Stork Fokker AESP, part of Stork Aerospace, is specialised in the design and manufacture of helicopter and aircraft parts, among others for Boeing, Airbus and several business jets. In the last two years, Fokker has carried out the design and by now production of the empennage, consisting of a Vertical Fin and a Horizontal Stabilizer for the Gulfstream G650, a luxury business aircraft. In order to hoist and position these fully assembled structures at will, VIRO engineering developed, in collaboration with Fokker, five different hoisting and canting tools. For this purpose succinct specifications were established in close consultation, after which VIRO engineering produced a design that put precision and ease of use first and foremost. After working out the 3D design into 2D, Fokker gave the approval to have 2 sets produced. A user manual in English is written for three of the five tools, so that these may also be efficiently used by Gulfstream in Savanna.
In practice, a VIRO engineering-designed gluing tool seems to be giving great satisfaction. Rob Sterzenbach, production engineer at Stork Fokker: “It is a very user-friendly tool, which we can quite easily put to use.”
During the project evaluation, Ed Grönloh, purchasing agent at Fokker, reported: “The structured work approach and clear communication from VIRO engineering created an efficient course for the project, allowing deliverables to be provided on time.”
