Meet the Silver Award Winners – Dontaur Engineering

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Dontaur Engineering Ltd is a privately owned company established in 1976 and based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Within its group it also owns Aerospace Metal Finishers Ltd (Est 2002) who achieved SC21 Bronze in 2016. The group employs 90 people on 2 sites in Ballymena with a 110,000 sq ft manufacturing area.

Dontaur where introduced to the SC21 Programme by Bombardier in 2007 who presented to a number of their Northern Ireland suppliers and explained the benefits that SC21 could bring to any company who wished to get involved in the programme. Bombardier then became Dontaur’s sponsor and both companies have worked closely ever since.

Dontaur achieved SC21 Bronze February 2011 for the first time, maintaining it until SC21 Silver October 2013, when they reached Silver level for the first time. They have now reconfirmed this incredible achievement.

Their objective for the future is to be the best supplier to all their customers, giving them a world class experience. Dontaur is happy to maintain its Silver Accreditation at present with the potential for the Gold Award in the future.

“Why did we first get involved in the SC21 programme?

  • Better communication throughout the workforce (open door policy)
  • Cleaner, safer and more ergonomic working environment and better floor space utilization and flow through Kanban.
  • Developed more collaborative relationships with Customers and Suppliers through RMM
  • Opportunities to quote on packages of new work which may not have been available before.
  • Prevention rather than cure.
  • Less internal defects and rework.

Due to consistantly achieving excellent Delivery Performance results, Dontaur has now increased the OTD Target to 97%. Dontaur has introduced the OEE software to 15 off our CNC machines to monitor and improve the companies efficiency moving forward.

Since first obtaining SC21 it has helped Dontaur greatly internally by allowing us to show all employees and customers factual, up-to-date quality and delivery figures which are continually maintained and updated. It also helps with gaining potential new customers.”

Robert Elliott – Quality Assurance Manager

Paul Hicklin – Procurement Manager

Meet the Silver Award Winners – Intelliconnect Europe Ltd

Posted by & filed under Silver Award Winners, Aerospace, Defence, News & Events.

In the early 2000s, the UK had been abandoned by the RF connector manufacturing industry. A solution quickly came in the form of Intelliconnect in 2003. The UK company joined forces with an innovative US operation a year later and has grown rapidly since its inception, becoming a market leader in design-led RF components. Their broad range of cable assemblies includes a variety of products from ribbon assemblies and wiring looms through to low loss cables, and cryogenic cables. Each is individually tested. They manufacture and supply a wide range of RF connectors and Pisces range of waterproof connectors.

The company joined SC21 in Jan 2015 and became a bronze award winner in 2016, stepping up to Silver in 2018. Since then, they have maintained the Silver award level.

Their focus is on becoming their chosen markets’ leader and grow overall business by 42% in 2023. They are keen to integrate into the wider Trexon family, leveraging synergies to further embed ourselves with our key customers.

Gareth Phillips, Intelliconnect’s Managing Director, said:

“Intelliconnect are easy to do business with. Our award winning customer service and no barriers to entry make Intelliconnect the best choice for precision design and build RF connectors and cable assemblies.”

“We became an SC21 Signatory in Jan 2015 as a Self-Starter as it has provided a framework for us to manage our business in an efficient, sustainable manner and provides a vehicle for continuous improvement and growth.

The Strategic planning has yielded a 92.4% revenue growth and cost as % of revenue reducing by 16% Internal Quality improvement from 93.77% to 96.77%.

OTIF Delivery Performance has improved from 95.67% to 96.14% whilst units shipped increased by 13.7%.

Customer quality saw a slight reduction due to two large orders of LF product that were not finished to the correct standard with 99.58% vs 99.96% LFY.”

Steve Groves, Sales and Marketing Director, said: “SC21, its methodology, and vigorous assessment has been instrumental in allowing us to grow our business 4 fold in three years whilst maintaining the highest levels of service and quality for our customers, and driving a double digit reduction in our costs. We are proud of our Silver award and the business that it has helped us to become.”

Some words from Olaide Olaoye, ASC Associates’ Managing Partner and their Master Practitioner for SC21:

“A lot of good things have happened since the last submission, 12 months ago:

  • Intelliconnect has continued with its ever-upward driving of business, operational and relationship management excellence, with a resultant doubling of revenue (from ~£4m in 2021 to ~£8m in 2022), and a 16% reduction of operating cost as a percentage of revenue.
  • On the back of this habitual year-on-year improvement in performance, in the last quarter of 2022, Intelliconnect was acquired by the Trexon Group – https://trexonglobal.com/ and Roy Phillips has now “passed the baton” onto Gareth Phillips, who takes over as the new Managing Director.

