Westland Picks Mazak for Blackhawk Rotor Shafts

WHEN Westland Helicopters was asked to produce the rotor shafts for the Sikorsky Blackhawk, the manufacturing brief was to deliver 40 shafts per month over two years initially. This required the setting up of a separate machining cell at the Yeovil factory to meet this target. Normal lead time for shafts was between 9–12 months. Armed with a £1.2 millions budget the company looked at 12 machine tool suppliers.