Case Study: Avmat achieves rapid, lower-cost in-house production of complex landing-gear parts with 3D Systems' GibbsCAM

Making Hard Parts with GibbsCAM

Avmat Aviation Materials Management, a 25-year aircraft parts distributor that began in-house machining after a 2006 acquisition and FAA PMA licensing, faced steep challenges: most parts came as old blueprints or required reverse engineering, the shop initially lacked CNC experience, and critical landing-gear components demanded many machine setups, tight tolerances and long lead times (one outsourced part took 2½ years to produce).

Avmat invested in Mori Seiki MTM turning centers (including NT4300s with an integrated Benz right-angle head) and GibbsCAM MTM for solid modeling, toolpath generation, simulation, process libraries and turret synchronization. The combo enabled single-setup machining, prevented collisions, sped programming and optimized cycle time—turning a 2½-year outsourced job into a three-week turnaround, cutting some part costs from $1,500 to $500, paying for itself multiple times within 2½ years and prompting further machine additions.

Avmat

Kyle Vander Meyden

Machinist and Lead Programmer