A&M investment on the UP for aerospace
A&M EDM, precision engineers in the West Midlands hosted Andrew Mair, Chief Executive of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) to commission new manufacturing equipment.
A&M have used the super deduction capital allowance on equipment to invest £1,000,000 since October 2021 in two wire eroders, a large 5-Axis CNC mill and a spark eroder in response to rising demand from customers.
This is a major investment in a pandemic for a company with 70 staff, demonstrating A&M’s confidence in the future and a strong manufacturing recovery from Covid. It increases A&M’s spark and wire eroders for electro discharge machining and milling and turning centres to 61 CNC machines.
In addition to commissioning a new Sodick AG80L spark eroder to cut large work pieces quickly, Andrew Mair toured A&M’s two factories and reviewed progress on A&M’s Aerospace Unlocking Potential (UP) project. Aerospace UP is a three-year project supporting the Midlands aerospace supply chain to unlock its innovation potential. A&M are developing a prototype rotary engine system offering a high power to weight ratio and bespoke cooling technology.
Mark Wingfield, Managing Director of A&M said, “The MAA Aerospace UP grant allows us to harness our engineering design and manufacturing capabilities to develop a concept engine with unique functionality. We have been at full capacity for the past five months and are on target to beat our pre-covid performance with sales of £6.5m in 2022.”
A&M were awarded a £103,000 UP grant towards the £250,000 project to design, manufacture, assemble, test, and inspect hundreds of components for the engine. These combined capabilities give A&M the in-house capacity to fast track the development and manufacture of precision components and tooling for aerospace, automotive, Formula 1, marine and space customers.
Andrew Mair said, “I enjoyed my visit to A&M, it is very encouraging to see a supplier consistently investing in new equipment to deliver manufacturing innovation. I look forward to the completion of their exciting Aerospace UP project.”
Photos by Jas Sansi
Aerospace Unlocking Potential (Aerospace UP) is a £20M three-year project (2020 to 2022) which aims to support the aerospace supply chain in the Midlands by helping to unlock its innovation potential. The project is being delivered by the University of Nottingham and the Midlands Aerospace Alliance. Aerospace UP is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which helps businesses to access funding and expertise to improve their performance through innovation in all aspects of their enterprise. As a pan-Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) project, Aerospace UP is available to SMEs in 8 Midlands LEP areas.