Turbine repair company ATL gears up for growth

Dundee turbine component repair expert ATL is planning to quadruple its sales after joining Sharing in Growth, the government-backed national productivity programme.

The company was selected for Sharing in Growth (SiG), which supports aerospace supply chain companies to be more competitive, after completing a 12 week diagnostic to determine readiness to compete for a larger share of the £4 billion UK aero engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market.

With support from SiG, the 30 year old company plans to secure annual sales of around £20 million by 2022 through a total business transformation that will include improving operational and shopfloor efficiency, investing in recruitment and training and upgrading its back office and production support systems.

ATL, which is part of the Foresight Group, employs 65 highly skilled staff and its aerospace, defence and industrial turbine customers include Rolls-Royce, Siemens, MTU, Alba Power, and Iberia. Its growth plans will mean winning new customers and expanding business with its existing customer base. It is estimated that up to 65 new jobs could be created in the next five years.

Following a downturn in business in 2015 driven by the decommissioning of the Royal Air Force Tornado fighter jet, ATL has made a significant recovery, recording year-on-year growth in turnover of around 35% to more than £5m in 2017.

ATL CEO Kerr Picken said: “We are on an upwards curve and have set ourselves a really ambitious sales target because there is huge opportunity in the MRO market. Having carefully listened to the unique challenges of individual customers we have tailored our operational performance to deliver exceptional levels of flexibility, turn round time and delivery reliability, all underpinned by a relentless focus on  quality.  So, with Sharing in Growth’s support, we are confident that we can continue to improve our  operational performance, efficiency and cost-reduction to secure new business and new jobs. “

SiG individually tailors and delivers an intense and integrated programme of training, coaching and mentoring for ambitious companies like ATL. Typically the programme focuses on leadership, culture and strategy delivered by SiG’s own 120 strong team of business coaches as well as a bank of world-leading experts including The University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, Deloitte, Industry Forum and the National Physical Laboratory.

Initially, SiG and ATL are working on business planning, the roll-out of vision, mission and values, the management and visualisation of key performance data, the application of lean and continuous improvement techniques and supply chain management.

Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page added: “We are delighted to welcome ATL onto our programme and to helping them achieve their ambitions in the highly competitive maintenance, repair and overhaul market. Since our inception in 2013 Sharing in Growth has delivered more than 2 million training hours and worked with more than 60 companies to secure contracts and sustain growth by transforming their business strategy, operational performance and skills.”

Companies on the SiG programme have secured more than £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.

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.