Form and function
Submitted by:
Sara Waddington
The acquisition of a third fluid cell press will boost capacity for PIMCO, enabling the Piper Aircraft subsidiary to meet the growing demand for low-volume, high-complexity sheet metal forming.
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With its order in January this year for an additional Flexform™ fluid cell press from Quintus Technologies, Piper Industrial Manufacturing Company (PIMCO) is expanding its equipment inventory to mirror the growing demand for low-volume, high-complexity sheet metal forming. The press will be delivered to PIMCO in the fourth quarter of this year.
PIMCO, a Piper Aircraft, Inc., subsidiary, provides turnkey manufacturing solutions, supported by precision engineering services that accelerate the production path from concept to scale. The company selected the Quintus model QFC 1.2x4-1000 press to add to its modern equipment line-up, which already includes two Quintus fluid cell presses installed earlier in the decade along with laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC milling machines.
“Quintus has proved to be a top-tier machine manufacturer,” said John Bowman, PIMCO Sr. Manager, Integration. “Piper Aircraft and PIMCO anticipate that the aerospace, defence and consumer and architectural products markets will grow over the coming years. Our investment in this new press doubles our capability to support the market, enabling us to form much larger parts. This is just one more step to achieving our vision of becoming the leader in sheet metal manufacturing.”
Fluid cell technology
PIMCO (Piper Industrial Manufacturing Company), an extension of Piper Aircraft, Inc., is supported by Piper’s 85-plus years of manufacturing experience. Offering end-to-end manufacturing solutions from a single location, the PIMCO facility in Vero Beach, Florida (USA), houses an extensive equipment inventory. Services include sheet metal fabrication; additive manufacturing (3D printing); welding; CNC machining, stretch forming, tube bending/cutting, tooling design/fabrication and more.
“The Quintus machines have almost completely eliminated hand correction at our facility,” confirmed Kevan Chisholm, PIMCO’s business development manager.
To read the rest of this article in the June 2025 issue of ISMR, see https://joom.ag/Rqsd/p24