Motorsport brake and clutch company, Alcon Components, has announced a major continued investment plan focused on significant future expansion of its existing defence and security sector business.
Alcon Components’ investment plan aims to service emerging market demands in the US, as well as facilitating continued growth in the UK, Europe and Middle East.
The investment – reportedly valued at more than £2m – will fund further refinement of Alcon’s recently commissioned dedicated UK defence machining centre.
Following recent acquisitions, Alcon will also be establishing a similar dedicated assembly line in the US where two new additional machines will be installed, doubling global production capacity.
The primary function of the machine is the drilling of the compound angled hydraulic fluid galleries which are commonly found in two-piece iron calipers. Integrating a dedicated deburring station and hot wash ensures that parts can be completely finished within the cell.
Already firmly established in the light to medium military vehicle marketplace, Alcon braking solutions have been sought out by some of the world’s finest Special Forces vehicle manufacturers.
Amongsother key defence players, Supacat, the designers of the Jackal vehicle, BAe, Ricardo and Jankel have turned to Alcon to obtain bespoke, tailored braking systems that fully meet the demanding requirements of the challenging, high-performance, modern-day battlefield.
Alcon’s Jonathan Edwards commented: “Defence already makes up 25% of our turnover and our plan is to expand that to over 50% within the next three to five years – and that is bearing in mind the fact that the rest of the business is also growing.
“This investment will form the foundation for that growth. As well as our wider global market aspirations, given the numbers of vehicles involved, the US defence market is of particular interest to us.
“As a result, our plans include the establishment of the capability and infrastructure needed to offer US-based volume production of our wide range of defence and security products, as well as our products on offer in other sectors”.