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Increased attention is being paid to the quality, consistency and cost of aircraft panel fastening operations. The advent of automated fastening has made it possible to achieve substantially greater productivity and quality, however it has also made more evident than ever that inadvertently mixed or otherwise deficient fasteners exact a cost and quality toll that can no longer be accepted. AHG has developed a fastener on line storage, delivery and inspection system that can substantially alleviate these problems. The AHG Modular Cassette Fastener and Delivery System and its associated Inspection and Reloading System permit the end user to inspect, sort, orient, refill and code the Modular Cassettes in a single operation. The inspection process is performed automatically by a combination of sensors, video cameras and software, all of which are under the control of a PC.

Controlling rivet tolerances, and the hole tolerances that these rivets are inserted into, are some of the most important requirements in the manufacture of aircraft. Because of the laminar air flow over the outside of the skin in all aircraft, and the stealth requirements of military aircraft, the rivets must sit flush with the Outside Mode Line of the exterior skin. This countersink depth must be tightly controlled in tolerance, both in the hole diameter & countersink, and also in the manufacture of the rivets. In the past, the aircraft OEM's have driven, independently, the rivet manufacturer and the machine manufacturer drilling the holes, to control tighter and tighter tolerances. The conventional way to get better performance is to implement SPC independently into the rivet manufacturing process and also into the machine hole drilling process. Let's consider first the rivet manufacturing process.