Brierley Hill-based
Alloy Wire International is looking to capitalise on a significant return in aerospace volumes when it heads to the
Farnborough International Airshow, which takes place 22-26 July. The company, which has manufacturing sites in the West Midlands and Yorkshire, has seen its aviation business rise to 10% of its £18 million turnover, and is expecting this to rise further with post-Covid-19 travel volumes on the up.
Supplying the sector for more than 20 years, AWI currently produces and ships Nimonic 90, Waspaloy, Haynes 282 and Inconel 600 to customers who then use the materials for a range of uses including fuselage frames, sealing rings and fuel pipes hoses. All grades are chosen for their heat and corrosion-resistant properties and because they perform in some of the most demanding and harshest operating environments in the world.
AWI managing director Tom Mander said: “There is no margin for error in aerospace. That is why our commitment to providing the highest-quality round, flat and profile wire is so valued and it is these core attributes that we will be showcasing at Farnborough (Stand 1320). It really is the ‘apex of aviation’ and will give us the opportunity to promote our wire in front of more than 75,000 visitors from 102 different countries — the diversity of delegate is of massive interest considering we export to 60 different countries.”
AWI, which has held the aerospace AS9100 quality standard since 2013, is helping to support the sector’s move to lightweighting, with major aerospace manufacturers and Tier Ones keen to explore the use of different materials.
This is where our company’s growing technical team and in-house testing capabilities come to the fore, providing customers with immediate support on key questions and the results on switching from one alloy to another. There has also been a major change in the desire for the supply chain to be ‘greener’ and more sustainable and AWI is leading the way by being carbon neutral since 2021.
Mr Mander concluded: “We will have six experts on the stand at any one time to offer that level of technical knowledge and we are really looking forward to meeting up with existing and new clients to discuss their wire requirements. In addition to our excellent customer service, we have also just completed the installation of £200,000 of new equipment, ranging from two single-block drawing machines and a four-spindle spooler to a three-hole dry drawing machine. This will give us the ability to reduce lead times even further, while also offering customers in the aerospace sector access to larger-volume quantities.”