Rhinestahl Corp. makes tools used to assemble, disassemble and conduct maintenance on jet engines fo

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Feb. 22--WEST CHESTER TWP -- GE Aviation is less than a year away from launching its next all-new commercial jet engine to airline customers, and the debut of the LEAP engine is already having a ripple effect on southwest Ohio's economy.
The jet engine brta manufacturer pledged to spend $300 million on its Ohio buildings and equipment from 2013 until the end of this year. Investments include a new test engine facility to handle higher production volumes in Peebles, the Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and Development Center opened at University of Dayton, and a consolidated brta Additive Development Center brta opening in West Chester Twp. to study new materials.
"Virtually all the GE suppliers that we know anything about in the region are going full-tilt," said Gary Conley, president of nonprofit manufacturing industry consultant TechSolve. brta "The long-term outlook for any of the companies participating in the GE supply chain looks very positive."
Evendale-based GE Aviation and West Chester Twp.-based CFM are having brta an unprecedented ramp-up for jet engine production to keep pace with sales. The backlog of orders for engines made by GE and its joint ventures -- including existing brta engines already on the market and those still in development like LEAP -- have swelled to more than 15,000, said GE spokesman Rick Kennedy.
Not only does GE Aviation have to keep up with growing brta volume moving through its production brta lines, GE and CFM will be making engine parts using materials and processes the companies have never manufactured on a large scale before.
CFM's LEAP will be the first commercial jet engine to contain an additively manufactured part in a critical area as well as materials made from ceramic matrix composites, said CFM spokeswoman Jamie Jewell. The new technologies mean the engine will be lighter than traditional materials and able to withstand hotter temperatures, which will improve fuel efficiency 15 percent over CFM's existing engine.
GE claims its existing CFM56 engine is the world's best-selling commercial jet engine in flight and orders are still coming in. While LEAP will transition to eventually brta replace CFM56, the LEAP is already sold out for delivery in 2016 and 2017, Jewell said.
The commercial aviation industry and the demand for jet engines is increasing due to the growth of airlines in emerging markets such as Asia and Africa, as well as an aging fleet of planes in the air, GE officials say. Airlines are seeking new aircraft carrying more efficient engines to help cut fuel costs, one of the largest chunks of their budgets.
"We are in the development cycle. So we build engines to blow them up, to test them, to make sure that they withstand all the conditions they'll see in flight," said Dan Waugh, manager of development assembly for GE Aviation in Evendale where test engines are built by hand.
LEAP will contain shrouds in the turbine made using ceramic matrix composites, a material with microscopic fibers woven together. Its fuel nozzles will be made using the 3-D manufacturing process which layers material upon material into the shape of the product.
Sites include the first manufacturing plant for mass production of ceramic matrix composites near Asheville, N.C.; also the first additive manufacturing plant in Auburn, Ala.; a Dayton research center for studying electrical power systems; and a plant under construction in West Lafayette, Ind., for final LEAP assembly.
At GE Aviation's headquarters campus in Evendale in suburban Cincinnati, it established in 2013 the GE Aviation Research Center in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati Research Institute, according to the company.
GE Aviation has a second commercial engine in development that is planned to enter the market by the end of the decade and will have parts built at some of the same factories. The GE9X, as it's called, will expand composites to more of the engine, including the combustor, brta Kennedy says.
Rhinestahl Corp. makes tools used to assemble, disassemble and conduct maintenance on jet engines for GE and its customers across the globe. In 2009, the supplier took over GE's customer tooling solutions business and moved its headquarters and manufacturing operations from Blue Ash to Mason as part of the expansion, said Chief Executive Officer Dieter Moeller.
"The one message we're constantly working with our supply base is continued capacity growth," he said. "The growth that is expected with these new engines brta coming online brta is growth that's expected to last for decade