Senior Aerospace selected for competitiveness programme

To help deliver significant future growth, aerospace composite specialists Senior Aerospace BWT has been selected for Sharing in Growth, the government-backed supply chain competitiveness programme.

The Macclesfield-based company, which employs around 380 staff, has secured significant orders in the regional and business jet markets and will now work with Sharing in Growth (SiG) to grow turnover by more than 50% over the next three years. Together they will ensure orders are fulfilled successfully and more contracts and local jobs are secured.

Part of Senior UK Limited, Senior Aerospace BWT supplies ultra-lightweight components to world-leaders such as Bombardier, Embraer, Gulfsteam, Mitsubishi, Boeing, Irkut and Leonoardo, with 95% of its annual turnover being exported.  The company has now been formally accepted onto the SiG programme, having been through a robust 12-week business diagnostic to establish suitability.

 

The programme will help ensure efficiency and cost-reduction through driving operational excellence based on continuous improvement techniques supported by SiG’s on-site lean manufacturing experts.  The intense four-year £250 million SiG training and development programme will also focus on leadership, culture and strategy delivered by SiG’s own 120 strong team of business coaches as well as a bank of experts including The University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, Deloitte, Industry Forum and the National Physical Laboratory.

To meet the global £60 billion demand for composites, Senior Aerospace BWT has just invested in a £1 million composite research and development centre which will play an innovative role in producing the next generation of products to underpin Senior BWT’s ambitious growth plans. These include the application of RT2i^TM, a disruptive technology for manufacturing complex shape 3D composite parts, and 3D printing technology.

Senior Aerospace BWT chief executive officer Darren Butterworth said: “While Senior Aerospace BWT is already a successful business, our recent contract awards on the majority of regional and business new aircraft platforms mean that we need to adapt to meet customer expectations for a ramp up in production while focusing on delivery performance, cost and quality.

“Working with Sharing in Growth we have access to world-class training, coaching and guidance which will help us increase our capability and meet our growth plans in the face of global competition.”

The SiG programme is endorsed by Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, GE, GKN, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales. It is supported by the Regional Growth Fund and more than £150 million in private investment.

Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page added: “We are delighted to welcome Senior Aerospace BWT onto our programme and want to play a pivotal role in ensuring they can fulfil their innovation and business ambitions. Since its inception in 2013 Sharing in Growth has delivered more than 1.7 million training hours. We have helped more than 50 companies to secure contracts and sustain growth by transforming their business strategy, improving workforce and leadership skills, and achieving new levels of operational performance in quality, productivity, cost, and delivery. ”

With SiG support, the first 43 companies on the programme have secured around £2 billion in contracts to date – almost 20% of which is for direct export. Consequently, having secured 3,000 jobs, SiG is well on target to hit its ultimate objective of safeguarding 10,000 UK jobs by 2022.

Companies interested in joining the SiG programme can complete an expression of interest form which is available at www.sig-uk.org/apply.