plane talk

plane 

spring 2016 

talk 

2015 New Talent Awards 

What’s happening with NATEP 

Plus: 

NWAA Annual Conference 

Farnborough Air Show 

Member News 

The Latest From The Isle of Man 

Photo: NWAA New Talent Award 2015 Winners with Wg Cdr Martin Higgins 

Officer Commanding of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic team

CONTENTS 

2 CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S STATEMENT 

3 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT 

4-5 NATEP NEWS 

6-11 NWAA NEWS 

12-13 MEMBER NEWS 

14-15 ISLE OF MAN NEWS 

16-25 MEMBER NEWS 

26 SAVE THE DATE 

27 MEMBER NEWS 

28 NWAA NEWS 

4-5 14-15 

12-13 16-25 

NWAA 

Chief 

Executive’s 

Statement 

By Dr David Bailey 

Last year proved to be another record 

year for aircraft production with, 1397 

aircraft flying off the production lines 

in 2015. This increased the value to 

UK industry by around £3Bn from the 

previous year. Civil aircraft production 

levels have grown such that an aircraft 

is delivered every 6½ hours from one 

of the world’s final assembly lines. It is 

the soaring success of our industry that 

has convinced the UK Government’s 

Comprehensive Spending Review to 

maintain support for the vital Aerospace 

Growth Partnership (AGP). By committing 

an extra £900 million in aerospace 

funding for Research and Development 

up to 2026 the industry has the long 

term support it needs to make the right 

investment decisions. 

I mentioned in my last report that I had 

been invited to join the Board of the 

Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) 

and primarily to represent the Supply 

Chain. So much of the work of the 

Aerospace Growth Partnership has been 

focused on “Technology” and securing 

funding for the Aerospace Technology 

Institute which now has support to 2026. 

I am delighted that the Board of the 

AGP has decided that it will now focus 

its efforts on the “Supply Chain”. At the 

last meeting the board discussed the 

importance of maintaining manufacturing 

and supply chain capability in the UK 

which I know will be of interest to our 

members. I’m excited that this is the start 

of a more strategic approach to how we 

build world-class capability, capacity and 

competitiveness at all levels of the supply 

chain. 

Of course defence and military air in 

particular, are also hugely important to 

our region. I have been in the privileged 

position to visit both the BAE Systems 

Warton and Samlesbury sites in recent 

months. I was fortunate to tour the F-35 

assembly facility which I have to say is one 

of the most impressive manufacturing sites 

I have ever seen. I was also able to tour 

the Eurofighter Typhoon final assembly line 

which must be one of the very few places 

in the UK with full aircraft production 

capability. Both visits were inspirational. 

I was also inspired by the opening in 

January of the new clean room at 

Safran-Aircelle in Burnley. This new 

investment will manufacture the carbon 

fibre composite nacelle for the CFM 

International LEAP-1A engines on the 

AIRBUS A320neo single-aisle aircraft. 

This aircraft programme requires the most 

rapid production ramp-up ever for the civil 

aerospace industry and is why the Burnley 

site is now applying advanced processes 

such as robotic fibre placement machines 

for the lay-up of composite material. This 

places the Burnley site at the top level 

of production capability for composite 

structures and is another example of 

world-class capability in our region. 

I have also had the pleasure to visit 

Preston’s College and the new iSTEM 

Centre, the launch of Nelson and Colne 

College’s Engineering Centre and to see 

the investment from Training 2000 in a 

new Advanced Manufacturing Centre. 

It is great to see the region is investing 

in these new facilities to train the young 

engineers of the future. 

On a final note, NWAA is now working 

towards our four key events of the year; 

the New Talent Awards Night (3rd 

March 2016), our Annual Conference 

(12th May 2016), Farnborough 

International Air Show 2016 (11th July 

2016) and returning for the first time in 

a number of years the NWAA Annual 

Aerospace Ball (7th October 2016). 

Please make sure they are in your diary, 

the best way you can get value from you 

membership is to get involved, we’re 

here to work with and for our members, 

and these are great opportunities to 

engage with us and the wider industry. 

David 

2 plane talk spring 2016 www.aerospace.co.uk

NWAA 

Chairman’s Spring 

Statement 

By Neil McKay 

The year ahead looks, even this early, 

to be quite a challenging one given 

the current economic turmoil and 

the effects of a lower oil price on the 

global economy. The UK negotiations 

with Europe and the resultant 

upcoming referendum have the 

potential for significant impacts upon 

our industry but are difficult to judge 

in outcome terms at this stage. There 

will be issues to resolve collectively 

either way but we are however one of 

the strongest industries with probably 

the greatest growth potential of any 

sector in world economies and so are 

well placed for all eventualities. 

The government support to aerospace 

continues to be strong and does 

recognise our unique impact on 

the national economy over the next 

generation. This is best evidenced by 

continued funding and involvement 

in the industries strategic planning 

through the AGP It is also striking 

and significant that the leadership of 

the AGP is recognising the need for 

supply chain emphasis in the next 

phase of national strategy and it is 

crucial for our future competitiveness 

that mechanisms for supply chain 

improvement drive increased UK 

performance at all levels of the industry 

rendering us capable for all political 

outcomes. 

Action on the ground in this region is 

being influenced through the supply 

chain workshops and continues to feed 

the material driving future change 

mechanisms that we will encompass in 

our future programme plans, currently 

under discussion with the regional 

authorities for intended application 

this year. The workshop material is 

also influencing the AGP leadership 

who can see strong signals and a 

pragmatic approach demonstrating a 

“can do” attitude from the supply chain 

itself. This gives us, through our CEO, 

a strong voice in the formulation of 

sector strategy through a future SC 21+ 

programme for the development of all 

companies in the supply chain to high 

global standards. 

This theme will be behind all our events 

this year and we will look to build from 

this basis with the involvement of all 

our members. Your opportunity to be 

involved is enhanced by the nature 

of our eventing this year. We are 

endeavouring to engage all levels and 

participants of the supply chain whether 

that be at the regular workshops or at 

the major events such as the annual 

conference in May or at Farnborough 

this summer. Also in October we 

have reintroduced the NWAA Annual 

Aerospace Ball after many members 

lobbied for it to be brought back as a 

unique networking and general business 

get together. 

Through these and other types of forums 

being planned we aim to get all of the 

membership close to the information 

sources and influences and ultimately 

involved in programmes that drive 

through that mechanism for change to 

an unparalleled competitive position in 

global markets. 

Neil 

The NWAA welcomes the following new members... 

Castle Metals UK 

Blackburn 

Lancashire 

www.amcastle.com 

DePe Gear 

Company Ltd 

Stoke on Trent 

Staffordshire 

www.depe.co.uk 

BCW Engineering Ltd 

Burnley 

Lancashire 

www.bcw-engineering. 

co.uk 

Wolfmet 

Trafford Park 

Manchester 

www.wolfmet.com 

Böllhoff Armstrong Ltd 

Hull 

Kingston upon Hull 

www.bollhoff.com 

NatWest 

Blackburn 

Lancashire 

www.natwest.com 

Nu-Tech Exhibitions & 

Events 

Cockermouth 

Cumbria 

www.nu-techassociates.co.uk 

Cristex Composite 

Materials 

Accrington 

Lancashire 

www.cristex.co.uk 

Training 2000 

Blackburn 

Lancashire 

www.training2000.co.uk 

Remvox Avionics 

Preston 

Lancashire 

www.remvox.co 

Franke Bearings 

Ltd 

Preston 

Lancashire 

www.franke-gmbh.com 

Techni Grind 

Preston 

Lancashire 

www.tgmeng.co.uk 

@NWAerospace 

plane talk spring 2016 

3

NATEP NEWS 

What’s Happening 

in NATEP? 

