SABB selected for growth & competitiveness programme

Engineering specialist Senior Aerospace Bird Bellows (SABB) plans to deliver significant future growth after being selected for Sharing in Growth, the government-backed supply chain competitiveness programme.

The Cheshire-based company, having produced steady growth in recent years, will work with Sharing in Growth (SiG) to achieve significant growth over the next five years by investing in skills, productivity and business development.

As part of the programme, Senior Aerospace Bird Bellows went through a robust 12-week business diagnostic to establish suitability.

Sharing in Growth provides on-site training, coaching and mentoring in a bespoke four-year business transformation / Picture: SiG

Senior Aerospace Bird Bellows’s Congleton factory is a leader by market share in the design, manufacture and qualification of metallic flexible joints and ducting systems for the aerospace and industrial fluid control industries. Its key customers include Airbus, Embraer, Bell Helicopters, GKN and Rolls Royce.

The programme will help expand business to new and existing customers by hitting new levels of productivity and competitiveness. This will be achieved by undertaking training and coaching with global experts and implementing best practice across all operations. The four-year SiG training and development programme will also focus on leadership and personal development.

Senior Aerospace Bird Bellows CEO John Stewart said: “With our strong reputation for innovation, customer service and flexible solutions, we have a huge opportunity for growth and are confident that working with Sharing in Growth will benefit our customers in terms of increased competitiveness and capability.”

Set up in 2013, SiG is delivering a £250 million programme of intensive business transformation to 63 UK suppliers. Companies on the programme have so far secured more than £2 billion in contracts – almost 20% of which is for direct export. Consequently, having secured more than 3,000 jobs, SiG is well on target to hit its ultimate objective of safeguarding 10,000 UK jobs by 2022.

Supported by the Regional Growth Fund and industry, the SiG 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.

Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page added: “We are delighted to now have both Senior Aerospace Bird Bellows and sister company Senior Aerospace BWT on our programme, leaders in flexible metal and composite ducting respectively.  Each company on the programme gets a training, coaching and mentoring programme specifically aligned to their business output target so every client’s programme is bespoke to their needs and ambition. SiG is effective because we can measure the training against a defined benefit.”

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 some £150 million in private investment.