Box clever

This month Mike Richardson discovers how specialist engineering manufacturing service subcontractor, Professional Welding Services Ltd, (now trading as PWS LTD) has evolved in order to maintain its competitive edge.

Aerospace Manufacturing and BCI Aerospace together profile world-class aerospace industry suppliers of note. This month Mike Richardson discovers how specialist engineering manufacturing service subcontractor, Professional Welding Services Ltd, (now trading as PWS LTD) has evolved in order to maintain its competitive edge.  The UK's aerospace supply chain constantly flexes with companies that battle to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. Pulled by the pressures of maintaining cost competitiveness whilst meeting ever tightening deadlines, it's sometimes all too easy to be boxed into a certain way of thinking what it is the customer wants. In today's competitive manufacturing arena, those companies that can think imaginatively and use new ideas instead of traditional methods have nothing to lose – and everything to gain! With a commitment to maintaining high business standards and customer satisfaction as well as implementing continuous improvements and being recognised as a leading strategic supplier of quality components and assemblies, PWS aims to provide a quality driven and customer focused subcontract manufacturing facility for clients requiring everything from niche market development parts through to scheduled volume batches, including complete supply chain management. The company's philosophy is one of openness, honesty and integrity, which allows it to form long-term partnerships with customers, minimise costs and provide constant high performances in both its level of service and the manufacture of components. PWS claims its key strength lies in working with customers early in the product design stage to remove waste and ensure that the blueprint of a ‘right first time' philosophy is created throughout the company. Established in 1984, the Wimborne, Dorset-based company has achieved a reputation for a high standard of service and has grown to become one of the leading subcontract companies in the South of England. As part of the Nasmyth Group of companies, PWS holds full aerospace approvals, including ISO and NADCAP, as well as memberships with the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium and A|D|S (formerly SBAC) to help increase its market presence. Partnering with these UK aerospace organisations has enabled PWS to utilise the capabilities of industrial situational awareness, productivity improvement technology, supply chain information, access industry best practice methodologies, and obtain a powerful voice in dealing with both the industry's decision makers and Government. This allows PWS to tender for projects and contracts within the aerospace and defence sectors. Survival of the fittest By 2004, PWS had realised that the major aerospace OEMs had begun looking at rationalising their supply chains by placing the responsibility of entire work packages on single source suppliers, thus reducing their overheads and eliminating the need to handle multiple contracts. PWS decided the time was right to expand its offering by integrating the whole company into a fully-fledged engineering manufacturing service provider. “The right way forward is in our ability to offer a complete ‘one stop shop' manufacturing and support solution that ensures our end customers can obtain their products through a sole source provider - rather than relying on a multitude of sources,” begins PWS' director, Terry Moore. “This enables our customers to reduce their overheads and as a result, become much leaner. It also means that we become more efficient in what we can offer our customers, because our customers receive a better product as a direct result of the changes we've made to our capabilities and our organisation too. In effect, we're all moving forward in the right direction.” With so many manufacturing technological innovations constantly being demanded by the major players in the aerospace industry, the onus is on companies like PWS to constantly evolve and keep pace with the innovations and the skill-sets required. “There is a wealth of academic knowledge available in the UK's aerospace industry, but what it sometimes lacks is practical ‘hands on' engineering knowledge,” Moore explains. “We place a great deal of emphasis on improving the practical engineering side of our operations by providing the kind of specialised aerospace solutions that have now placed us in a highly employable situation. We are turning our practical knowledge and experience to the advantage of our customers.” The scope of PWS' capabilities for the manufacture and project management of aerospace engineering components encompasses processes such as the assemblies and subassemblies of engine shrouds, developments in the insulation of engine parts, pipes and units using heat-absolving materials encased within thin gauge stainless steel, the fabrication of sheet metal components, including pipe bending, press shop details in all materials, section bending, spot welding, resistance seam welding, CNC welding, MIG/TIG welding, full 5-axis CNC machining, plus long bed machining, CAD/CAM facilities, and solution and precipitation heat treatment of aluminium products. The company manages the whole gamut of services for its customers as well as providing a full procurement management service whereby all subcontracted operations are controlled and undertaken using certified and approved companies that are widely used within the aerospace industry. And all this despite one of the biggest economic downturns since numbers were invented. Moore is bullish, claiming that PWS was still able to increase its turnover last year by 22% and is looking to do the same in 2010/11. “We've also increased our machine shopfloor area and last year purchased a new factory to take on a life extension project for the Lockheed Martin's P-3 Orion maritime long endurance aircraft,” he adds. Getting down to business The conversation turns to PWS' involvement in the Aerosolutions international business convention for aeronautics, space and defence, organised by BCI. Designed to bring together subcontractors involved in civilian and defence aerospace, the key benefit of Aerosolutions is in maintaining a business partnerships that go beyond simply helping PWS to differentiate itself from the competition. “Customers are increasingly looking to improve their businesses,” states Moore. “B2B events like Aerosolutions afford you the time and luxury to meet and discuss key issues with suppliers and customers in a way that corporate events like Paris and Farnborough rarely ever do. Face to face meetings of the calibre on offer at Aerosolutions are really beneficial and make a lot of business sense because it's a proper aerospace engineering event that really does work. The feedback I've received from the attendees that are either looking to win or place business with potential suppliers has been very positive indeed.” PWS has been involved in BCI events for many years and will once again attend this December's Aerosolutions Bordeaux. Moore welcomes companies to come and meet the PWS team and discuss their manufacturing problems: “It's only by working together that these kinds of issues can truly be resolved,” he concludes. “It's a privilege to be at the kind of event where both engineers and sales people can sit down and talk business together.” www.pwsltd.co.uk Organiser of leading industry events, BCI Aerospace is the Adhesion Group's specialised division for the aeronautics, space and defence sectors www.bciaerospace.com

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