Mapal cuts lucrative aerospace deal

The ultimate value of the contract, which initially runs for three years with an option of a further two years and beyond, depends on factors that can only be determined as the project progresses, but is confidently expected to be worth millions of pounds.

For the contract, Mapal has developed specialised tools that will be used for machining composite materials as used in the manufacture of complex aircraft wing sections. The company will supply all of the tools needed for these operations for the duration of the contract and will also provide tool repair and refurbishment services. In developing the new tools Mapal claims it has successfully addressed the need to achieve high cutting performance without delaminating the composite materials.

“Representatives from the customer also visited our facilities in the UK and our research and development in Germany and they were clearly very satisfied with what they saw,” said Mapal UK's managing director, John Claypole.

“Finally, they carried out exhaustive checks on our financial position, just to be sure that they were dealing with a company that had the resources necessary to deliver on its promises!”

Mapal's customer is already using sample tools supplied by the company for preliminary work on the prototype wing sections, and will shortly take delivery of the first production tools.

www.mapal.com