NORDAM adds new product type to Airbus portfolio

NORDAM CEO Meredith Siegfried Madden announced the aerospace company has been awarded an Airbus contract to manufacture a lightweight composite part that supports the A350-1000 aircraft’s cargo floor. The new contract represents NORDAM’s first provision of a structural component for Airbus. NORDAM’s Interiors & Structures Division, 6910 N. Whirlpool Dr., fabricates the part – known as a ‘crutch’ – from HexMC, a proprietary Hexcel product that transforms AS4 carbon fiber strips into a randomly-oriented mat, which then can be cut and compression-molded into complex geometries. The Tulsa-based company is one of only two licensed molders of this unique material worldwide. The first A350-1000 started final assembly process in Toulouse earlier this year; NORDAM crutch program has been ramping up since 2015 with more than 1,000 parts already completed to date. Under the terms of the crutch supply agreement, full production volume will entail manufacture of more than 1,500 crutches per year over the life of the program. No additional NORDAM personnel or equipment are needed to fulfil this production commitment.