Westinghouse offers large-scale water jet machining

A new precision water jet machining centre installed at Westinghouse Electric Company's Nuclear Components Manufacturing facility in Newington, New Hampshire, enables clients in the nuclear and other industries to cut a wide range of materials up to 14 metres in length.

A new precision water jet machining centre installed at Westinghouse Electric Company's Nuclear Components Manufacturing (NCM) facility in Newington, New Hampshire, enables clients in the nuclear and other industries to cut a wide range of materials up to 14 metres in length.

Inside Westinghouse's new water jet machining centre (Image: Westinghouse)

The state-of-the-art centre is the largest in the north-eastern USA, and has been installed as part of investment in factory upgrades to enable rapid, cost-competitive delivery of manufactured components to its customers, the company said.

Ken Altemus, Westinghouse vice president, Global Components and Manufacturing, said the addition of water jet machining capacity at NCM was an important differentiator.

"This enables us to vertically integrate our plate processing and complete work in significantly reduced durations, resulting in savings that we can pass along to customers," he said.

The machine is able to hold tight tolerances - within five thousandths of an inch - and can cut complex features and angles in almost any material with dimensions up to 560x160 inches (14x4 metres) and eight inches (20 centimetres) thick in a fraction of the time required by traditional cutting and machining methods, the company said. The equipment caters to the energy, oil and gas, aerospace, and heavy manufacturing industries, as well as to small businesses.

"This advancement in capabilities expands water jet services to the global market while supporting manufacturing in the north-eastern United States," the company said.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News