The North West projects funded in Call 5 have been 

launching over the last quarter with some fascinating 

projects across a range of technologies including UAV’s, 

graphene, signal & image processing, manufacturing 

processes and tooling. Details on all of the projects are 

available on the NATEP website www.natep.org.uk. 

Over 100 projects have been launched to date nationally, 

with a small number still to launch in the coming weeks. 

Whilst the funding calls for NATEP have ended it has been 

confirmed that the current programme will run until 

September 2017, and there is work being done to try and 

secure funding to run additional calls in the future. 

Flight Guardian is Successfully 

Completed. 

The NWAA team were proud to be involved with the first 

successfully completed NATEP Project. The team behind 

Flight Guardian – The Great Circle Ltd, the University of 

Central Lancashire and McLaren Applied Technologies 

(end user) set out to integrate movement and sensor technologies, 

which could be developed into a system to read 

aircraft analogue instruments, recognise hazardous situations 

in flight and communicate voice activated prompts to 

the pilot. The system was successfully flight tested at Thirsk 

Airfield and the team presented their findings at the Best of 

UCLAN Showcase event, held on 19th November 2015. 

Post NATEP, further work is required to develop the capability 

into a working product which can be commercialised, 

however the work done within the NATEP funded project 

has been very 

successful. 

NATEP at Farnborough 

NATEP 

Farnborough International Air Show is always a 

good opportunity to see demonstrated the capability of 

companies in the supply chain. A number of companies 

that are involved in NATEP projects have already confirmed 

their attendance at the show; this is an ideal opportunity to 

talk to them directly about their new technologies. 

Hyde Aero Projects are leading on NATEP project 

Cryogenic Research of Efficiency on Structural Titanium 

(C.R.E.S.T.) and will be exhibiting with the NWAA on stand 

B140 in Hall 1. The project aims to determine and 

understand the benefits of Cryogenic rough machining 

strategies when applied to prismatic Titanium Structural 

Airframe components in comparison to the traditional 

emulsion application. Working with partners Walter GB 

Ltd, Starrag UK Ltd, and with the support of BAE SYSTEMS, 

Hyde are looking to enhance the affordability of titanium 

machining in the UK. 

Valuechain.com will also be exhibiting with the NWAA 

and this is a great opportunity to talk to the team about how 

they are working with Bombardier, Stainless Plating Ltd and 

Alloy Heat Treatments on improving the service levels, 

productivity and competitiveness of special process house 

across aerospace and other sectors. 

Flight Guardian being installed 

Flight Guardian in flight 

The Valuechain.com Team 


NATEP NEWS 

Magnesium Elektron, Mettis 

Aerospace and Kenard 

Engineering have all been working 

on the Featherlite Aircraft Seat project, 

funded in call 2. The NATEP involvement 

in this exciting project, which has 

demonstrated significant weight saving 

through the use of magnesiumin aircraft 

interiors, ends in March 2016, but all 3 

companies will be at Farnborough 

demonstrating their improved 

capabilities as a result of this project on 

their own stands. 

Coming Up: 

Following on from the successful NATEP 

Showcase event held at the MTC in 

November, there will be a series of 

further events organised around all of 

the regions aimed at disseminating the 

results of the projects funded though 

NATEP. Further information will be 

available on the NWAA website www. 

aerospace.co.uk and on the NATEP 

website www.NATEP.org.uk 

Introducing the NATEP 

North West Regional 

Advisory Panel 

Mick Carlisle 

Rolls-Royce PLC Chief of 

Commodity Strategy, 

Structure & Transmission 

Iain Minton 

Aircelle 

UK Research and 

Technology Director 

Martin Burnham 

IIDEA UK 

Owner 

Ian Eaves 

Business Development 

Director 

Billy Beggs 

UCLan 

Engineering Innovation 

Manager 

Costas Soutis 

UMARI 

Director 

Dominic Henry from Magnesium Elektron 

discussing the Featherlite project 

Hexcel Composites Limited, who 

are working on the Low Mass Composite 

tooling project are also confirmed as 

exhibitors. 

Led by NWAA membership company 

KAMAN Tooling Limited, the project 

is seeking to design and test a proof of 

concept Low Mass Composite mould tool. 

Together with Kaman Composites Limited, 

Hexcel Composites Limited and TenCate 

Composites Limited, and the support of 

BAE SYSTEMS, the project outcome is to 

understand the potential savings available 

to composite component manufacturing 

though the use of low mass tooling. 

NATEP showcase event 

NATEP showcase event 

For more information about 

NATEP, please contact the NWAA 

industry Liaison Manager Sally Giles 

on 01772 648800 or email sally.giles@ 

aerospace.co.uk 

Glyn Williams 

Marshall’s Aerospace & 

Defence Group 

Chief Engineer 

Phil Cochrane 

BAE Systems 

Industry Capability 

Procurement Supply Chain 

Engineering Manager 

Denzil Lawrence 

Simon Wadey 

AIRBUS UK 

Michael Andreae 

Sigma Components 

Director of Technology & 

Improvement 

Chris Bradford 

Rolls-Royce PLC 

Chief of Capability Aquisition 

Installations SCU 

General Information 

The National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP) is a £40m Technology Development Programme 

Derived from a bid by the Aerospace Growth Partnership to the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain 

Initiative, administered by Finance Birmingham. NATEP is primarily aimed at small and medium sized suppliers to help them 

develop their own innovative technologies to enhance their capabilities and increase their ability to win new business with 

higher tier companies anywhere in the world. Programme managed by ADS and delivered regionally by the members of the 

Federation of Aerospace Alliances, NATEP will support the development of at least 100 projects, creating and safeguarding 

1200 jobs in the UK Aerospace supply chain. 

@NWAerospace 


5

NWAA NEWS 

New Talent Awards 

Winner - Aiva Melngaile from Safran Aircelle with sponsor Neville Gee 

Recruitment 

Runner Up - Megan Wilcock from Rolls Royce with sponsor IET 

One To Watch Winner - Jack Stezaker from BAE Systems, 

award sponsor AGP ESP 

Employer & Training Provider Winner - Paradigm Precision Ltd 

Innovation Prize Winner - Alex Todd from Paradigm Prescision Ltd with 

sponsor Hyde Group 

Isle of Man Airospace Cluster 

Business University Challenge Winning Team - Hycrome Ltd 

Professional Excellence Winner - Harry Ingle from Hycrome Ltd with 

sponsor Safran Aircelle 

Guest Speaker - Wg Cdr Martin Higgins Officer 

Commanding of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic 

team 

Guest Speaker - Ryan Worthington from 

Rolls Royce 

Professional Excellence Winner - Ashley Howard from Isle of Man College 

of Further Education with sponsor Safran Aircelle 


NWAA NEWS 

Winners 2015 

Emerging new 

Aerospace 

Talent Honoured 

at NWAA 

Awards 

The North West Aerospace Alliance 

(NWAA) held their annual New 

Talent Awards on the 3rd March 

2016 recognising and rewarding the 

achievements of young apprentices 

and emerging talent from the North 

West of England’s aerospace and 

defence industry. 

