Parker Hannifin

Greener than green» sums up the doctrine of aviation & aero-space manufacturers, their major clients, and their suppliers. Parker Hannifin has received this message loud and clear! The company supplies hydropneumatic accumulators for the aircraft & aerospace industry. «Today, all manufacturers require all of the component parts of their aircraft to be fully compatible with the current and future REACH Regulation obligations, explains Alain Houssais, R&D Manager at Parker Hannifin. To meet that requirement, and to understand that «chemicals» regulation that is a far cry from our know-how as mechanical engineers, we chose to be assisted by experts from Cetim, which is a reference in such matters.» 

Lasting solutions 

«Our clients, and they are right, want the substitute solutions that we propose to them to be lasting ones, continues Alain Houssais. To achieve that, not only do we need to find the right product, but we also have to judge whether it will remain available over time. Then, we have to find financially sound companies who are ready to use them. Naturally, it is also necessary to audit the new suppliers and our suppliers’ suppliers, i.e. those who, for example, do surface treatment for our machining providers. And that is what we have done. »

Meeting the initial requirements

Naturally, the new product must continue to satisfy all of the initial specifications of the client. «This is an extremely important point, stresses Alain Houssais. And naturally that was where Cetim advised us to start. We looked at the initial specifications again to check all of the requirement levels specified by our client, and to qualify the improvements made and the fair trade-offs that we managed to find. Cetim also helped us to assess how well the new solutions were integrated by the selected subcontractors.»