BCW Engineering is building a new factory unit to specifically drive the firm's expansion in to the aerospace industry.
The new unit will accompany a 17,500 sq ft factory that was opened in October this year, and combined with the second new unit, BCW will have more than 100,000 sq of total factory space occupied.
To accompany the two new buildings, the company has also acquired three new machines, two large-capacity machining centres and a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), with the recent investment now standing at more than £1m.
One of the machining centres is a Japanese- built 5-axis Makino MCD 2016 horizontal-spindle, twin-pallet model -one of only four in the UK, with the other three all located on the same site in the South West.
The MCD was refurbished over a 10-week period by Track Machine Tools Ltd, a division of BCW Engineering, and supported by the service department at NCMT, Makino’s sole UK agent.
BCW’s technical director and group engineering director both worked for another aerospace subcontractor where the machine was previously installed.
The latest equipment joins many smaller prismatic metalcutting machines and turn-milling centres in other factory units within BCW, where aircraft parts have been produced virtually since the company was established.
They include engine parts, landing gear equipment and safety-critical items, machined from a variety of materials.
Operations director, Trevor Cassie commented: “Manufacture of aircraft parts has always been a key focus at BCW, as evidenced by our accreditation to AS9100 Rev C in 2010.
“We also hold many customer-specific approvals, including Safran and BAE Systems since 2008, Aircelle a year later and Messier Dowty in 2012, both part of the Safran group, Wesco Aircraft, Unison GE and most recently GKN Aerospace, which we gained in August 2015.
“The North West is home to the largest aerospace cluster in Europe, adding over £7 billion to the UK economy, according to The North West Aerospace Alliance, of which we are a member.”