The first of the evenings Guest 

Speakers, Ryan Worthington from 

Rolls Royce; was a previous winner of 

the One to Watch award and spoke 

about how the confidence gained from 

entering the NTA’s had encouraged 

him to enterthe UK World Skills 

National Final and come away with 

the Gold Medal in CNC. 

Wg Cdr Martin Higgins Officer 

Commanding of the Royal Air Force 

Aerobatic team, gave an inspiring 

speech about the team work required 

by the whole team to deliver the 

renown Red Arrow display. He 

encouraged the importance of 

innovation especially when dealing 

with 40 year old planes. 

to the region’s best young talent. The 

WINNER of this years award for the 

North West’s Best Aerospace 

& Defence Apprentice, along with the 

£1000 prize kindly sponsored by 

recruitment consultants Neville Gee, 

was Aiva Melngaile from Safran 

Aircelle. The runner-up prize, 

sponsored by the IET (Institute 

of Engineering and Technology), was 

awarded to Megan Wilcock from 

Rolls Royce. 

Jack Stezaker from BAE Systems 

carried off the One to Watch trophy, 

sponsored by AGP ESP (Employer 

Skills Programmes), while Paradigm 

Precision Ltd scooped the Employer 

& Training Provider prize sponsored by 

Preston’s College. 

The Innovation Award, sponsored by 

Hyde Group, went to Alex Todd 

from Paradigm Precision Ltd. This 

award is about recognising an 

individual who through their innovative 

thinking and outstanding engineering 

skills has brought successful change to 

the business. 

NWAA’s Business University Challenge 

aims to bring business apprentices, 

university and college students together 

to compete head-to-head in a series 

of challenges to test their negotiation, 

innovation, communication and 

presenting skills. 

Twelve teams of young people from 

North West universities, colleges and 

aerospace businesses competed for 

the title at Preston’s College in January. 

Hycrome Europe Ltd were revealed 

as the winning team and presented with 

£1,500 prize money sponsored by 

the Royal Aeronautical Society and a 

trophy presented by Wincanton. Two 

Professional Excellence awards, each 

with £200 prize money and sponsored 

by Safran Aircelle, were presented 

to Harry Ingle from Hycrome 

Europe Ltd and Ashley Howard 

from Isle of Man College of 

Further & Higher Education who 

both displayed outstanding leadership 

and performance during the Business 

UniversityChallenge. 

David Bailey, Chief Executive Officer at 

NWAA, said: “The New Talent Awards 

has become a key event for the North 

West’s Aerospace and Defence Sector. 

It is important that we continue to 

recognise and reward the achievements 

of the of the talent emerging in our 

industry. It is hugely important to 

our industry that we increase the 

numbers of talented young people into 

apprenticeships to plug the skills gap 

that threatens our ability to achieve 

the growth the aerospace market is 

experiencing.” 

The ceremony, held at the prestigious 

Imperial War Museum North, 

Manchester; saw awards handed out 

@NWAerospace 


7

NWAA NEWS 

The New Talent Award Winners 2015 

Award Name Company Sponsor 

Winner Aiva Melngaile Safran Aircelle Neville Gee 

Runner Up Megan Wilcock Rolls Royce 

IET Insitute of Engineering 

and Technology 

One To Watch Jack Stezaker BAE Systems 

AGP ESP Employer Skills 

Programme 

Employer & Training 

Provider Prize 

- Paradigm Precision Ltd Preston’s College 

Innovation Prize Alex Todd Paradigm Precision Ltd Hyde Group 

Harry Ingle Hycrome Ltd Safran Aircelle 

Professional Excellence 

Isle of Man College of 

Ashley Howard 

Further Education 

Safran Aircelle 

Business University 

Winning Team 

Business University 2nd 

Place Runner Up Team 

Business University 3rd 

Place Runner Up team 

Commended Winners 

Ben Clarke Hycrome Ltd Wincanton & RaS 

Connor Tattersall Hycrome Ltd Wincanton & RaS 

Harry Ingle Hycrome Ltd Wincanton & RaS 

Matthew Gnzalez-Green Nelson & Colne College Royal Aeronautical Society 

Megan Wilcock Nelson & Colne College Royal Aeronautical Society 

Phillip Whiteside Nelson & Colne College Royal Aeronautical Society 

Abbey Berry MBDA UK Ltd Royal Aeronautical Society 

James Flemming MBDA UK Ltd Royal Aeronautical Society 

Lucy Thompson MBDA UK Ltd Royal Aeronautical Society 

Alex Heywood MBDA Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Alexandrea Monkiewicz BAE Systems Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Craig Eccles Paradigm Precision Ltd Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Daniel Catlow Swagelok Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Greg Purdy Magellan Aerospace Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

John Taylor BAE Systems Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Kurtis Prydderech Magellan Aerospace Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Laura Hall BAE Sytems Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Leigh Clarke Magellan Aerospace Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Ryan Fisher Magellan Aerospace Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Sam Hart FE Robinson Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Event sponsors - MBDA 

The NWAA Team 


NWAA NEWS 

Annual Conference 

2016 

Manufacturing, Technology, Supply Chain 

and Skills 

Confirmed Speakers Include: 

Andy Moran -Head of Airbus Supplier Development | Dr Michele Lawty-Jones - Lancashire Skills Hub Director 

Lancashire County Council | Nick Hussey - Managing Director - The Manufacturer Magazine | 

Colin Turner - Strategic Sourcing Director, Agusta Westland | Clive Lewis - Managing Partner - Achieving The Difference LLP 

Photo Courtsey of The Dunkenhalgh Hotel 

Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Thursday 12th of May 2016 

TICKETS NOW ON SALE 

See our website for details: 

http://www.aerospace.co.uk/events/160512-nwaa-annual-conference 

Platinum Sponsor: 

Gold Sponsors: 

Silver Sponsor: 

@NWAerospace 


9

NWAA NEWS 

Looking ahead to 

Farnborough 

Airshow 2016 

Farnborough airshow has long been 

considered one of the world’s leading 

aerospace events and is core to many 

aerospace companies’ sales and 

marketing strategy. The 2014 event saw 

the sum of orders and commitments 

reach US $201bn, beating all previous 

records set for the show. Over 1,500 

exhibitors took part with over 100,000 

visitors attending, across the 5 trade 

days. 

For Farnborough 2016 NWAA has 

a new stand, which will be at Hall 1, 

B140. Our new stand builds on the 

success of the one we had at Paris by 

maintaining its bold colours and sleek 

style, but will now have more Booths 

and PODS for our members to hire for 

use at the show. 

NWAA Members who will be 

exhibiting on the NWAA stand in 

2016, to date include: 

Hurst Green Plastics (Booth 1) 

Hurst Green Plastics Ltd supply many 

world class organisations with their 

unique and innovative kanban storage 

and dispensing systems for fasteners 

and other small parts. 

