Northwest Aerospace News April | May Issue No. 2 | Page 29

I
t is aerospace that has been driving
growth in recent years. In 2016, aero-
space accounted for about 15 percent
of AccraFab’s total business; in 2018,
they’re projecting it will be 20 percent.
The company has grown as a result,
adding 30 workers in 2017, bringing
the workforce to 195 people.
AccraFab doesn’t build aerostructure
or airframe components. Instead, it spe-
cializes on interiors – “not only cabins,
but also flight decks, instrumentation
and controls.”
In particular, the company supplies a
lot of flight deck components for Boe-
ing 787 cockpits.
“We do a lot of the mechanicals, the
housings, chassis, and control panels,”
he said. “We’ve got a lot of experience
building that kind of stuff.”
The company’s experience fabricating
non-aerospace parts often comes in
handy, said Jon Coker, the company’s
sales and engineering manager.
The added capabilities allow AccraFab
to offer different services to different
customers, depending on their needs,
said Coker.
“It’s beneficial to us, and it’s upped
our game to our aerospace customers,”
he said. Most of the parts we pro-
vide for Tier 1 customers are legacy
designed, Coker continued, but “one
of the best things we can offer is a de-
sign-for-manufacturing-ability review”
– is there a better way to design and
fabricate a part?”
“We’ve become more of a solution
provider,” Coker said. One customer
might want AccraFab to supply it with
critical components for an aircraft part;
another might want the company to
integrate parts from another supplier to
assemble a finished product.
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