Quickstep Technologies has stepped up to help Boeing quickly supply 260 urgent, obsolete aircraft parts for the United States Marine Corps’ AV-8B Harrier fleet.
In an example of Australia’s nimble, can-do capability, Quickstep responded swiftly to help Boeing keep its key customer’s aircraft operational by supplying vital composite aircraft parts so that grounded aircraft could rapidly resume flying.
Boeing Defence Australia Supply Chain Management Director Nick Gothard said this month the arrangement was an example of a stand-alone contract which would help grow the capability and size of Australian industry.
“This collaboration between Boeing and Quickstep shows Australian industry’s great potential to find innovative solutions for our global customers.”
– Nick Gothard, Boeing Defence Australia Supply Chain Management Director
With a 16,000 square metre composite manufacturing plant, Quickstep was able to manufacture the parts at short notice after they could not be sourced domestically in the US.
Quickstep, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2005, is at the forefront of advanced carbon composite manufacturing for the global aerospace, defence and automotive industries. It counts the US Department of Defence, major European car manufacturers, aerospace majors and many other institutions and commercial organisations among its customers.
Quickstep has an aerospace-grade manufacturing facility at Bankstown Airport on the site previously occupied by Boeing, and a technology site at Deakin University, Waurn Ponds.
Quickstep spent around eight years on technology investment before it became a manufacturer. The firm’s unique, patented Qure process, formerly known as the Quickstep process, transfers heat via fluid rather than air as done in standard technologies using autoclave. The process is cheaper and more energy efficient, and emissions-regulation friendly.
“We’re proud to step up and work with Boeing as well as support the operational needs of one of Australia’s closest allies,”
– Steve Osborne, Quickstep’s General Manager Business Development.
Jul 2020