There were times when you couldn’t cut through the sea of people. During the three-day event at this year’s MRO Americas in Atlanta, more than 15,000 attendees and 886 exhibitors crowded the show floor.  Every OEM, major tier supplier, Owner/Operator, and military supplier either exhibited or attended, typically sending a team of high-level influencers.

For Quintus, Technologies it was our first time exhibiting. This gave us the chance to thank our customers and partners, learn of their interests like titanium warm forming, and make a name for ourselves.

Through more than 200 conversations, we discovered our value as a supplier that can help companies overcome the bottlenecks facing their profitability, namely sourcing critical parts and components.

In the booth, it was the parts display that started most conversations.  As the manufacturer of Flexform hydroforming press systems, these parts were the end result of “The Quintus Way” – where simulation, simple tooling, and the value of high pressure come together to economically form high-value, critical airframe and jet engine parts.

Visitors would tell us that lead times for parts like these were hitting double-digit weeks, if not months.  Plus, they came at a hefty price.  When asked why not invest in Quintus Flexform technology, the common answer was “…not enough volume...” As such, most of them felt stuck relying on limited supplier options, causing costs and lead-times to go up, and perpetuating the bottleneck.

Time and time again, we listened to similar struggles. And soon enough, we understood how – in so many ways – a Quintus press investment could bust the bottleneck.

For instance:

• Owner/Operators can invest in Flexform and take advantage of their OOPP status and form critical sheet metal parts, potentially saving them hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars.
• Flexform can be shared across divisions and acquisitions. Some of our own customers (OEM and Tier), were unaware that they are customers because they are “…MRO and not production…”, where Flexform is used most.  There is clear opportunity to bridge the gap and reduce procurement costs and lead times.  Through better cooperation, there is opportunity to foster innovation through the aftermarket as upgrades are typically made at this level.
• Flexform is a perfect upgrade to outdated equipment or can complement an existing process and add value to assemblies.

When it was all said and done, some visitors saw the potential while others still simply needed more supplier choices. For those that needed a choice, we turned them on to our partners like F&B Manufacturing and other customers.  Whatever the case, we made sure nobody left the booth without an option.

Exhibiting at MRO Americas put us in the middle of an expanding industry going through incredible transformation, where some things can’t move fast enough.  For those that needed a way to get low volume parts and components faster, they now know they can turn to Quintus, and bust the bottleneck.