerospace industry and establishes a solid foundation for addressing the shortage of specialty threaded fasteners created by the dramatic ramp-up in global aircraft production,” Schnurr commented.
Saturn employs more than 100 workers and serves about 300 global customers, including aerospace fastening distributors, OEMs and their suppliers.
Both of these moves reinforce Schnurr’s prediction that aerospace fastener manufacturing will continue to thrive in North American as long as the “current gap between demand and supply is addressed.”
Low-volume production is already underway in Rockford, as Camcar gears up with about 50 salaried and hourly employees. Total outfitting of the two buildings should be completed over the next two years. It will reach peak production in 2010, generating projected annual revenue of $70 million.
“A wide range of different types of fastening systems will be added during that time to meet customer needs, and will feature Acument’s patented Torx Plus drive system,” he noted.
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo announced $750,000 in federal funds for Camcar and Northern Illinois University to conduct joint research and development programs.
Camcar Aerospace has been officially recommended as qualified for AS9100 Quality Systems Aerospace Certification.
Randy Aardema, general manager of aerospace and technology for the Acument North America, told FIN the new Camcar operations will serve both OEM and MRO customers, but the focus is on capturing some of the OEM market.
“OEMs prefer to establish connections with channel partners,” Aardema said.
Both Schnurr and Aardema have strong fastener backgrounds, having worked for years at Textron Fastening Systems before Platinum Equity acquired the company for $630 million in August 2006 and renamed it Acument. Schnurr also worked at Emhart Teknologies for 12 years prior to joining TFS.
Camcar Heritage Helps
When Acument sold its Cherry Aerospace business to Precision Castparts for $300 million in early 2007, some industry analysts worried that divesting its aerospace sector left Acument exposed to the increasing cost demands of U.S. auto makers. Cherry makes rivets and blind bolts.
But Schnurr defended the decision to sell Cherry, saying PCC’s strong offer allowed Acument to pay down its debt.
“It made us healthy immediately.”
Camcar’s history in Rockford stretches back to 1943, when engineers Bob Campbell and Ray Carlson produced cold-headed rudder control cable terminals that got the U.S. Army’s B-24 Liberator flying again. Camcar was part of history again in the 1970s when it produced aerospace fasteners used in the assembly of the NASA Lunar Rover Vehicles that explored the surface of the moon on Apollo missions 15-17.
This aerospace heritage has helped Acument garner attention from “supportive” customers.
“Acument’s history in aerospace helps in this market,” Schnurr stated.
Headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, MI, Acument remains one of the largest mechanical fastener suppliers in the world, providing $1.6 billion in fastening systems, engineered fastening systems, fastening installation technology, inventory management and application engineering. With about 8,500 employees in 17 countries, the company has customers in 150 countries. Web: acument Rockford on the Rebound?
Could Rockford – once the traditional home of the fastener industry – see a resurgence in fastener production, boosted by Acument’s decision to create Camcar Aerospace?
It could if Congressman Manzullo has anything to say about it.
Manzullo directed the $750,000 federal grant to fund Camcar’s research effort.
He said Rockford is quickly becoming an “aerospace cluster” with advanced technology and production occurring at Hamilton Sundstrand (currently hiring 150 new engineers in Rockford), Woodward, Smiths Aerospace (GE Aviation), Ingenium Aerospace, Kaney Aerospace and smaller suppliers to the industry.
“Acument”s new Camcar Aerospace operation establishes a benchmark for resurgence of Rockford and Illinois as world capitals for research, development, design, and production of systems and components for the aerospace industry,” Manzullo said.
“Our long-range goal is to establish Rockford as the world capital for titanium manufacturing processes and technology.”
For Acument, the decision to base the new venture in Rockford was an easy one, Schnurr told FIN.
“We’ve had a long history in Rockford,” he explained.
At the height of its production capacity, Acument – then known as Textron Fastening Systems – employed more than 2,000 workers in the Rockford area.
Many of those former production workers with fastener knowledge are still in the area, which should help Camcar Aerospace hit the ground running.
“It’s got a good sound labor base,” Schnurr said.
The area is also home to qualified suppliers, which provide heat treating, plating and other services that Camcar will need.
“We”ve got a lot of infrastructure already in place,” Schnurr emphasized.
Acument currently employs over 300 workers in Rockford between its Elco construction products facility, Belvedere automotive operations, and shared services employee center, which houses its IT and human resources offices.
Schnurr noted that Camcar’s history and Acument’s position to make production investments in Rockford complement each other.
“It really is a good fit.” �2008 FastenerNews.com