Precision manufacturing company completes £700k investment

Published by

Nicky Godding

A Warwickshire precision manufacturing specialist has completed a £700,000 investment drive.

Technoset, which employs 25 people at its facility in Rugby, has installed four new lathes and a state-of-the-art laser scanning device to support the machining and measurement of complex components for customers involved in the Aerospace (Civil and Defence), Medical and Fibre Optics markets.

Supported by the Manufacturing Growth Programme, the company has also successfully worked towards and secured AS9100 Rev D, a quality accreditation fast becoming a prerequisite for winning and maintaining high profile contracts in the aerospace sector.

The award will ensure it can deliver more than £1.4 million of orders to produce engine, actuation, interior lighting and landing gear parts.

Kevan Kane, Managing Director of Technoset, said: “The business started life completing high volume/low value work, but this has evolved over the 40 years so that we are now recognised as a manufacturer of complex and specialist parts designed to be used in demanding environments.

“This has only been achieved due to a commitment to continually investing in our capabilities, the technology we use and in attracting the best talent. The £700,000 investment is a prime example and this gives us the platform now to take on more LTAs (longer-term agreements) and add to the current £2.2 million turnover.”

He continued: “Critical to our future growth was securing the AS9100 Rev D quality award, which is a very demanding and stringent process with Rev D containing a stronger focus on risk management.

“As a SME this can be a very time consuming exercise so the Manufacturing Growth Programme provided us with a continuous improvement project/plan and then part-funded a specialist consultant to work with us on refining our operations and developing new strategies.

Technoset, which is part of the Techno Group, uses multi-axis turning and milling centres to manufacture turned products from 0.4mm to 200mm and milled components up to 1000mm by 500mm.

The company works with a wide range of common, high performance and more exotic materials, including Nimonic, Titanium, Colsibro, Berylco, Arcap, Ferretic Stainless Precipitation and Austenitic Stainless.

In the last year, the firm has also developed export relationships now supplies into China, France and the USA.

Michelle Connor, Manufacturing Growth Manager at MGP, added: “This is a great example of how targeted business support can help a manufacturer unlock new opportunities and safeguard contracts.

“By introducing the management to a specialist in the AS9100 process, we freed up valuable time for its managers to focus on core business activities and this has already led to the development of new actuator parts that control the flaps on the trailing wing of the aircraft. This is now a 5-year order.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.