Rapid ascent

Inside an unassuming industrial building in Euless, Texas, are the results of a remarkable transformation. What began as a one-machine job shop housed in a garage has become a Tier 2 aerospace parts manufacturer, with additional operations in St. Louis, Wichita, Kan., and Ada, Okla. Expansion after expansion turned the once tiny Euless shop into a 170,000-sq.-ft. maze of different buildings that house 70 machine tools. The combined company operates facilities with a total of 590,000 sq. ft. and 160 machine tools.

One of the ways H.M. Dunn Aerospace has grown and continues to grow—quickly—is through continuous manufacturing innovation, with a willingness to invest in the latest machine tools and apply new cutting tools that advance the machining process.

H.M. Dunn North building, with its Makino MAG1 cell on left.

“What has helped us stay competitive is modern equipment,” said Scott Fearka, director of engineering for H.M. Dunn Euless. “For example, we bought our first Makino A55, a 20,000-rpm horizontal machining center, in 2000. We had been machining at 10,000 rpm and 20,000 was a big learning curve for us. We had to jump from using cobalt and high-speed steel cutters to strictly solid-carbide cutters. We also had to learn how to use shrink-fit toolholders.”

While those changes were challenging, H.M. Dunn began seeing major decreases in cycle times. Jobs that took an hour to run on a 3-axis machine were done on the 4-axis A55 in 10 minutes. The 4th axis, in conjunction with the machine’s ability to achieve high spindle speeds and feed rates, played a major role in reducing setup and cycle times.

From left: Doug Caddell, Daisy Pardo and Scott Fearka on a Makino T2 machine under construction at H.M. Dunn. The machine is now complete (see photo on page 68).

New workholding is also a key part of the company’s development strategy. “Back in the old days [the 1980s and 90s], we frequently had to stop machining to add a clamp and take one off,” Fearka said. “Red Fultz (company owner at the time) wanted to change that. He moved me into programming and told me, ‘I want you to program these parts to be cut without using clamps.’ My thought was, ‘What planet are you from?’ but it became one of those think-outside-the-box situations. We came up with a method of using fixtures like Mitee-Bites, gripper bars and Invert-a-Bolts that allowed us to cut parts without clamps. Once you cross that line and look back, you say, ‘It seems so easy now. Why have we been doing it the old way for so long?’ “

History of Growth

Focusing on better ways to machine parts has helped the company grow from its humble beginning in 1975, when it was founded by Harlan M. Dunn. In 1979, James “Red” Fultz became a full partner in the company, which had moved to a small building in downtown Euless. In 1981, the shop moved to its current Euless location, with 10 employees and two machine tools. In 1997, Fultz became sole owner.

The company grew and expanded several more times, and, in 2011, was purchased by Gridiron Capital LLC, New Canaan, Conn. In January 2012, Gridiron purchased Nex-Tech Aerospace, which had operations in Mexicali, Mexico, St. Louis and Wichita, and merged Nex-Tech into H.M. Dunn. The Mexicali facility was later closed.

In January 2014, Gridiron purchased Apex Engineering International LLC, Wichita, an assembly operation with an additional plant in Ada, and merged it into H.M. Dunn as well. With about 600 employees, including 190 at the Euless location, the company focuses on the business, commercial and military aerospace markets. It operates a quality management system that complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100 Rev. C certifications.

“One of our key areas is the F-35. That’s going really strong right now,” Fearka said. The company also produces spare parts for the F-16, C-17 and C-130, as well as parts for the Boeing 737 and 787. Nearby Bell Helicopter is also an important customer.

Move to 5-axis

The Euless facility operates some 70 machine tools, and, of those, at least 70 percent are 5-axis. “In this market, 5-axis is huge,” Fearka said. “The better the CAD software gets, the more complex the parts get. Everybody’s going monolithic now. Our customers want to spend less time riveting parts together. In the past, we might machine three or four different detail parts that would be assembled to making one part. Our customers now design parts that require fewer rivets and less assembly by merging the designs and making one large part. So you need a machine that can get to all sides of that part. There are all kinds of crazy compound angles and contours. A 3-axis machine just can’t do the trick anymore with these kinds of parts, even though we still use them for simpler jobs.”

The Euless shop has two Makino A55 machines in one cell with 12 pallets and two Makino A88 machines in one cell with 18 pallets. It also operates two Makino MAG1 machines in one cell with 10 pallets (see photo on page 62).

The shop adds most of its machine tools simply to increase overall machining capacity, and will sometimes purchase a machine for a specific part. “We had some F-22 parts where we had a major challenge trying to reach some angles,” Fearka said. “We purchased a horizontal machine with a quill that extended 5′ out so we could rotate it to get to those angles. [A machine purchase] all hinges on the contract we are given and whether that justifies the purchase.”