On behalf of the SC21 community, I offer our collective thanks to Roy for truly believing in and exploiting the power of SC21 as a Continuous Improvement Framework to drive business growth, in the past 8 years, with spectacular success. In that time period, Roy also developed a great team of leaders, who are now worthy successors. Roy – thank you.

Gareth and his leadership team are very proud of their achievements and are poised for further growth in the coming years. Intelliconnect is a true case study of how to use business, operations and relationship management excellence to drive business growth and sectorial leadership.”

Here their company video, presented by Roy Phillips, ex MD of the company.

Company video by Roy Phillips, ex MD of the company

Meet the Silver Award Winners – ASG Arrowsmith

Posted by & filed under News & Events, Silver Award Winners, Aerospace.

Arrowsmith Engineering Ltd is a centre of excellence in Aerospace Precision. The company has been established for over 55 years and holds substantial aerospace accreditations, including AS9100, NADCAP, ISO 14001, Queens Award for International trade & is currently a SC21 OE Silver award holder.

Signed up to SC21 in 2008, they gained Bronze award in 2013, before progressing to Silver in 2016. They held awards since 2013. In 2017 they successfully conducted a pilot study, a final assessment for SC21 C&G and a SC21 project in 2021.

Objectives for the future of the company are:

  • Focus on controlling key measures
  • On-going improvements throughout the business
  • Maintain our KPIs (performance) whilst increasing our turnover
  • Expand customer portfolio

How are they going to do this?

  • Maintaining award status and live CSIP
  • Pushing for SC21 Gold
  • Generally support the SC21 community
  • Looking to achieve £7.4m by March 2023

As a nominated key supplier to a Blue Chip clientele, Arrowsmith has the ability to consistently manufacture and supply quality machined parts fully certified, on time and right first time.

They get involved the first time with SC21 to drive the business forward the Rolls-Royce Supplier Planning with an assessment score in 2018 of 93%.

Arrowsmith turnover grew from £6.6m in 2018 to £7.8m in 2020 but dropped to £4.3m during Covid.

They are looking to achieve £7.4m by March 2023 and more than £8m during the following year.

They introduced:

  • Doosan CoBot 2019 Automated cell, Robotics to production parts in 2019;
  • Automated 8 pallet system in 2022
  • Further digitilisation and automation underway.

Arrowsmith has invested considerably to further increase capability, capacity and quality of service, and has seen all the possible benefits from the adoption of the SC21 programme:

  • Leaner production
  • Leaner processes
  • Reduced set-up time
  • Waste reduction
  • Workforce involvement / motivation
  • Improved workforce skills
  • Improved use of internal business information
  • Improved customer / supplier relationships
  • Improved quality performance over the past 12 months
  • Improved delivery performance over the past 12 months

A quote from the Managing Director, Jason Aldridge:

“We are very proud of this achievement as achieving and maintaining the SC21 Silver award level is not an easy task but the whole company has displayed the necessary commitment and attitude to support SC21 every step of the way. We are striving for SC21 Gold but it is very difficult with material and process house supply being effected.”

Video interview for Farnborough 2022

Meet the Bronze Award Winners – Aerospace Metal Finishers Ltd (AMF)

Posted by & filed under Bronze Award Winners, Aerospace, News & Events.

Aerospace Metal Finishers was founded in 2002 with a vision of becoming one of the world’s leading special process finishing companies for the Aerospace Industry. They obtained several approvals from some Leading Customers on the market during time:

  • In 2003 they gained their first Prime approvals with Bombardier (now Spirit AeroSystems).
  • In 2008 they gained approval for Boeing.
  • In 2010 they gained approval for Airbus UK and then Airbus Germany in 2015.
  • In 2014 they gained approval for MOOG Aerospace.
  • In 2017 they gained Safran Aircelle approval.
  • By 2020 they began BAE special process approval.

They signed up to SC21 in early 2014, gaining Bronze Award in September 2016 and maintaining it.

Their aspirations for the future are:

  • To build on existing strong foundations and recognitions within our industry offering an excellent service to all current and potential customers;
  • Plan to progress in 2023 to be considered for Silver award status upon their bronze re-assessment.

A quote from Roger Smyth, their Operations Manager: “Aerospace Metal Finishers Limited pride ourselves on ensuring we provide the best possible service in both quality and delivery to all our customers on a consistent basis.”

“SC21 has given us the tools we need to lead in a challenging and competitive marketplace. Change is good for business and as we evolve we have been able to differentiate ourselves from the competition. We continually ask ourselves, how can we improve, how can we create opportunity? We always ask our customer, where are your pain points, how can we be a better supplier? Post pandemic, we ask – how can we be your best supplier?”

