Over the past 40 years, Shannon Precision Engineering has grown from a small sub-contract jobbing shop into one of Ireland’s major machinists, working for many industry sectors; these include automotive, hydraulics, oil and gas, ‘clean-tech’, temperature control (transport), power generation, medical device and rail. The company also has plans to make in-roads into the aerospace sector.

Shannon Precision (www.spe.ie) has made significant investments in its CNC turning and milling capacity, and the company now has more than 30 machines; it also works with customers to ‘re-engineer’ processes that “deliver a better solution and reduce manufacturing costs”.

This investment has seen it win back work that was initially ‘offshored’ to low-cost economies during the financial crash some 10 years ago — thanks to the ability to make processes leaner, improve work-flow and reduce work in progress. Winning this work was also helped by the move to the company’s current premises in 2014.

Managing director Dominic Murphy says: “Bringing all of our production under one roof, after working from two separate units for a long time, allowed us to enhance our prototyping activities, improve our supply chain and work closer with customers on their projects. As a result, turnover has doubled in the last three years.”

Currently, Shannon Precision’s work is an even split; one half is machining materials such as cast iron, ductile iron and forgings; the other half is the production of components in hardened steel and more-difficult-to-machine materials.

Furthermore, with aerospace being part of the future for Shannon Precision, a new extension will be dedicated to this type of work, keeping the more-traditional work separate and creating the right environment for aerospace customers.

In addition to the increase in floor space, the company has also made changes to prepare for the new challenges that aerospace will bring. These changes include gaining accreditation to AS9100 (in January 2017), restructuring its shopfloor working practices, with team leaders having greater responsibility, and SQDC (safety, quality, delivery and cost) boards in place to monitor ‘key metrics’ at cell level.

Mr Murphy says: “Over the past two years, we have scrutinised what we do and how we do it — basically, challenging ourselves to do things better.

"There are few companies in Ireland with the capabilities that we have to take on projects involving multiple parts and the supply chain that goes with it; moreover, we are committed to further investment in people and machinery in order to achieve our target annual growth of 15%.

"Aerospace is seen as a natural fit for Shannon Precision, which is why we have become a member of the Emerald Aerospace cluster and are now working with other manufacturing businesses in Ireland.”

Shannon Precision has worked closely with Sheffield-based WNT (www.wnt.com) as a tooling partner for the past 11 years, during which time WNT’s applications experience has played a big part in cost reductions and process improvement.

Typical of such projects is the production of a tension-arm component that is produced at a rate of 50,000 per annum.

Working with Shannon Precision’s operations manager Nikos Mylonas on the rough-turning, finish-turning and boring operations on these components, WNT’s Shane O’Donnell has improved productivity and reduced manufacturing costs by almost 50%; this equates to a weekly saving of 1,663 euros, with the biggest saving coming on the rough-turning operation, where machining costs have been reduced by over 75%.

In conclusion, Mr Murphy said: “The support from WNT has been invaluable. Tooling is a big part of what we do and WNT’s willingness to work with us on projects at management and shopfloor level has paid dividends; it also forms an integral part of our drive for continuous improvement across the business.”