One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of precision aerospace components has secured a string of major new contracts – just a few days after being named as a King’s Award for Enterprise winner in the international trade category.
Arrowsmith Engineering (Coventry), which is part of the rapidly growing ASG Group, has sealed long-term agreements with ITP Spain, Incora and Rolls-Royce in the UK and Germany, delivering the largest order book in its 57-year history. It marks what has been a strong export period for the business, with overseas sales rocketing by nearly 400% following the pandemic and accounting for 35% of the company’s annual £8.3 million turnover.
Precision components manufactured at its Bayton Road factory in Coventry are sent to global customers in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Singapore, and Spain for end use in aerospace engines, landing gears and air frames.
Jason Aldridge, managing director of Arrowsmith Engineering, said: “It has been some week ... from securing the King’s Award for Enterprise on Monday to announcing our largest order book, underpinned by these landmark long-term agreements with some of the biggest names in aerospace. Civil aviation - a major market for us - literally dropped off the cliff with a 40% reduction due the pandemic and we had to show good old-fashioned resilience and a fair bit of business acumen to pull through it.”
He continued: “However, now we are back and targeting our best-ever year of over £11 million sales. We have also successfully moved with changes in the sector when it comes to the location of customer production facilities. Thanks to our technical expertise, our ability to add value in design and the financial strength of the ASG Group, we have been able to secure contracts in new countries, as well as securing long-term agreements with ITP, Incora and Rolls-Royce. This gives us fantastic visibility of future orders.”
Arrowsmith Engineering, which has been re-accredited for the Silver SC21 supply chain award for quality and delivery performance, has just taken delivery of two further dual-spindle Lynx 21000ISLYA/B CNC Mills machines supplied by Leamington-based
Mills CNC. This £300,000 investment follows the success of three recently installed Lynx machines, a DN Solutions’ five-axis DVF5000, and an automated four-axis DNM4500.
A strong commitment to new technology and robotics, coupled with the creation of 10 new jobs, has given Arrowsmith the capacity and capability to win work against rivals 10-times its size. Plans are now in place to take annual sales past £25 million over the next two years and this should result in the creation of a further 15 positions, with a focus on getting more women into engineering.
Mr Aldridge added: “The King’s Award is fantastic news for our business and is testimony to how our staff have gone above and beyond to help us overcome the troubles of the pandemic and emerge even stronger. It will help us with recruitment, especially when you consider we are competing with some major carmakers and aerospace primes locally. The process is one of the most stringent in business and I’m delighted for our wonderful staff. Yes, we have invested heavily in the best technology, but our people are still our greatest asset and selling point. This Award is for them.”
Simon Weston, managing director of ASG Group, said: “As an ambitious aerospace component manufacturer with a global footprint, ASG Group strives to be synonymous with quality in safety critical markets. Serving world class customers requires continued investment in the group’s long bed and short bed CNC machining capability; but this needs to be matched with hard work and determination throughout the business.
He concluded: “ASG Arrowsmith was one of our first acquisitions and continue to be a very important strategic member of our group. The company operates to the highest world class manufacturing standards, and this is reinforced not only by the King’s Award, but the long-term customer agreements it has secured in the last week. It really is a British manufacturing success story.”