Getting Technetical

Because of the pandemic, the commercial aero market was profoundly impacted by the sudden disruptions in travel. Jason Riggs, Director of Strategy at Technetics Group, discussed this phenomenon and how the market has rebounded with Host Tyler Kern.

Globally, air traffic is down by 30% from pre-pandemic levels, and airframers are making calls to increase production rates to 75 per month, which is double what it is today. What does this mean for the supply base? This will create more strain, especially in the skilled labor workforce.

Skilled laborers faced layoffs in 2020, and now the workforce is 10-20% smaller than it should be. Like many other industries, businesses are having difficulty recruiting employees back, and Riggs said a hypothesis for the cause is that the younger generation is switching industries. An additional source of pressure in the industry is the semiconductor and chip shortages. The shortages have caused more customer interest in dual sourcing to mitigate supply concerns and drive down costs.

Because of stressors like these, 2021 has seen a lot of defense-related merger and acquisition transactions. “Defense-related content typically stays strong during downturns, and that certainly was the case during the pandemic,” Riggs explained.

Businesses are trading multiples significantly higher than a few years ago, and commercial deal flows are predicted to continue increasing next year as businesses improve.

Despite these challenges in 2021, the fundamentals for aerospace and defense remain strong. Riggs knows the market will make a full recovery, hopefully by 2023 or 2024. “It’s just a question of how and when, but we feel really good about the market; we are excited about where things are going,” he stated.

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A safe and efficient supply chain is a must for life science companies, specifically in pharmaceutical applications. Proper sealing is essential to providing safety and efficiency, explained Technetics Group France’s Bruno Rouchouze, Senior Product Manager, and Michel Berger, Principal Manager.

Often, in manufacturing, being almost to standard would be a disaster. Products must be built just right, with the consequences of falling short sometimes the difference between the success or failure of a product.

ITER means "the way" in Latin, but 35 countries around the globe know ITER as one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world.

On May 30th, the next chapter of U.S. space exploration began with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch to the International Space Station. Jason Riggs, Director, Aerospace Business Unit for The Technetics Group, spoke with host Tyler Kern about this momentous event.

“This is definitely a new chapter in human space flight,” Biggs said. “Since the shuttle program ended in 2011, we’ve relied on Russia to get our astronauts up to space. With this successful mission, I believe this puts NASA and the U.S. back in the driver’s seat of our own space program.”

The Commercial Crew program will likely be a significant part of the equation for the future of U.S. space flight.

“With this public/private partnership, they were able to demonstrate they can deliver the capability, which we saw with the launch a couple of weeks ago, and deliver massive cost savings and a reduction in time to execute,” Biggs said.

And this type of partnership provides much need capabilities within the industrial base.

For Technetics’ part, Biggs said they’ve been lending their support, knowledge, and technical capabilities to all partners in this joint Commercial Crew venture to ensure the programs are as good as can be.

As for SpaceX, did the successful launch on May 30th change the opinion that they can realize the dream of commercial space flights?

“They’ve demonstrated their reuse capabilities many times over and demonstrated similar capabilities with the Falcon 9 in a manned space flight environment. So, I think the questions around, can they do this? Can they do this efficiently? Can they do this quickly? Cost-effectively? I think they've put a lot of those questions to rest,” Biggs said.

People may be most familiar with PTFE tape under its sometimes-moniker, plumber’s tape. But, as Technetics’ product manager Rodrigo Costa explained, there are many different uses and applications for PTFE tapes and films.

“PTFE tapes are interesting because of its chemical inertness, so it is resistant to any solvent,” Costa said. “it’s nontoxic, and it has a broad temperature range, workable with temperatures up to 160 degrees Celsius.”

Unsintered tapes can be used as a wiring cable insulator to prevent breakdowns and sparks. Technetics can customize and color the tapes to meet a customer’s specifications. Engineered PTFE tapes use special additives to enhance specific properties.

Costa said Technetics often changes the properties of these tapes and films to meet a customer’s need for better wear resistance or thermo-conductivity.

“The main application for our PTFE tapes is wire and cable,” Costa said. “Other interesting applications are bearings or bushings. The films are applied to metal substrates and formed into bushings.”

Some compression packing applications use a PTFE film turned into yarn. It’s the high temperature of operation that makes PTFE so desirable for wiring and sealing applications.

Talk about small but mighty. A 1/8 metal seal on a valve can be the difference between success and critical failure. On this episode of Getting Technetical by Technetics, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with Cindy Krishna and Bruno Quilling to discuss the variable viability of metal seals that help solve tough sealing problems.

"Valves are continuously moving, so there's a real hard demand on them," Krishna said.

Multi-purpose solutions — ones that work for most industries — can struggle to meet extreme demands within specific valve uses, Quilling explained.

"More commonly used sealing materials like elastomer or graphite can become deformed and lose tightness," Quilling said.

But advances in metallic sciences have helped to bring in more durable sealing solutions to market.

"We've seen the evolution of metal seals over time with increasing demands from the environment," Krishna said. "It's the change in extremes of what we're asking valves and pumps to do these days that are really driving that significant change."

The extremes are quite significant. Seals must withstand temperatures as low as –423°F and as high as 1450°F, survive corrosive or radioactive environments, and perform over the long-term without excessive material degradation.

Quilling says metal seals serve critical applications in the nuclear, oil and gas, and semiconductor industries.

"These are industries where failure is not an option due to cost," he said.

Andrew Bastian, Director of Product Management and Strategy, Technetics stopped by Getting Technetical to talk about Technetics’ PTFE product assortment and their capabilities.

While Technetics offers a wide range of stock shapes of PTFE sheets, rods and tubes, they also customize these products to exact forms and thicknesses to meet customer specifications.

“In some cases, we can create shapes that no one else can,” Bastian said. “We can make a cylinder longer than anyone I know of.”

High quality is the premier consideration for Technetics in creating these PTFE products.

“We work with all the major resin producers,” Bastian said. “And our working environment is controlled and clean.”

Stocked with state-of-the-art automated equipment and manufactured utilizing a well-experienced staff, Technetics stands behind all of the products it produces.

When it comes to etching sheets, Bastian said the key is to ensure the produced sheet is flat. A well-produced flat sheet will reduce the need for re-etching. Another element to a well-produced sheet is a low amount of color variation after etching.

And, if assistance with picking the right PTFE product is needed, Bastian mentioned Technetics’ customer service team with their average 20-year industry experience.

“They know the industry, and they know how to help you get you what you want, even if you don’t know what you want, yourself,” Bastian said.

The first space race may already be run, but now is a time of great innovation and growth in the final frontier.

A new year and new decade ushers in fresh ambition and palpable anticipation of growth and innovation for businesses big and small. For the Technectics Group, this turning point is also a critical moment to reflect upon how far the global industrial product manufacturer has come. Today, we do just that with Technetics President and CEO, Gilles Hudon.

Technetics accomplishments in 2019 were far-reaching and impressive. A resounding theme that Hudon emphasized is a deep and profound pride for safety. Among the company’s four business units, the plants and divisions all over the world performed efficiently and safely. From Florida to France, Singapore to South Carolina, Technetics outposts successfully pushed the envelope in industries like aerospace, semi-conductors, and polymer solutions.

As Technetics looks to the future, Hudon foreshadows more growth and development, whether it be in new coding technology or expanding into new markets. Hudon heralds in another decade marked by safety, and eagerly anticipates developing the people that make Technectics a global leader.