Sharing in Growth delivers success to LPW Technology in Aerospace Supply Chain

25 Jun, 2018

LPW Technology is delighted to have been awarded the Sharing in Growth (SiG) ‘Ikigai’ trophy, the top award at the SiG ALL STARS showcase event. Ikigai is a Japanese phrase meaning ‘reason to live’. Manufacturing metal powder exclusively for the rapidly-growing metal Additive Manufacturing sector, LPW has many reasons to look forward to strong growth in a sustainable, highly skilled environment.

The SiG programme supports companies in developing their leadership, strategy, culture, skills and operational excellence, to improve the global competitiveness of the UK supply chain focusing on aerospace.

Sharing in Growth Press Release

  • Biggest event to date with more than 60 beneficiaries on the programme
  • Showcases demonstrate “outstanding” programme results
  • Valuable insights from customers and experts
  • Best practice sharing and networking

Three award winners were selected from 11 finalists who presented case studies at the Sharing in Growth (SiG) 2018 All STAR showcase. This annual event demonstrated the value of the SiG aerospace competitiveness programme through a series of top industry insights and best practice case studies.

Metal Additive Manufacturing specialist, LPW Technology took the top trophy with precision engineers Produmax and PCB manufacturer Amphenol Invotec taking the runners up trophies. The trophies are named after Sharing in Growth’s values (Ikigai, Inspire and Integrity) and highlight the areas where the winning companies excelled when presenting case studies at the annual event.

Supported by Sharing in Growth (SiG) since 2016, LPW is successfully targeting 30% year on year increases in sales by creating a new market and plans to hit £45 million turnover by 2022.  The company opened a new £20 million purpose-built additive powder manufacturing plant in Widnes this week, has created around 70 jobs in the last two years and expects to recruit another 120 by mid 2020.

Produmax, global experts in flight control components and assemblies, joined SiG in 2014 and last year won the first Sharing in Growth Ikigai top trophy.  The judges selected Produmax for the Inspire award this year because the Yorkshire company has put engagement and people development at the centre of the business. With SiG support, Produmax has increased turnover by 55%, increased headcount by 60% to 70 people and secured contracts worth over £50 million.

Winners of the Integrity trophy were Amphenol Invotec who also joined SiG in 2014. The company, which has plants in Tamworth and Telford, is investing £1.4 million to deliver export growth. With SiG support, the company has aligned its organisation and culture to meet its business ambition of £34 million in turnover by 2020 from £23M in 2017.

A capacity audience of almost 200 attendees from sector supply chain companies, prime customers including Airbus,  Boeing, GKN Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales, government, banks and industry bodies, such as ADS, ATI, BeTheBusiness, Business Growth Fund, NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland and Semta, enjoyed an event crammed with value-added presentations which culminated in the Sharing in Growth Awards dinner.

SiG chairman Dr Bryan Jackson CBE opened the All STAR by sharing his personal experience of continuous improvement from his career with Toyota, Ford and other world-class companies. He reminded companies not to lose focus on values and culture in pursuit of rapid growth.

Katherine Bennett OBE, Senior Vice President of Airbus delivered the keynote address, praising SiG, the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Aerospace Growth Partnership for supporting the UK aerospace supply chain become fitter to deal with future challenges such as Brexit.

“UK businesses play a vital role in the Airbus family. ‎Supporting the continued development of the supply chain is vital for the future of the aerospace sector and the economy.

Against the backdrop of ever increasing global competition, suppliers need to work to invest in their own capability. As today’s conference has shown, programmes such as Sharing in Growth are making a valuable contribution to improve performance across the industry and encourage businesses of all sizes to work together.”

SiG CEO Andy Page urged manufacturers to respond to the government’s Business Productivity Review and said: “Companies on our Sharing in Growth programme have secured more than £2.4 billion in contract and around 4,300 jobs. This is equivalent to over 22,000 man years of high value work.  So we are raising skills and leadership capability in line with the government’s Industrial Strategy and are on track to secure over £60 of contract value for every £1 of government investment. Today’s case studies have raised the bar. The results are outstanding and show that Sharing in Growth has the scope and scale to tackle the UK’s productivity and competitiveness challenge.

The SiG programme was created five years ago to upskill UK aerospace suppliers to achieve around 20% competitiveness improvement and so secure contracts and jobs. Endorsed by Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, GE, GKN, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales, SiG is supported by the Regional Growth Fund and more than £150 million in private investment.

The programme individually tailors and delivers an intense and integrated programme of training, coaching and mentoring for ambitious companies in the aerospace supply chain. Typically the four-year programme focuses on leadership, culture and operational capability 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.

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