Superior Tube Receives Accreditation for Heat Treating
They are awarded Nadcap accreditation for stringent process capability in making precision tubing for critical applications.
Posted: April 13, 2016
Superior Tube Company (Collegeville, PA), a U.S.-based global leader in precision tubing for critical applications, has been awarded Nadcap accreditation for heat treating.
“We have had Nadcap accreditation for our non-destructive testing program for many years and also for our quality system, but this is the first time we have gained the accreditation for our heat treatment processes,” stated Bill Keohane, the director of quality and new product development for Superior Tube. “This will certainly open up new business opportunities for us and provide our existing customers with even greater assurance about the strength of our commitment to quality in everything we do.”
Acknowledging the work involved in ensuring a successful audit outcome, he added, “A lot of people put in a great deal of time and effort into preparing for this, including Debbie Kamertz, the quality systems manager; CJ Mukherjee, the director of process engineering; and Ken Richards, the senior metallurgist.”
Superior Tube, together with its sister company Fine Tubes Ltd. (Plymouth, UK), is a part of AMETEK Specialty Metal Products (Eighty Four, PA). Between them, the two companies have supplied high-quality tubular products to the civil aerospace, defense and space industries since their inception and have extensive experience working with a range of materials from stainless steels through to exotic nickel and titanium alloys. A long-standing, qualified supplier to Boeing, they were recently awarded a contract to provide tubing to Airbus, to which Fine Tubes already supplies both stainless steel and titanium tubing for the A320, A330, A350 XWB and A380 aircraft.
Nadcap, created in 1990 by SAE Inc., is administered by the not-for-profit Performance Review Institute (PRI), a global provider of customer-focused solutions designed to improve process and product quality by adding value, reducing total cost and promoting collaboration among stakeholders in industries in which safety and quality are shared goals.
“Congratulations to Superior Tube on successfully passing what may be the aerospace industry’s most stringent process capability assessment audit,” said Joe Pinto, the executive vice president and chief operating officer at PRI. “Nadcap audit criteria are widely acknowledged to be hard to meet, and companies who succeed at doing so, rightfully deserve recognition.”
“This can only help to strengthen the offer that our U.S./UK partnership can make to the aerospace industry,” added Brian Mercer, the director of sales and marketing for both Superior Tube and Fine Tubes. “With two similarly experienced and accredited manufacturing facilities offering equally advanced processes, we are effectively able to dual-source any customer’s requirements.”
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