Aerospace Fiber Optic Manufacturing

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation executed a Manufacturing Science and Technology contract between October 1996 and December 1997 to determine the technology required to build several hundred fiber optic simplex cables (segments) per day. A design concept was developed and demonstrated using a computer simulation. A cost/benefit analysis was performed on the conceptual cell to determine the business case for implementing this technology. The cost/benefit analysis showed that there is a tremendous potential cost savings for implementing process improvements. Specifically, the Comanche program could realize over $13,000,000 of savings and the Department of Defense could save over $100,000,000 by automating fiber optic cable assembly.