Isle of Man Cluster (Booth 2) 

The Isle of Man is host to one of the most 

agile and dynamic clusters of aerospace 

and engineering companies in and 

around the UK region. 

C.G. Tech (Booth 3) 

CGTech is the developer of VERICUT® 

CNC Machine Simulation, Verification 

and Optimisation software. VERICUT 

protects CNC machine tools against 

potentially disastrous collisions 

by providing a virtual machining 

environment for program simulation and 

testing of post processed CNC code. 

CGTech also offers programming and 

simulation software for the rapidly 

growing CNC Composites Automated 

Fibre placement market. 

P. P. Plasma Group (Booth 4) 

The P.P. Group of Companies began 

life in the basement of a cotton mill 

and has grown into one of the UK’s 

leading profiling and processing 

companies. The P.P. Group provides 

diverse, high-quality profiling, 

processing and manufacturing services 

across a vast range of industries. Our 

commitment to innovative technology 

and machinery, partnered with some 

of the most knowledgeable and 

experienced employees, has earned us 

an outstanding reputation for reliability 

and honest service. 

There are four divisions that make up 

the P.P. Group: P.P. Plasma, P.P. Profiles, 

P.P. Protube and P.P. Processing. To 

conclude, we are AS 9100 Rev C 

certified. 

Produmax (Booth 6) 

Produmax are a high precision 

sub-contract engineering company 

who have been supplying high quality 

machined components and assemblies 

for over 40 years. The success of 

Produmax has been as a result of 

prudent investment in state of the art 

CNC machinery including 5 Axis 

milling and 14 Axis turning centres. The 

company has a highly skilled and stable 

workforce working to an IS0 approved 

quality system since 1988. 


NWAA NEWS 

Marposs Ltd (POD 1 & 2) 

Marposs has many years experience 

in the design and manufacture of 

tooling, fixtures, machine monitoring 

systems and automatic inspection 

machines that perform checks on 

specific parts, used on aeronautics 

and space sectors. Measuring 

components, masters and electronics 

used in the equipment are 100% 

manufactured by Marposs, giving us 

control over the quality and integrity 

of the essential building blocks of the 

equipment. Marposs systems are used 

for assembly, final inspection and 

MRO of almost every modern aircraft 

engine manufactured (e.g.: CFM56 

(GE/Snecma), GE90 (for Boeing 

777), GP7000 (for Airbus A380), 

Silvercrest, LEAP-X). Over the last few 

decades, we have supplied thousands 

of gauging/tools systems to customers 

worldwide; the most of any gauge 

manufacturer in the world. Aerospace 

Industries and their subcontractors 

can find at Marposs a full range of 

measuring / testing equipment to help 

with manufacturing and assembling 

their products. 

Granada Material Handling Ltd 

(POD 3) 

Granada Material Handling Ltd design, 

manufacture and install standard and 

bespoke overhead travelling crane 

systems and associated structural 

steelwork. 

Woodford Engineering (POD 4) 

WEC was formed in 2008 to provide 

systems engineering services to the 

aerospace industry. The majority of 

employees have 20 to 40 years of 

experience in Mechanical, Electrical 

and Avionics Systems Engineering and 

Systems Safety departments at a local 

civil and military aircraft manufacturer. 

Hardide (POD 5) 

Hardide Aerospace Coatings has 

developed a range of nano-structured 

tungsten carbide-based coatings 

that combine exceptional wear and 

corrosion resistance with toughness and 

ductility in one material. Applied by low 

temperature CVD, they can coat internal 

surfaces and complex geometries. 

Hardide-A is an environmentally 

compliant and technically comparable 

replacement for hard chrome plating 

providing enhanced protection against 

corrosion, chemically aggressive media, 

wear, galling, fretting and fatigue. No 

dimensional changes/re-design is 

necessary. 

Broetje Automation (POD 8) 

Broetje-Automation is one of the world’s 

leading experts for production processes 

in the aviation and aerospace industry. 

Our UK team based in Chester plans 

and implements highly-efficient solutions 

for aircraft assembly. 

SGS Carbide Tool (UK) Ltd (POD 

17) 

SGS Carbide Tool offers standard and 

bespoke precision solid carbide rotary 

cutting tools to leading market sectors, 

including aerospace. 

Hyde Group (POD 18) 

Hyde have a long standing commitment 

to customer focus, with our state of the 

art design, tooling & manufacturing 

capabilities, which include AOG service 

24/7/365, Assemblies, Fabrication, 

Welding & X-Ray, Drop Hammer, 

Machining up to 7 Axis, heat & surface 

treatments and project management all 

this allied with a proven track record in 

low cost sourcing firmly establishes our 

place among the global supply chain. 

Heller Machine Tools Ltd (POD 

19) 

Heller Machine Tools has produced high 

quality machines and delivered complex 

projects from its Midlands facility in 

Redditch for over 40 years. 

Other members also at the airshow 

will be: Valuechain (Booth 5) & 

Tecomet (POD 9), Lancashire 

County Council (PODS 14 &15), 

Grob Machine Tools UK Ltd (POD 

16) (company BIO not available at time 

of print) 

Contact us now, last two pods available!! 

Speak to Sharon or Claire today on: 

01772 648800 for details 

@NWAerospace 


11

MEMBER NEWS 

Image courtesy of A&G Precision and Sons Ltd 

TRIPLE AWARDS 

FOR A&G 

PRECISION 

AND SONS LTD. 

A&G PRECISION AND SONS LTD are 

proud to have become Triple Award 

Winners in the Industry Sector achieving 

the coveted SC21 Silver Award, the 

North West Regional Apprentice 

Employer of the year award in the SME 

category and One of the UK’s Top 100 

Apprentice Employers in all employment 

sectors. 

A&G have trained 16 apprentices 

since 1991 and have full retention of 

past apprentices with 6 now part of 

the Management Team. The Company 

philosophy underpins the apprenticeship 

training programme and has increasingly 

become the mainstay of long term high 

quality skills development. 

A&G are committed to taking the 

business to a new level within the industry 

and are offering four new apprentice 

training place initially for the next three 

years. By offering open evenings 

and attending school job fairs A&G 

are aiming to raise the profile of 

Precision Engineering to an awareness 

that it is in fact a clean, interesting 

and safe working environment, a 

high tech growing industry offering 

young people a range of worthwhile 

education opportunities and potentially 

a career path for life. 

A&G are keen to promote further 

skills training and education beyond 

the initial craft apprenticeship should 

the candidate demonstrate ability and 

interest in further progression through 

the engineering training programs. 

A&G have invested in apprentice 

training at an increasing rate 

recognising that the long term benefits 

of family and loyalty to our business 

from this skills growth creation in a 

rural environment has increased our 

potential to deliver increased volume 

to our customers. 

A&G are actively involved in the 

community and recently had a visit 

from our local MP who together with 

Rt. Hon. Ian Duncan Smith Secretary 

of State for Works and Pensions spent 

the afternoon at A&G discussing the 

company plans with special reference 

to our apprenticeship programme 

A&G have been progressively 

improving the business by being 

actively involved in continuous 

improvement programmes for the past 

five years, supported by the OEM,s 

and working closely with the NWAA, 

on their Achieving Supply Chain 

Excellence programmes, ASCE 1 AND 

ASCE 2. 

