Hubbard-Hall’s cleaning team resolved a $1 million inventory issue for a defense manufacturer by addressing process issues, not just cleaning chemistry. Despite not winning the product sale, their expertise led to the acceptance of 400 tubes, demonstrating a commitment to customer satisfaction and building confidence for future collaboration.
Stewart Holloway didn’t get the sale he was looking for when he walked out of the prospective customer’s plant, but that didn’t matter to him.
“We helped them solve a potential quality issue they were facing, and that is all that matters,” says Holloway, a Senior Account Manager at Hubbard-Hall, where he works with manufacturers and finishers to solve their manufacturing process problems, improve quality and first-time yields.
Holloway and several other members of the Hubbard-Hall team had spent months working with a manufacturer of military components to solve an issue that was causing customer concern of more than $1 million in inventory of aluminum tubes used in weaponry.
The problem was process-oriented — and not necessarily a cleaning chemistry matter — and with Hubbard-Hall’s help, the defense contractor accepted the parts in question resulting in the release of the high-value inventory of parts of the manufacturer, who decided for the moment to stay with their current chemistry supplier.
Having the Customer’s Best Interest at Heart
“We would very much have liked to partner with them on their chemistry,” says Holloway, an Air Force veteran who flew Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules cargo planes and knew intimately about the weapons that were being made, cleaned, and coated. “But that day will come soon enough. For now, they know that we have their best interest at heart.”
Hubbard-Hall was called in 2020 by the company, a deep-drawn manufacturer and stamper, where 95% of the parts are aluminum with some mild steel. The facility has internal powder coating and liquid paint operations, and they outsource tin plating.
The company extrudes aluminum tubes as part of two individual missile systems: an armor piercing air to surface missile, and a multiple launch surface-to-surface guided rocket system. The tubes are 8 inches in diameter and up to 48 inches long and are extruded using a draw lube that is extremely thick and applied heavily with a paint roller.
The tubes are washed after each draw; 8 tubes are washed at a time in a SS basket with tubes positioned vertically. After two draws, tubes are sent out for heat treat at 970°F for three hours in an atmospheric oven before being returned to the manufacturer for additional forming steps and trimming. The final treatment is chem-film per MIL DTL 5541, which is performed at an outside applicator.
