Gould Alloys is a leading supplier of high-integrity ferrous and non-ferrous metals to both the aerospace and motor-sport industries, as well as defence, power generation and oil and gas — both exploration and production.

Established in 1984 in North East Derbyshire, close to the heart of Sheffield’s steel-manufacturing industry, the company stocks a range of materials; these include aluminium, alloy steels, stainless steels, nickel alloys, titanium and phosphor bronzes.

Gould Alloys is a long-term user of bandsaws, including Danobat machines supplied by Kettering-based Prosaw (www.prosaw.co.uk). Recently, the company bought its first circular saw — a MEGA machine, also supplied by Prosaw.

Designed to be used for cutting stainless steel and alloy billets up to 100mm in diameter, the saw’s carbide-tipped blade can cut through a billet in less than 10sec; cutting the same billet with a bandsaw could take as long as 8min.

Production manager Gary Smith says: “The MEGA saw not only helps us to drastically improve our delivery times, but also allows us to take on work with shorter lead times than we normally would.

“Moreover, since the circular saw is inherently more accurate than a bandsaw for this type of application, we save about 1mm of material per cut. This adds to the significant cost savings that we already enjoy by using this machine.”