The aerospace manufacturing industry has been revolutionized with the advent of carbon fiber materials. This has led to changes in manufacturing processes and the development of new technology and machinery. Electroimpact is an automation integrator that provides factory automation and tooling solutions to some of the biggest names in the aerospace industry.  Their Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology is a manufacturing process used for producing complex composite materials. The AFP machine applies carbon tape in several layers which is then heat cured to produce extremely strong and light-weight structures.



In an effort to increase the efficiency and productivity of their AFP machines, Electroimpact approached ATI Industrial Automation with a requirement to quickly change the AFP applicator head. Electroimpact chose ATI’s Heavy Automation Tool Changers for their reliability, strength and reputation. Mounted between the AFP gantry and applicator head, ATI’s Tool Changer passes a variety of utilities through attached specialized modules. Kyle Jeffries, Project Engineer with Electroimpact states “ATI’s Tool Changers enable our AFP machine to quickly change heads for offline material loading, cleaning and maintenance with no down time. Multiple material forms can be used on the same part, or on the same machine for the highest possible flexibility in production. Future AFP head innovations can be brought online quickly and easily.” ATI’s Tool Changers are used in many different aerospace applications including material handling, drilling, material removal and other specialized applications.