“Our customers see us as partners providing solutions. We see ourselves as an extension of our customers.

That alignment and shared vision is our very essence, forming the basis of our communication and building our business relationships.”

Meet the Silver Award Winners – Allan Webb Ltd

Posted by & filed under Silver Award Winners, Defence, News & Events.

Allan Webb Ltd was founded in 1960, in Middlesex, as a Cataloguing and Codification contractor for the Ministry of Aviation, the War Office and the Ministry of Supply. In 1970 its Stonehouse office was setup in order to better service the Navy in Bath and Cheltenham. Today their HQ is Stonehouse, they have an office in Barrow and operations in Glasgow, Bristol and Portsmouth. The UK Defence sector still remains their key market however they have a diversified portfolio of services and markets including the Defence industry, UK Rail and overseas.

They began working under the SC21 Framework in 2014, gaining a Bronze Award in 2015 and retaining Silver level since 2018. Their mission is to be the leaders in intelligent use of clients’ data.

They intend to maintain Silver status as we continue to grow and develop utilising the skills developed from the framework.

Allan Webb Limited is a leading supplier of Technical Documentation, Inventory Management, NATO Codification, Obsolescence Management, Procurement, Supportability Engineering, Data Capture and Training services; developing solutions and providing vital support to both government and commercial clients for nearly 60 years.

Allan Webb first engaged with SC21 in an effort to improve their day to day processes and embed a culture of continuous improvement within the company. They strongly believed that this framework would assist in encouraging them to capture important data from Stakeholder perception with the overall aim to improve AWL’s services/people’s experiences when dealing with them and to further increase their standing within the defence and aerospace sector.

Since the start of their SC21 journey, AWL has seen a considerable improvement in Delivery and Quality performance and consistency, exceeding an average of 99.5% in both KPIs in any given month over the past 5 years. They have introduced a statistical method of quality assessments by capturing error rates and types in order to identify areas for improvement. Introducing a CSIP has helped focus how they go about the process for continual improvement, they have also seen an increase in employee contribution in improving their processes. Regular customer feedback now also drives change at AWL as they track satisfaction of both employees and customers. Finally, the company has grown steadily since they started SC21.

They have seen all sort of benefits coming from the introduction of SC21:

  • Leaner production
  • Leaner processes
  • Reduced set-up time
  • Waste reduction
  • Workforce involvement / motivation
  • Improved workforce skills
  • Improved use of internal business information
  • Improved customer / supplier relationships
  • Improved quality performance over the past 12 months
  • Improved delivery performance over the past 12 months

“The SC21 Framework has played a crucial role in AWL’s growth since its inception in 2014. Now embedded in the daily operations of the company, employee involvement, satisfaction and performance levels have increased annually which has seen a knock on effect on customer’s perceptions of AWL.”

Colin Peace – Head of Project Management Office

Rory Lipington – Managing Director

Meet the Bronze Award Winners – Stoneswood Precision Components Ltd (SPC)

Posted by & filed under News & Events, Defence, Aerospace, Bronze Award Winners.

Stoneswood Precision Components Ltd (SPC) are a small engineering company based in Dukinfield, UK. Part of a privately owned group its core competences are the machining and assembly of metallic components. Established in 1977, the current premises were erected in 1990 and in 2004 SPC signed an RSP with Airbus, which extends to 2023.

The company is gone through rebranding during time. Originally they had a dedicated facility to supply leading edge details to Airbus on the A400M programme.

SPC operates on a single shift and concentrates on long term strategic contracts. The business has 8 multi-pallet machining centres, along with minor mechanical assembly and CMM inspection capabilities. SPC have extended their capabilities to offer AOG and UOR services.

This is the first SC21 re-assessment after their first Bronze award, issued in 2021. The foundations of SC21 have led them to focus on the CSIP. Even though the Covid Pandemic has impacted on these activities, their goal remains to maintain and enhance business performance through a stable Bronze standard of performance before they move towards Silver.

(Thomas) Charles Day, Stoneswood Precision Components’ Managing Director reports that their mission is: “Engineered to deliver, empowered to delight. To develop the business to be a leading supplier of hard and soft metal components with primary focus on strategic contracts”.

He would like his company “to be seen ubiquitously throughout the Aerospace markets as a class leading manufacturing organisation. Through the learning offered with SC21, and from previous improvement programmes, we are confident in achieving this aim.”

He continues:

“Following on from the SIG programme, Stoneswood would like to gain the recognition of being a world class manufacturing organisation and see SC21 as the catalyst to achieving industry recognition. The SC21 framework offers a structured approach for development and peer recognition as progress is achieved.”

