£130,000 investment launches aerospace export trail

An investment of £130,000 in a new sliding head CNC machine is said to be paying handsome dividends for a Leeds engineering business with an initial order for US aerospace parts worth a third of the machine's price.

Kingfisher (Lubrication) is machining thousands of hexagonal grease fittings from an exotic Cu-Ni alloy for a North American aerospace customer.

“Machining trials began once a European source for the material was determined but, because of extended lead times it seemed the business was going to be lost,” said Kingfisher chairman and managing director John Fisher. “However, the purchase of the new 20mm sliding head machine enabled us to process the parts from the more readily available material and fulfil this urgent order with the first batch of parts completed and air freighted to the USA in just six weeks.

“We have long been an approved manufacturer supplying aerospace standard steel zinc-plated grease fittings into the USA. This addition to our range of Cu-Ni grease fittings for America and the first order for the larger fittings will go a long way to paying back our investment.”

www.kingfisherlub.co.uk