Forging ahead

A northumberland engineering firm has scooped a top national award for its innovative design work which has won the company £1m worth of new orders.

Cramlington Precision Forge won the Confederation of British Metalforming’s (CBM) ‘Component of the Year Award’ for its pioneering advances in commercial vehicle clutch design.

The firm used a combination of technological advancements, automated production and lean manufacturing principles to create a new die to forge teeth on differential drive clutches.

These parts were previously made from solid steel forgings, which required extensive machining to create the final product.

Cramlington Precision Forge director Steve Rose and his team have created a new design which slashes the waste involved in production by 95% and produces teeth that are much stronger than those made by traditional methods.

The firm has worked closely with the One NorthEast-funded North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) to raise productivity as part of a transformation of its business since new Indian owners Sundram Fasteners  – part of the TVS group – bought the plant just over three years ago.