Initial improvement plans were 

developed from the results of the 

external benchmarking activities and 

the detailed feedback reports using 

the “five steps Learner to World Class 

Model, following this success the next 

natural step was SC21”. 

A&G signed up to the SC21 program 

on the 22 May 2015. The close 

synergy with the ASCE and SC21 

processes and structured approach 

enabled the transition to the SC 

21 Manufacturing Excellence and 

Business Excellence evaluation 

process to be relatively straight 

forward. This assessment together 

with the development of our on-going 

Continuous Sustainable Improvement 

Plan forms the mainstay of our future 

business success at A&G. 


MEMBER NEWS 

Planning and 

Scheduling 

– an Art or a 

Science? 

As the first (and only) training 

organisation accredited by the APMG 

to deliver their new Project Planning 

and Control (PPC) qualification, 

Training ByteSize has seen learners 

questioning the differences and 

relationships between planning 

and scheduling in the engineering 

workspace. 

Whilst the distinction should be 

clear, historical job titles can lead to 

uncertainty: many expert schedulers, 

possibly working within sophisticated 

project support departments, are 

working under the title of ‘Project 

Planner’. It is easy to see the confusion 

– perhaps they should be known as 

‘Project Scheduler’? Project planning is 

not the same thing as scheduling! 

Planning - considered to be more of 

an art than a science - determines, 

amongst other things, what the project 

is attempting to achieve and the 

requirements needed to achieve these 

objectives. 

Scheduling - considered to be more 

of a science than an art - introduces a 

timeline of activities based on duration 

estimates, activity dependencies and 

constraints. 

However, it is certainly fair to say that 

planning may require some science, 

and scheduling may require some art! 

Insufficient attention to planning will make 

scheduling subject to unacceptable levels 

of change. Inaccurate scheduling could 

see deliverables not produced in line with 

agreed requirements, or that progress 

monitoring will be meaningless. 

Aerospace is an industry with one of the 

most highly trained workforces, and is 

well-placed to reap the benefits of 

up-skilling teams in planning, scheduling, 

monitoring and control. 

With the global demand for civil aircraft 

continuing to grow by 5% year on year, 

organisations that aspire to keep 

improving quality – and the tools needed 

to achieve it - benefit financially in the 

short, medium and long term. 

Training Bytesize would be happy 

to assist any business in the journey 

with a PPC qualification scheme, and 

NWAA members can enjoy significant 

training discounts. 

For more information, please 

visit www.trainingbytesize. 

com. Or contact Lauren Tudor 

on 01270 626330 or email 

learning@trainingbytesize.com 

for more details. 

Project Planning & Control is a trademark of 

APM Group Ltd. 

Image courtesy of Training ByteSize 

@NWAerospace 


13

ISLE OF MAN NEWS 

Image courtesy of Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

Island 

engineering 

students shine 

in leading UK 

competition 

Three engineering students 

represented the Isle of Man College 

of Further & Higher Education at 

the North West Aerospace Alliance 

(NWAA) ‘Business University 

Challenge’ competition in Preston in 

January. 

The competition tested a wide 

range of skills through challenges 

ranging from negotiation through 

to engineering aptitude through the 

construction of a tower using only 

pasta and tape! 

The Isle of Man team consisted of 

Daniel Catlow, Ashley Howard & 

Chris Killey, all of whom work for 

Swagelok. This was the first year that a 

team from the Isle of Man had gained 

entry to the competition and they 

performed really well against teams 

from some of the biggest UK companies 

such as BAe systems and Rolls Royce. 

Ashley received a commendation 

at the NWAA event for his notable 

performance and will now be invited, 

alongside Dan, the current Isle of Man 

Engineering Apprentice of the Year, to 

represent the Island at the NWAA Talent 

Awards in March at the Imperial War 

Museum in Manchester. 

Gail Corrin, Programme Manager for 

Higher Education at Isle of Man College 

of Further & Higher Education said: 

‘Daniel, Ashley and Chris represented 

an outstanding group of students 

currently undertaking a BEng 

Manufacturing Engineering at the 

College, in partnership with the 

University of Chester. We are thrilled 

but not surprised that they did so well 

in the NWAA Business University 

Challenge. 

‘ There are many benefits in studying 

for a degree on island at the College, 

especially when combined with a 

high level of employer support as 

is the case with Swagelok – but it is 

essential that our students also gain 

off island experience and prestigious 

events such as this enable them to do 

this. Congratulations all round.’ 

Adrian Moore, Chair of the Isle of 

Man Aerospace Cluster added: 

“It’s very encouraging to see the 

high levels of performance that our 

engineering students are achieving. 

The future is very bright for careers 

in manufacturing in the Isle of Man 

with long order books and significant 

investment being put into developing 

a new generation of local engineers.” 

From left to right: Chris Killey, 

Ashley Howard & Daniel Catlow of 

Swagelok. 


ISLE OF MAN NEWS 

Isle of Man 

forging closer 

ties with the 

North 

The success of the Isle of Man 

Aerospace Cluster in working with 

the North West Aerospace Alliance 

has helped to encourage further 

engagement between the Isle of Man 

and the North of England. 

Northern England has always been 

important to the economic wellbeing 

of the Isle of Man, in addition to 

our geographical and historical 

connections and the Isle of Man also 

contributes tens of millions of pounds 

to the economy of the North in a 

variety of ways. 

We have key transport links to the 

North West with the vast majority 

of our residents travelling to the UK 

arriving at either Liverpool or Heysham 

if travelling by sea, or at Liverpool 

or Manchester if travelling by air. 

Although some travel onwards to other 

destinations, many stay to enjoy the 

region in a number of ways – to have 

a weekend break, take in a show or 

watch a football match for example. 

This year the Isle of Man’s Government 

is striving to develop ever closer 

ties and was well represented at the 

Northern Powerhouse conference in 

February. 

Minister for Economic Development 

Laurence Skelly attended the Leaders’ 

Dinner and Department of Economic 

Development CEO, Chris Corlett took 

part in a panel event at the Conference 

outlining how the Isle of Man can be 

an effective partner to the region in 

helping attract new Foreign Direct 

Investment. 

This year the Isle of Man will be 

very visible across the region but 

especially in the North West. It will 

be represented at the International 

Festival of Business in Liverpool 

throughout June and July following 

the success that it encountered at the 

last event in 2014. 

There are also a wide number of 

smaller events, hosted by the Isle of 

Man Government, that are planned 

for 2016. One of the talking points 

at these events is bound to be the 

new Enterprise Development Scheme 

(EDS). A total of £50 million will 

be available over a 5 year period 

to invest in businesses that seek 

to create jobs on the Island, with 

funding including grants, loans and 

equity. 

Together with the Isle of Man 

Aerospace Cluster’s presence at 

the Farnborough Airshow 2016 as 

part of the NWAA’s stand, 2016 is 

looking like a good year to engage 

with the Isle of Man! 

