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Engineering Education, Resources and Standards
News Release from: Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 05 March 2007
Manufacturing advice helps component
manufacturer
Thanks to help from the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the East Midlands Micron Design has positioned itself to win more orders from the aerospace sector and expand its business further.
A Leicester firm which specialises in making precision parts for everyone from plastics companies to the pharmaceutical industry is set to increase its foothold in the aerospace market as a result of support it has received from the region's chief manufacturing advisers Thanks to help from the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the East Midlands (MAS EM) to secure ISO9001 certification for the design and manufacture of precision engineered components, Micron Design has positioned itself to win more orders from the aerospace sector and expand its business further
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 14 Nov 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Neil Johnson is the joint owner and General Manager of the company which employs 11 workers in the city.
He said: "ISO9001 is the recognised quality management standard that's required before firms like ours can become accredited suppliers to the aerospace industry".
"Our skills base and capabilities are well-matched to this sector, so it's a natural move for us to progress in this direction".
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"And obviously increasing our turnover in this area will mean a more secure future for Micron and its employees".
Micron's current customers include BAe Systems; US laboratory instruments giant, Mettler-Toledo; Taylor Hobson; De Montfort University and Contour Premium Aircraft Seating.
"We knew it would be very time-consuming trying to interpret all the requirements needed to attain the standard single-handed and that MAS had the expertise in-house to guide us through the process", Johnson continued.
The funding and practical support and training for staff about the procedures it needed to adopt to win the ISO9001 certification came through MAS EM's LiftOff scheme, which helps aerospace businesses in disadvantaged parts of the East Midlands to boost their profits.
To gain IS09001 certification, a company must show that it has the systematic controls and improvement activities in place to satisfy the needs and expectations of its customers.
Richard Hopkinson, the Practitioner assigned to Micron Design from MAS, helped the company develop its quality management system, which meant breaking down its business processes and putting in place the performance measures required.
Johnson added: "We were extremely impressed with Richard's understanding of the quality standards and his professionalism - just what we needed to secure accreditation at our first attempt".
"He also managed to foster a very positive relationship with our staff which enabled us all to appreciate what we needed to do to achieve registration and the reasons why".
The LiftOff programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is heavily subsidised and is available to manufacturing companies which are connected to the aerospace industry and based in an Objective 2 area of the region.
It can provide help on a range of business areas including developing new workforce skills, introducing new business competencies and processes plus marketing support to look at new markets and diversification.
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