They have seen this tangible benefits after the adoption of the SC21 programme:

  • 110kg per year reduction use of plastics through societal benchmarking
  • Embarked on BSI14001 with audits due QTR1 2022
  • Won new customer (BAE Maritime) who strongly advocated SC21 as a industry standard benchmark
  • Started to use CpK for key processes (CMM)
  • Leaner production
  • Leaner processes
  • Waste reduction
  • Workforce involvement / motivation
  • Improved use of internal business information
  • Improved customer / supplier relationships
  • Improved quality performance over the past 12 months

Charles stated: “It is with great enthusiasm that we have embarked on our journey with SC21, which has unfortunately been tinged with the effects of COVID in stalling some activities. The coming year will no doubt bring further challenges as we recover, however the journey we now find ourselves on will be one of excitement and trepidation on what we can truly achieve.”

Meet the Bronze Award Winners – Kaefer Ltd Devonport (Plymouth)

Posted by & filed under News & Events, Defence, Aerospace, Bronze Award Winners.

KAEFER in the UK & Ireland serves a large and growing range of industries with asset integrity services. These services include access solutions, insulation, inspection & testing, protective coatings, asbestos management and more – generating an annual turnover of circa £250 Million. The company currently has 8 operating centres across the UK and Ireland, employing approximately 3,000 highly skilled and experienced people.

The organisation has supported Babcock Marine in Portsmouth for a number of years providing, initially painting and blasting services then introducing scaffolding and composite services.

Signed to SC21 in December 2013, they engaged again in November 2019, completing the Manufacturing Excellence Assessment and building their CSIP. In December 2019 they completed their Business Excellence Assessment and received Bronze Award Status for the first time.

Kaefer Ltd strategic aim is to have SC21 award status at all Royal Navy sites. Their ambition is growth through additional products and services.

The organisation is committed to striving for Bronze then Silver Award status, before progressing towards Gold Award Status.

Richard Cornish, Business Manager of the company, said: “Kaefer Ltd Devonport has built a strategic relationship with Babcock International Ltd delivering Paint, Blast and scaffolding core capabilities to a very high standard. The operational team at Kaefer are fully engaged in nurturing and embedding that relationship by continually improving and expanding their offering.

Kaefer Ltd corporate decided to engage all major Marine Contracts on the ADS SC21 program to a minimum of Bronze Award status. So we engaged with BAE Systems and they remain fully committed to and supportive of our progress.

The organisation has its own Lean Learning teams and these have been engaged in developing an informal 5S program across the warehousing. Further the local team have started process mapping activities which have led to improvements in operational activity. The wide workforce is engaged in delivering continuous improvement ideas – which become elements on their CSIP.

Working with the teams across the SC21 program is building confidence within the Kaefer organisation that we can become ‘best in class’ operators.”

They have experienced the following benefits from the adoption of SC21:

  • Leaner processes
  • Reduced set-up time
  • Waste reduction
  • Workforce involvement / motivation
  • Improved use of internal business information
  • Improved customer / supplier relationships
  • Improved quality performance over the past 12 months
  • Improved delivery performance over the past 12 month

 

Meet the Bronze Award Winners – Stadium IGT

Posted by & filed under News & Events, Defence, Aerospace, Bronze Award Winners.

Privately owned from 1987 to 2012, Stadium IGT Ltd was acquired by the Stadium Group and in April 2018 acquired by TT Electronics. A market leader established over 30 years, Stadium IGT is committed to the development of innovative interface solutions. These include fully customised HMI control assemblies, touchscreens, capacitive switching, integral RFI screening, membrane keypads and the latest technology in capacitive touch screens and capacitive switch control panels with thin film backlighting with LED illumination.

Stadium IGT has been a bronze award holder since 2011 and continuously improved their activities by adopting the tools and technique made available within the SC21 program. SC21 helped them:

  • With waste reduction
  • With workforce involvement/motivation
  • Improving workforce skills
  • Improving use of internal business information
  • Improving customer/supplier relationship

They are planning for continued growth and development with an emphasis in Defence, Aerospace and Transport markets.

“Having attained the AS 9100 Aerospace Standard in 2021 along with having held the SC21 Bronze Award in recent years, we are now ready to progress towards the SC21 Silver Award.
2021/2022  have been very challenging years not only due to the COVID pandemic, but also material shortages worldwide and higher shipping cost. I am confident and extremely excited about the company’s future as we look forward to the continued growth and development of our business.

We work closely with our customers at the early stage of the development process in partnership to provide design, engineering and integration expertise for control panel assemblies. With over 30 years’ experience in HMI assemblies, we understand integration.