Image courtesy of Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster 

@NWAerospace 


15

MEMBER NEWS 

Image courtesy CGTech 

CGTech Opens 

New Office in 

South Korea 

CGTech, the developer of VERICUT CNC 

verification and simulation software, is 

pleased to announce the formation of 

a subsidiary company in South Korea. 

Headquartered south of Seoul, the 

company (CGTech-Korea) is responsible 

for marketing, sales, technical support, 

and reseller support throughout South 

Korea. 

“CGTech is committed to customer 

success around the world, as 

demonstrated by our continued 

investment in local offices for direct 

sales and support,” said Jon Prun, 

President of CGTech. “There is a 

growing demand for simulation 

of complex machine tools and 

CGTech is well positioned to provide 

manufacturers with the skills and 

technologies they need to be 

successful.” 

In conjunction with the opening of the 

office, CGTech has released a website 

in Korean: http://vericut.co.kr/ 

“This office is a real benefit for our 

existing South Korean customers. 

It strengthens our position as the 

worldwide leader in NC simulation, 

verification, and optimisation 

technologies,” said Prun. The office is 

located at 505, Daerung Techno Town 

15-Cha 401, Simin-daero, 

Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 

South Korea. 

For more information, visit 

the CGTech website at www. 

cgtech.co.uk, call +44 (0)1273 

773538, or email info.uk@ 

cgtech.com 

NWAA Member APP 

Available in the 

Android and Apple 

Store to download 


MEMBER NEWS 

Buck & 

Hickman “PPE 

cost savings can 

be achieved 

without 

compromising 

on protection” 

With aerospace procurement managers 

constantly tasked with decreasing spend 

and finding enhanced value for money, 

Mark Howarth, Health and Safety 

Category Manager at Buck & Hickman, 

looks at best practice surrounding the 

selection and use of personal protective 

equipment (PPE), and explains how it 

is still possible to achieve cost savings 

while maintaining correct protection for 

employees. 

In a typical manufacturing environment, 

workers will require a variety of PPE to 

guard against occupational hazards. 

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 

1974 and the Management of Health 

and Safety at work regulations 1999, it 

is the employer’s responsibility to not only 

provide PPE, but to ensure its workers 

are properly trained in its use – all of 

which adds up to a considerable but 

unavoidable expense, however these 

costs can be safely reduced. 

The first stage in rationalising the 

use of PPE, with a view to identifying 

cost saving opportunities, is in the 

specification of the correct equipment. 

PPE is frequently over-specified, with 

the maximum level of protection often 

selected regardless of the hazard. In 

reality, what is appropriate in one 

section of an aerospace manufacturing 

facility may be excessive or even 

unnecessary in a lower-risk area. 

One of the most frequent reasons 

given for the non-use of PPE is that 

they are not compatible with the 

other protection the user must wear. 

Incompatible PPE is not only less likely 

to be worn, with users removing items 

in frustration creating a safety risk, 

but may also be more susceptible to 

damage. 

It is important to note that a higher 

cost is not always indicative of a 

greater level of protection. Q-Safe, a 

comprehensive range of PPE exclusive 

to Buck & Hickman, has achieved CE 

marking for all its products and is 

compliant with all relevant European 

health & safety and quality standards. 

The range comprises more than 80 

different products, covering head, 

hand, eye, ear and respiratory 

protection as well as short-life clothing 

including coveralls, overshoes and 

aprons. 

Once the correct PPE has been 

supplied to properly-trained 

employees, it is important to ensure 

the continuation of safe working 

habits. One way to help monitor 

this is through the use of industrial 

vending systems, such as Buck & 

Hickman’s Invend service, which 

provide complete visibility over the 

use of PPE. 

Invend is an industrial vending 

service which can dispense a wide 

range of industrial consumables 

including PPE. As well as offering 24 

hour access and automatic restocking 

thanks to an in-built reordering 

system, its controlled access function 

means individuals can only access 

products deemed suitable for their 

roles. The service not only provides 

health and safety managers with 

peace of mind staff are using the 

correct equipment, but also creates 

a useful audit trail of issued health & 

safety items, cutting down on overuse 

of reusable items and the associated 

costs. 

For further information on 

Q-Safe, Invend or the 

PPE selection and training 

services available from Buck 

& Hickman, please visit www. 

buckandhickmanuk.com 

Image courtesy of Buck & Hickman 

@NWAerospace 


17

MEMBER NEWS 


MEMBER NEWS 

Aerospace 

toolmaker 

moves to 

PowerMILL to 

remove 

programming 

bottleneck 

G. Parker Aero Tooling Solutions, a 

rapidly expanding aerospace toolmaker, 

has changed to Delcam’s PowerMILL 

CAM software to remove a programming 

bottleneck that was limiting the company’s 

productivity. 

The company, which has been based in 

Accrington for over forty years, produces 

a wide range of tooling for the aerospace 

industry. It has been closely involved in 

designing and manufacturing tooling 

for many of the world’s most prestigious 

aircraft programmes, including all Airbus 

platforms, plus the Eclipse and Honda VLJ 

programmes. 

“We have ten machines, including 

several five-axis machining centres, 

all demanding programs,” said Mr. 

Parker. “We were experiencing a 

serious bottleneck with our machining 

software as we couldn’t supply 

toolpaths quickly enough.” 

Mr. Parker investigated a number of 

alternative CAM programs before 

deciding on PowerMILL. The software 

provided a complete machining 

package that covers all the bases for 

the range of projects at G. Parker 

Aero Tooling Solutions, plus the price 

was very competitive. In addition, the 

company was already using Delcam’s 

PowerINSPECT inspection software 

and had been impressed with both the 

software and the support provided. 

Even though the staff have only been 

using PowerMILL for a few months, the 

effects have been dramatic. “We have 

effectively doubled our programming 

capacity with PowerMILL because the 

software is so much easier to use,” 

reported Mr. Parker. 

“The calculation times are around 25% 

faster, which, along with the ease of 

use, means we can generate programs 

more quickly,” added Craig Cooke, 

Production Manager. “Stock models 

are much easier to use in PowerMILL 

so we are able to reduce air cutting 

and shorten machining times with 

rest machining. The surface finish we 

get now is very good; it is extremely 

smooth with no faceting. This has 

reduced polishing time by an average 

of 20%.” 

The productivity boost from introducing 

PowerMILL has come at an important 

time for G. Parker Aero Tooling 

Solutions. “Business is pretty good,” 

claimed Mr. Parker. “We already 

have enough projects lined up to 

make 2016 a better year than 2015. 

We have plans to add more five-axis 

machines as they always seem to be 

fully booked and we will be recruiting 

two more apprentices. Extra training 

is also planned for the existing staff so 

we are able to take on more projects.” 

For further information on 

Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM 

software, please contact: - 

Peter Dickin, Marketing 

Manager 

Direct phone: 0121 683 1081 

e-mail: marketing@delcam.com 

www.delcam.com 

Photo Caption: All machines at G. 

Parker Aero Tooling Solutions are now 

programmed with Delcam’s PowerMILL 

CAM software 

Image courtesy of Delcam 

@NWAerospace 


19


MEMBER NEWS 

Versatile 

Guyson Blast 

Cabinet 

Guyson International has been 

manufacturing blast cabinets since 

1938 and this latest ‘Euroblast Plus’ 

variation of their longstanding, premier 

quality, manual Euroblast® cabinet 

takes some beating for versatility 

and features as it is equipped with 

a variable speed tumble basket, 

a turntable flush-fitting with the 

surrounding cabinet floor and dual 

blast guns that can be operated either 

separately or together. 

