Cosworth takes off in sea and air

Featured supplier Cosworth has been awarded a major contract by Rolls-Royce to supply components for the Deltic engine used by the Royal Navy. The contract includes engineering services and manufacture of engine components at Cosworth’s world class facility in Northampton, UK. It has also just commissioned a new high speed piston manufacturing line targeted at the aerospace and niche engines markets – it is the largest investment of its kind for a high speed piston manufacturing line in the UK for at least two decades. In September 2007 the company received the prestigious AS9100 quality management accreditation and has already won a large contract with Lycoming to supply pistons for its general aviation engines.

The new piston line is capable of machining complex crown and skirt features on pistons ranging in diameter from 50mm to 180mm. The machining process is fully automated once blank pistons have been loaded, and the system is complemented by a laser etching station where a 2D data matrix is etched to provide full traceability for each piston. Quality is of paramount importance for Cosworth's customers; each piston goes through a thorough crack testing process immediately after machining. The whole system, supplied by Takisawa of Japan was installed and commissioned over a period of three months, and has undergone stringent trials to meet strict customer requirements.