Leading Edge Composites (Booth 937) is experiencing significant growth, doubling its work force and tripling its plant space over the last year. The Coatesville, Pa.-based company recently moved into a new 44,000-sq-ft facility and now has more than 60 employees. It was founded 23 years ago by Brian and Charlene Arni. Brian, a former shop supervisor of Keystone Helicopter, also has a background in fixed-wing aircraft composite structures.
Today, Leading Edgespecializes in customized aircraft exterior and interior design, engineering and manufacturing solutions with a diverse range of productsincluding radomes, cargo podsand VIP interior cabinetry, galleys, lavatories, seatcomponents,panels, side ledges, bulkheads and shrouds for fixed- and rotor-wing aircraft.Its customer base also includes major aircraft OEMsas well as numerous widebodyVIP completion centers.
Leading Edge uses the latest 3-D engineering programs to import customer data and fabricate rapid prototypes with a bank of four modern CNC machining centers, said Brian Arni. The company’s diversified services portfolio comprises engineering services; reverse engineering, including the use of laser scanning; design services, including the use of SolidWorks 3-D CAD model design and editing; MasterCAM CNC programming and geometry nesting; PolyWorks reverse engineering and advanced inspection; and Simulayt 3-D layup ply development.
Arni said the company’s continuing growth is driven by its ability to deliver customers a unique blend of services quickly and the aviation industry’s overall sharpened focus on employing more composite structures to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency combined with the increasing trend of OEMs to outsource.
“It’s a combination of the fuller service we are providing,” he said. “Some of our customers formerly had multiple companies they used for the engineering, design and part production. We have shown the value of being a one-stop shop; from the timing aspect and the clarity of concept and detail to giving them input into the production side. Simultaneously, our regular composite parts production continues to expand. And depending on project size and scope, weeks can be saved by using [our] services.”
Leading Edge builds to print virtually anything a customer wants and has been instrumental in the design and production of a number of systems, including boarding step structures, RF-transparent cargo pods and radomes.
The company also has been involved with numerous STCs for upgrading and designing internal and external parts for utility, search-and-rescue and VIP rotor- and fixed-wing aircraft and is also developing FAA-approved PMA parts. It holds an FAA Part 145 repair station certificate and is certified to international quality standards.