Often a customer wants more than a 

standard blast cabinet configuration 

and this combination of a manual 

cabinet for general blast finishing, 

coupled with the facility to carry out 

periodic automatic batch deburring or 

surface finishing of hundreds of small 

components is a popular request. Thus 

Guyson has developed the Euroblast 

Plus, saving customers from having to 

purchase two separate cabinets and 

with the added benefit of saving on 

floor space. 

This latest Guyson Euroblast Plus 6SF 

(Suction Fed) blast cabinet was recently 

installed into a French manufacturing 

company and was chosen specifically 

because it offered the customer a 

separate tumble basket allowing for 

its low volumes of specialist aerospace 

fasteners to be surface finished for 

differing times and at variable basket 

rotational speeds - according to the 

component coverage required. 

When operating in automatic tumble 

blast mode an internal protective 

safety guard covers the manual access 

armholes, to prevent anyone putting their 

hands inside the blast cabinet when the 

basket is rotating, and safety interlocks 

prevent access doors being opened. 

A control panel on the back of the 

cabinet houses all the machine electrics 

and the variable speed controller, whilst 

a small separate control panel on the 

outside of the right hand door houses the 

basket timer and an Andon beacon - to 

indicate clearly when the tumble blasting 

cycle has finished. 

This option of a flush fitting turntable, 

level with the internal floor, allows 

the customer to manually rotate their 

components for an even coverage, whilst 

they are being bead blasted inside 

the blast chamber. The turntable also 

makes it much easier for the operator to 

manoeuver the parts inside the cabinet if 

these are heavy or too cumbersome on 

The cabinet is equipped with two 

Guyson Model 900 blast guns which 

can be selected, via a lever on the side 

leg of the cabinet, to be blasting in 

tandem or individually - depending on 

blast coverage required whilst using 

the tumble basket. When using the 

cabinet as a straightforward manual 

blast system just one of the blast guns 

is selected for use and is either held in 

the operator’s hand or can be placed 

in a separate gun holder thus allowing 

both hands free to manipulate 

components under the blast stream. 

A trigger-operated air blow-off is 

also included to remove any residual 

powder dust from the components 

after blasting. 

Completing this Euroblast Plus blast 

system configuration is the Guyson 

C400 cartridge dust collector, 

equipped with reverse compressed air 

pulse cleaning of the filters. 

For further information about 

the diverse range of Guyson 

blast cabinets available or to 

undertake free component 

trials on your components 

please contact Guyson’s 

Customer Service Department 

on 01756 799911. 

Image courtesy of Guyson International 

@NWAerospace 


21

MEMBER NEWS 

The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for UK 

Aerospace Manufacturers. 

Proven gains in productivity of up to 30% in one year! 

Aerospace Customers: GKN Aerospace | Hyde Aerospace | 

MTU Aero Engines | Pratt & Whitney 

FORCAM UK Ltd | +44 (0) 1606 833837 | www.forcam.com 

New Insize 

2016 Catalogue 

Out Now 

Image courtesy of Cutwel 

Cutwel, the leading UK & Ireland 

tooling supplier, have released a new 

2016 catalogue for their 

major measuring tool supplier Insize. 

The new catalogue is packed full of the 

latest measuring tool 

technology and offers a premium 

economy range that can be used in 

both shop floor and 

inspection departments. 

The Insize range includes a huge range 

of smaller Instruments such as Calipers, 

Micrometers, Dial 

Indicators and various gauges to larger 

measuring systems such as profile 

projectors, digital 

microscopes, height gauges and 

roughness testers. The majority of Insize 

products are supplied with 

a 12 month warranty and 

manufacturers inspection certificate, 

traceable to DKD (Germany). 

The catalogue is available from 

March 2016 so please request 

your hard copy today and 

contact Cutwel on 01924 869 

660 or email them at sales@ 

cutwel.net Alternatively you can 

view the full catalogue in a PDF 

format at www.cutwel.co.uk 


MEMBER NEWS 

Multi-milling options made easy 

Providing cutting tools for multiple 

materials and applications is a key 

focus for Dormer Pramet. 

This objective is typified by the 

company’s range of solid carbide end 

mills, which are suitable for the most 

popular operations. This includes 

slotting, side and face milling, ramping 

and copy milling in a wide range of 

materials. 

Its S8 and S9 assortments, marketed 

under the Dormer brand, have for 

many years provided a reliable and 

competitive milling option for common 

applications. The ranges include 

different shank styles, flute options, cut 

lengths and surface finishes, including 

bright and coated alternatives. 

Both feature a corner chamfer and 

modified end teeth geometry for 

multiple applications and materials. 

To support this assortment, Dormer 

Pramet has recently added more than 

40 new solid carbide cutters. This not 

only increases the range of applications 

covered to encompass roughing, super 

finishing and deep milling, but also 

includes material specific cutters. 

A large share of the new assortment 

comes from the S2 and S7 milling 

families. 

Dormer’s S7 program further expands 

the multi-material milling options, while 

the S2 range extends the support to 

cover difficult to machine materials. 

For example, the S7 cutters bring a 

differential pitch option, delivering 

reduced chatter, maximising swarf 

removal at high feed rates. 

It offers a variety of diameters, in short 

to extra-long lengths, numerous flute 

options, a range of coatings, as well 

as roughing profile and corner radii 

options. 

Dormer Pramet recently expanded 

this range even further with the 

introduction of the S713 and S716. 

These new cutters feature square 

corners to offer the user one tool 

capable of both roughing and 

finishing. 

The S2 family includes all the benefits 

of the S7 range, with the addition of a 

variety of neck options for deep milling 

and multi-flute options for improved 

finishing in high strength steels and 

difficult to machine materials. 

To find out more about the 

Dormer Pramet range of solid 

carbide milling cutters please 

visit www.dormerpramet.com 

or contact your local Dormer 

Pramet sales office. 

Pictured: Dormer has an extensive 

range of solid carbide milling cutters. 

Image courtesy of Dormer Pramet 

@NWAerospace 


23

MEMBER NEWS 

Image courtesy of Thomas Brown Engineering 

A new 

technology at 

Thomas Brown 

Engineering – 

the Visual FAIR 

Digital Pen & 

Paper 

First Article Inspection Reporting 

has been an important tool within 

our inspection department for a few 

years now. It has enhanced and 

simplified our inspection process 

and has become an important 

part of managing our quality 

and maintaining our AS9100c 

accreditation on a daily basis. It is 

now a vital requirement for many of 

our customers. A recent addition to 

our Visual FAIR software is a simple 

but amazingly efficient and accurate 

Digital Pen & Paper. This is a unique 

technology which makes the familiar 

act of writing First Article results with 

a pen on paper into a powerful tool 

which makes data capture more 

efficient and less susceptible to error. 

The Digital Pen & Paper allows our 

inspectors to manually collect results 

using the pen onto dimensional forms 

printed on paper with a unique 

fingerprint to the specific job at hand. 