From electronics, software and mechanical design to choosing the right interface and technology for your application, we work as an extension of your team to help you get to market faster.

Our in-house design and engineering team can work with you to develop innovative and functional designs. We provide manufacturing solutions including PCBA, integration and assembly full build. Fully managed from concept to delivery, we provide full certification and qualification testing.”

Vince Light

Managing Director

Business Connections Exchange – Meet the Buyer at Sustainable Skies World Summit 2023

Posted by & filed under News & Events, Events.

Global aerospace and defence primes, first tier suppliers and systems integrators, world-leading providers of power systems, and global helicopter manufacturers are being lined up for a Meet the Buyer event  next month.

It’s an initiative is being delivered through the ADS Supply Chain Solutions Framework, and in partnership with Farnborough International and we invite our supply chain colleagues to express an interest.

ADS Head of Aerospace, Ed Raggett, commented “We are really pleased to be able to deliver the Business Connection Exchange at Sustainable Skies World Summit 2023 to enable UK suppliers to develop meningful business connections in our commitment to delivering Net Zero”.

What is Business Connections Exchange?

Business Connections Exchange (BCE) delivers an improved format and platform for ‘Meet the Buyer/Prime’ type events by creating a diverse networking capability for buyers and suppliers across traditional aerospace / defence / security / space sectors,

For Sustainable Skies World Summit 2023 we are focusing on capability for Fuel Cells, Hydrogen, and Electrical Propulsion.

Buyer Requirements

A more detailed requirements list* is included on the Expression of Interest form, which covers 7 key areas:

  • Hydrogen Fuel System & Storage
  • Fuel Cells
  • Thermal Management
  • Sustainable Aviation Fuel Incl. Storage
  • Electrical Propulsion Systems
  • Aerodynamic Structures
  • Design Capability

Business Connections Exchange event is free for all ADS members. Non-ADS members will be charged a fee if selected to participate. Please complete the Expression of Interest Form to apply to participate as a Supplier for this Business Connections Exchange event.

If you have technologies, products or services that are listed in the buyer requirements list (Question 12 of the form), please select the relevant options, and provide additional details of your specific offering (Question 13).

The application window for suppliers closes on 31 March at 12:00 pm.

ADS will collate all submissions, send them to the relevant buyers in a UK Capability Brochure and ask them to confirm which suppliers they wish to meet. We will then work with all buyers and suppliers to confirm the meetings which can take place in the dedicated B2B area or on your stand (if you are an exhibitor).

Find out more about Sustainable Skies World Summit 2023 and register as a visitor.

Meet the Gold Award Winners – IPC Mouldings

Posted by & filed under Gold Award Winners, News & Events, Aerospace.

What do you do?

IPC Mouldings, based in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland has 25 years experience as a collaborative supply chain partner in aircraft interiors providing a full service offering mould tool deign and manufacture, CNC machining, injection moulding and final assembly. We support our customer from planning stage, through testing, production and aftermarket ensuring excellence in quality and delivery performance through product whole life cycle.

Why did you choose to participate in SC21?                                                   

Although a successful and profitable business, in 2011, we identified that our company was not metrics driven, was not looking to the future, had no clear succession plan and faced a number of challenges. We were not quoting on new business as we were very focused on one major customer. We had become stagnant and needed to move from a transaction based relationship with our customers to become a trusted supply chain partner.

What has SC21 helped you to achieve?

Economic batch runs against customer forecast in place to reduce cost. Value add proposals discussed with customer to share cost reductions of £243k. Overall Q & D Performance increased from 89.4% to over 99% sustained since 2013 Training programmes in place to upskill existing staff and quarterly team briefs to report and discuss performance ensuring staff engagement. Headcount increase from 20 in 2011 to 38. In July 2019 IPC were awarded their largest ever single contract by aerospace customer – value $1m.

What would you say about SC21?

“In 2018 our products travelled with over 900 million passengers. The next time you are flying take a look at the seats around you. There is a high probability that some of the parts you are looking at were manufactured in Northern Ireland by IPC Mouldings” – John McPherson, SC21 Champion

“It’s fantastic to see IPC Mouldings achieve the SC21 Gold Performance Standard Award. In such a competitive market, it’s important that supply chain performance continues to improve and maintain exceptional standards. Through their hard work and dedication to SC21, IPC has proven that they have the necessary skills to deliver world class products and Collins Aerospace is delighted to have played a key role in supporting the company. Congratulations to all the team on this outstanding achievement.” – Stuart McKee, Collins Aerospace

Article on IPC Mouldings’ website

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