Ohio and Kansas have more in common than most would think. Ohio is home to both West Ohio Tool, a custom tool maker with innovative solutions for the aviation sector, and the National Aviation Heritage Area, where a particular pair of brilliant brothers traded bicycle frames for airframes and changed the world forever. Kansas, with an aviation heritage spanning more than a century, continues to be a hub for the American aircraft industry with Bombardier, Airbus, Beechcraft/Cessna and a host of others operating manufacturing facilities there. In fact, 35 percent of the nation’s general aviation airplanes come from Kansas.
The story comes full circle this fall when West Ohio Tool makes its first appearance at the Wichita Industrial Trade Show 2023, October 17-19 at Century II Expo Hall, booth 631. Since 1974, WITS has grown in scale to one of the Midwest’s leading showcases for manufacturing, machines and solutions. It’s a prime venue for West Ohio Tool to highlight its full portfolio of carbide, cubic boron nitride (CBN) and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) custom drills, reamers, mills, end mills, grooving, and internal forming tools, especially as they apply to the aviation manufacturing industry.
The company’s EdgeX4 polycrystalline diamond, cross-tipped drill, for example, has proven itself with a major aerospace manufacturer by outperforming other tools for a drilling application on a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite part with aluminum sandwiching. Not only did West Ohio’s tool handle the differing machining characteristics of aluminum and CFRP, but it also provided clean exit and entry without delamination and significantly reduced the manufacturer’s cost per hole. West Ohio Tool has also earned high marks from a second U.S. Department of Defense aerospace manufacturer that makes approximately 70 different parts for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II all-weather, multirole combat aircraft as well as hypersonic components, stating it “has been very impressed with the work West Ohio Tool Co. is doing.”
With a solid footing already established in aerospace manufacturing, West Ohio Tool will continue to expand its influence within the sector along with its geographical range as it awaits its AS9100 certification, the aerospace industry’s international quality management standard. This latest certification is yet another step in West Ohio Tool CEO Kaci King’s quest to expose the company’s custom tooling to an ever-increasing customer base.
“We’re hoping to connect with people who need what we have to offer,” said King. “We specialize in a close, working relationship with our customers where we come to understand what they do, what they need and why they need it. Our custom solutions give them lower cost per hole, longer tool life and shorter delivery times that are up to 75% quicker than industry standards.”
Given Ohio’s claim to be the birthplace of aviation and Kansas’ title as the “Air Capital of the World,” West Ohio Tool’s trip to Wichita will almost seem like never leaving home.
Don’t miss West Ohio Tool at WITS 2023. The show and seminars are free, so register online today.
