Success on a plate

Amari Aerospace is a company that attributes its rapid growth from its humble beginnings in 2007 to the multi-million-pound business it is today, to one thing – service. Amari Aerospace’s general manager, David Enright says: “In an industry where our product must be consistent and conforming, service has become our USP. As our metals can’t really perform any better than those of any other supplier, maintaining and finding ways to continually improve our service has become an obsession.

“This means ensuring that our customer’s expensive machining centres are never without raw material feed stock. As a distributor, stock is key; the right stocks have to be available and well-maintained in line with customer demand for both spot business and LTA’s.”

Initially an aluminium and steel bar supplier, and still a fundamental part of the business, Amari Aerospace has grown exponentially in the aluminium plate sector with significant investment in 2000 and 7000 series plate stock and value added processing equipment.

To meet increasing demand and the need for shorter lead-times, the business has just added a third plate saw to its plant list, supplied by German manufacturer, Otto Mayer Maschinenfabrik. This recent investment provides additional capacity to facilitate Amari’s growth plans and current commitments to major OEMs and their supply chains.

The recent investment of the new equipment adding to AMA’s existing bank of 20 aluminium plate saws, will allow Amari Aerospace to reduce an already competitive cutting lead-time, whilst maintaining its rapid response capability for urgent and AOG cut plate and bar requirements.

“We need to remain price-competitive of course; reducing cost is high on most businesses’ agenda, however, genuine sustainable cost reduction rarely means cheap spot prices,” continues Enright. “Delivering on time, every time is vital to a performing, profitable supply chain. If low cost raw material is your key purchasing criteria regardless of quality of service, honestly – Amari is probably not your best supply partner option.”

Demonstrating excellence

Maintaining an SC21 Bronze award for business excellence, demonstrates Amari Aerospace’s ongoing commitment to achieving a world-class raw material supply service. Continually improving its OTIF and PPM performance are essential for its current journey towards attaining a SC21 Silver award. The company maintains that its position in the global raw materials market, achieved through consistent reliable service is down to the people-centred ethos of the business.

“We’ve been very fortunate that our investors have always been there to support the business in its ambitious growth endeavours,” Enright concludes. “With that financial strength behind us, the appropriate stock and equipment has almost become a given, allowing us to focus our attention on the people that make the business as strong as it is. They are developed, appreciated and encouraged to treat the business as if it’s their own. The expectation of respect and a duty of care we give our employees seems to get passed onto our customers. It works.”

Amari Aerospace’s success has meant it has become a strong link in the AMA, supporting its other members with aluminium plate and bar, whilst utilising the diversity of metals, strength in state of the art near net shape producing equipment, and location of the other members.

AMA was created to meet the demands of a global aerospace manufacturing industry and provide a refined structure that enables a pooling of resources and technical ‘know how’ to cover the entire range of customer requirements, through a coordinated effort with worldwide reach. AMA provides materials and supply chain management services to the world’s leading aerospace companies and currently operates from ten service centres in five countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.

www.amari-aerospace.com