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.
Commenting on the Rolls Royce order Jog Lall, Sales & Marketing Director at Cosworth said, "When we first started the discussion with Rolls-Royce, it was made very clear they required a supplier with facilities to provide complete technical support from material science to engine component design and testing, and the capability to manufacture complex components in relatively small batch sizes. Cosworth demonstrated the ability to meet Rolls-Royce’s requirements.”
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Engineering work will commence immediately and the first set of components is planned for delivery in quarter three 2008.
Tim Routsis, CEO of the Cosworth Group added “We are now in our third year of business diversification and, once again, have shown that Cosworth’s design, development, testing, manufacturing and support services are sought after in many adjacent market sectors. I’m pleased to say our aerospace and defence business unit has now secured its third major contract”.
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