Fastems Systems GmbH

SKF Aeroengine France, part of SKF Aerospace, manufactures rolling bearing components for aircraft engines and helicopters. The company was awarded a long-term contract for components used in the LEAP engine programme — a production horizon extending over several decades, with batch sizes typically ranging from five to thirty parts.

The machining of these components involves demanding geometries and strict quality requirements. At the same time, economic production had to be ensured despite relatively small order volumes.

To address these conditions, SKF restructured its production concept and implemented a robotic flexible manufacturing system (RoboFMS) in cooperation with Fastems.

The system integrates:

• two turn-mill centres
• a grinding centre
• a lapping machine
• coordinate measuring
• washing
• laser marking
• automated storage for raw, semi-finished and finished components

A rail-guided robot handles both palletised workpieces and direct transfers of unclamped parts. This is particularly relevant for precision operations such as lapping and grinding, where parts must be removed from fixtures before further processing.

Transport movements within the system follow the real-time status of machines, tools and workpieces. Semi-finished components can be buffered when downstream resources are occupied, maintaining process continuity without manual intervention.

Central coordination is provided by Fastems Manufacturing Management Software (MMS), which manages routing logic, resource verification and production visibility. The objective was to establish stable and repeatable production capable of extended autonomous operation while maintaining aerospace quality standards and documented process control.

The concept has since been implemented at additional SKF Aerospace sites in the United States, underlining its suitability for long-term aerospace manufacturing environments.

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The complete case study describes the system architecture, integration of inspection and marking processes, and operational experience in series production.

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