Arden Precision relies on materials supplier Amari Aerospace to deliver

Arden supplies a wide range of parts from undercarriage to fuel control systems and instrumentation panels to seating, for leading aircraft programme suppliers such as Aero Engine Controls, Goodrich, Meggitt, Ferranti Technologies, Triumph Motion Control Systems, Boeing, Lord Corporation and Pattonair. Arden's managing director, Don Ryan, explains that the use of investment casting as a source of raw material to produce components has dramatically declined over the past 10 years or so. "It has been replaced by fabricated or machined from solid components," he says. "The advantages are strength, lightness and availability. For investment casting you require tooling, with design requirements. "Working with solid billet material from our supply partner, Amari Aerospace, we are able to bring products to the marketplace much quicker – often within a four week period. This time reduction is significant as the design process often runs late on the project schedule and we can add value by bringing the project back on time." Mr Ryan says that his company, which has acheived SC21 bronze, has a one year order book, where three months are firm and the rest can fluctuate as the build schedule requires. "We work to the firm portion on a weekly basis, with Progress Plus scheduling software monitoring the supply parts to the customer. This provides bills of materials and highlights the raw material we need. "We are machining a great deal of metals and we rely on Amari Aerospace's experienced and knowledgeable staff to match the material specification, provided with the customers' IGES files, and we provide the visibility of the firm three months orders we have, so that Amari Aerospace can plan its business in the same way we do." Some of the aircraft grade aluminium billets used by Arden Precision are expensive, but the company shares its production visibility so that Amari Aerospace has the opportunity to work with the extrusion and rolling mills to take some of the cost out. "Rather than us placing a random order for 10 billets, if we have visibility of 50 billets, we give that to Amari Aerospace so its staff can work with us on cost," Mr Ryan confirms. For new components, customers come to Arden Precision with the solid model design for a part and a calculated price, which, as Don Ryan says, can be a bit challenging. "Our relationship with Amari Aerospace is very successful in this scenario. The staff at Amari Aerospace will look at the opportunity and investigate the options we have with material manufacturers to cascade the project down the chain. It means that we can possibly meet the customer's needs – we are not just saying no we can't achieve that cost." "By involving our preferred suppliers, we have a chance of providing the customer with what they want, possibly with a different sized billet or alternative specification of material. The customer is open to these suggestions early on in the project, and our relationship with them means we get involved for our knowledge and experience – they trust us in the same way we trust Amari Aerospace."