Communications & Power Industries (CPI)’s, Radant Technologies division has opened a new radome manufacturing facility in Hudson, Mass., USA. The official grand opening ceremony for this new facility is scheduled for October 23, 2018. The facility will help CPI boost its rapidly growing in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) business.
CPI Radant Technologies Division (Radant)'s products are used in high-performance airborne, ground-based, shipboard and submarine installations and primarily support communications and radar applications. Since 1979, Radant has been manufacturing radomes, reflectors and structural composite products from its existing facilities in nearby Stow, Mass.; with the addition of this new facility in Hudson, the organization has doubled its manufacturing capacity.
The new facility, which is AS9100D and ISO-9001-2015 certified and has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), will house Radant's high-volume production of radomes for IFEC applications, as well as its shipboard radomes and reflectors. It was designed using Lean manufacturing principles to enhance efficiency and reduce waste, and is large enough to accommodate entire product lines, eliminating the need to shuttle materials between the organization's locations.
These improvements are anticipated to enable Radant to double its production rates and significantly decrease cycle times for IFEC radomes. In keeping with commercial passenger increasing demands for improved in-flight connectivity capabilities, Radant expects its sales of IFEC radomes and related-products to continue to increase for years to come.
The new Radant facility also features:
- Controlled environments for laminating, drilling and painting, with closed-loop air filtering to reduce emissions,
- A new five-axis router that enables CPI Radant Technologies Division to manufacture its own mold masters, reduce cycle time and increase throughput,
- An automated cutting table that doubles the rate at which prepreg can be cut, and
- A new, fully automated autoclave that has twice the capacity of the autoclaves in use in Stow.
Radant has added approximately 50 employees to staff the new Hudson facility.
