Sharing in Growth demonstrates aerospace supply chain best practice

The three were selected from 11 finalists who presented case studies at the Sharing in Growth (SiG) 2018 All Star showcase. This annual event demonstrated the value of the SiG aerospace competitiveness programme through a series of top industry insights and best practice case studies.

Additive manufacturing specialist, LPW Technology of Runcorn took the top trophy with precision engineers Produmax of Baildon and PCB manufacturer Amphenol Invotec taking the runners up trophies. The trophies are named after Sharing in Growth’s values (Ikigai, Inspire and Integrity) and highlight the areas where the winning companies excelled when presenting case studies at the annual event.

Supported by Sharing in Growth (SiG) since 2016, LPW is successfully targeting 30% year on year increases in sales by creating a new market and plans to hit £45 million turnover by 2022. The company is opening a new £20 million purpose-built additive powder manufacturing plant in Widnes, has created around 70 jobs in the last two years and expects to recruit another 120 by 2020.

Produmax, global experts in flight control components and assemblies, joined SiG in 2014 and last year won the first Sharing in Growth Ikigai top trophy. The judges selected Produmax for the Inspire award this year because the Yorkshire company has put engagement and people development at the centre of the business. With SiG support, Produmax has increased turnover by 55%, increased headcount by 60% to 70 people and secured contracts worth over £50 million.

Winners of the Integrity trophy were Amphenol Invotec who also joined SiG in 2014. The company, which has plants in Tamworth and Telford, is investing £1.4 million to deliver export growth. With SiG support, the company has aligned its organisation and culture to meet its business ambition of £34 million in turnover by 2020 from £23 million in 2017.

An audience of almost 200 attendees from sector supply chain companies, prime customers including Airbus, Boeing, GKN Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales, government, banks and industry bodies, such as ADS, ATI, BeTheBusiness, Business Growth Fund, NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland and Semta, enjoyed an event crammed with value-added presentations which culminated in the Sharing in Growth Awards dinner.

Katherine Bennett OBE, senior vice president of Airbus delivered the keynote address, praising SiG, the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Aerospace Growth Partnership for supporting the UK aerospace supply chain become fitter to deal with future challenges such as Brexit.

SiG CEO Andy Page commented: “Companies on our Sharing in Growth programme have secured more than £2.4 billion in contract and around 4,300 jobs. This is equivalent to over 22,000 man years of high value work. So we are raising skills and leadership capability in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy and are on track to secure over £60 of contract value for every £1 of government investment. Today’s case studies have raised the bar. The results are outstanding and show that Sharing in Growth has the scope and scale to tackle the UK’s productivity and competitiveness challenge.”

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