The technology then imports the 

results directly into the FAIR software 

via the electronic pen, simultaneously 

populating any required forms such 

as AS9102 dimensional reports or 

batch data collection forms. These 

dimensional reports can then be 

tailored to meet any specific customer 

requirements. 

The process is user friendly, efficient 

and has a built in mistake proofing 

system which allows the user to check 

a box for pass or fail. This pass or fail 

result when analysed by the software 

is compared to the feature requirement 

that has been programmed in Visual 

FAIR. A result that is out of tolerance, 

but has been checked pass, will 

automatically be rejected. The system 

also records the time and date of each 

pen stroke thus allowing an accurate 

record of inspection for each and every 

component. 

We have had good feedback from 

our customers who have witnessed the 

technology and seen the benefits it can 

offer it terms of accurate inspection 

reporting. 

For more information please 

contact Tom Brown: tom@thomasbrown-engineering.co.uk 

WWW.THOMAS-BROWN- 

ENGINEERING.CO.UK 


MEMBER NEWS 

FRANKE 

BEARINGS IN 

THE AEROSPACE 

INDUSTRY 

Franke bearings are used across the 

Aerospace industry in jigs, fixtures 

& tooling, where light weight zero 

maintenance rotary & linear bearings 

are required. In Aero engine repair 

where compact high accuracy wire race 

bearings are used & in airborne radars, 

avionics & camera systems where 

light-weight aluminium bearing elements 

are essential & in cabin areas where 

our aluminium linear bearing systems 

offer weight saving over steel systems. 

Aluminium, Carbon fibre, & plastics 

replace traditional steel bearing systems, 

Slim bearings & wire race bearing 

elements offer significant space savings 

& aluminium rotary & linear bearing 

systems give over 60% weight savings 

compared to traditional bearing 

systems. The next step for Franke? 

3D printed aluminium bearings 

are already in development & will 

offer even greater weight savings 

& the possibilities for truly bespoke 

products designed exactly to suit your 

application. 

For more details please visit 

www.franke-gmbh.com or call 

us on 01772 780200 

Images courtesy of Franke bearings 

@NWAerospace 


25

SAVE THE DATE 

Save the Date 

The NWAA have a number of events 

coming up in 2016! 

Apr 

26 

May 

12 

Joint Member Forum 

AMRC & NWAA 

AMRC, Rotherham 

T: 01772 648822 

E: claire.lambert@aerospace.co.uk 

NWAA Annual 

Conference 

The Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Blackburn 

T: 01772 648822 


July 

11 - 17 

Oct 

7 

Dec 

5 

Express News 

Copy Deadlines 

For members wanting to share news. 

Mar 

24 

Farnborough 

International Air Show 

Farnborough 

T: 01772 648822 


NWAA Annual 

Aerospace Ball 

The Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Blackburn 

T: 01772 648822 


AGM and Winter Forum 

Venue: The Best Western Hotel, 

Leyland 

T: 01772 648822 


Express News Copy 

Deadline. 

T: 01772 648813 

E: kate.wright@aerospace.co.uk 

Additive 

Manufacturing 

Europe, held 

on 28th-30th 

June 2016 

RAI Amsterdam, is a new show, 

organized by Tarsus. The entire 

spectrum of additive manufacturing and 

3D printing equipment will be on show, 

with live demonstrations of working 

machinery a cornerstone of the event. 

In terms of sectors, the focus will be on 

healthcare, aerospace and automotive. 

Additive Manufacturing Europe is the 

only pan-European business-to-business 

show of its kind, hosting exhibitors 

and visitors from around the world to 

facilitate successful business exchange. 

As part of the new show, there will also 

be a 3D Printshow pavilion, focusing 

on design and prototyping. This will 

continue to attract the designers and 

innovators that are driving development 

and innovation in the industry. 

Conferences will run alongside the trade 

shows, with dedicated streams for the 

vertical sectors. 

Please visit the show website 

for more information: http:// 

www.amshow-europe.com 

Apr 

21 


Deadline. 

T: 01772 648813 


May 

19 


Deadline. 

T: 01772 648813 


Summer Plane Talk 

Copy Deadline 

For members wanting to share news. 

May 

9 

Summer Plane Talk 

Copy Deadline. 

T: 01772 648813 

E: kate.wright@aerospace. 

co.uk 

Annual Aerospace Ball 

October 7th 2016 

Watch this space, further details coming soon! 


MEMBER NEWS 

The Board 

Keith Harrison 

Silcoms 

Deputy Chairman 

01204 466070 

Ray Maddison 

T&R Precision Engineers 

Ltd 

Deputy Chairman 

01282 862116 

Steve Vandersteen 

BAE Systems 

Director 

01254 768030 

Syd Carson 

Morson Projects 

Director 

0161 707 1516 

GKN 

Aerospace 

signs new five 

year contract 

with Velocity 

Composites 

Velocity Composites Ltd announces the 

signing of a new contract that will see 

them supply aerospace manufacturer 

GKN Aerospace with structural plies for 

the next five years. 

The aerospace composite kitting solution 

provider, which has its headquarters 

in Lancashire, will supply structural cut 

composite shapes and plies to support 

GKN Aerospace’s programmes for the 

A350 XWB aircraft. Velocity will begin 

to supply GKN Aerospace’s Western 

Approach facility from January 2016. 

The two firms already have a strong 

working relationship with Velocity having 

supplied GKN Aerospace’s Luton facility 

for the last seven years. This latest contract 

strengthens links between Velocity and 

GKN Aerospace - Western Approach, 

which Velocity has been supplying for the 

last 18 months. 

Velocity Composites’ Managing Director 

Darren Ingram said: 

“This contract with GKN Aerospace - 

Western Approach is the first step in 

Velocity’s new strategic alliance with 

them. Naturally we’re delighted and 

look forward to continuing a successful 

working relationship as we support their 

delivery demands against the A350 

XWB programme. Positive discussions 

are ongoing between ourselves and 

GKN Aerospace around the potential for 

Velocity to open a third site in the Severn 

Beach area of Bristol. It’s another chapter 

in Velocity’s growth as we continue to 

build key relationships with multinational 

aerospace manufacturers and strengthen 

our position as a leading supply chain 

company.” 

To find out more about Velocity 

Composites, visit www.velocitycomposites.com. 

Norman Thompson 

Airbus 

Director 

01244 520444 

Mark Prockter 

Rolls-Royce 

Director 

01332 242424 

Martin Kelly 

Lancashire County 

Council 

Director 

01772 534172 

Anthony Hammond 

Hyde Group 

Director 

0161 3435844 

Richard Ainscough 

PM+M 

Director 

01254 679131 

Victoria Foy 

AIRCELLE 

Director 

01282 419329 

Sharon McDonald 

NWAA 

Company Secretary 

01772 648822 

@NWAerospace 


27

North West Aerospace Alliance 

Units 9 & 10 South Preston Office Village, 

Cuerden Way, Bamber Bridge, Preston PR5 6BL 

North West Aerospace Alliance 

North West Aerospace Alliance, NWAA and ASCE are all Trade Marks. 

Tel: + 44 (0) 1772 648800 

www.aerospace.co.uk 

@NWAerospace 

@takeoffnw

plane talk

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