Helander Precision Engineering selected for multi-million pound competitiveness programme

Tewkesbury-based Helander Precision Engineering has been selected for Sharing in Growth, the government-backed supply chain competitiveness programme.
The company applied to join Sharing in Growth (SiG) as part of its strategy to grow its aerospace activities into a key strategic market, alongside nuclear and oil and gas. With SiG’s support, Helander now plans to expand its turnover in aerospace, with a strategy to secure 100 local jobs by taking turnover to £22 million by 2022.
Owned by the €188 million pan-European Calder Group, Helander specialises in highly skilled milling, turning and assembly of complex finished parts from advanced materials, and has leading OEM and first tier approvals from companies such as Rolls Royce, Roxel, Moog, Ultra Electronics and Penny and Giles on high profile programmes such as the Airbus A350 and Joint Strike Fighter.
The intense four-year £250 million SiG training and development programme focuses on leadership, culture and strategy. It is delivered by SiG’s own 120 strong team of business coaches as well as a bank of experts including The University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, Deloitte, Industry Forum and the National Physical Laboratory.
Helander’s initial priorities on the SiG programme will be to develop a robust supply chain, build a customer-focussed business development and new product introduction strategy, design a new factory layout to increase efficiency and to introduce an effective management control and reporting system that supports performance improvement. To enhance productivity and workforce skills, SiG’s manufacturing experts will train Helander’s staff in business improvement techniques and help them to introduce lean manufacturing cells which can then be rolled out as best practice across the organisation.
Said Helander managing director Bill Nash: “We are investing in the Sharing in Growth programme because it gives us access to world-class training, coaching and guidance. We believe that the Sharing in Growth programme can act as a catapult to propel Helander to higher levels of quality, service and cost performance and this will drive our ambitious growth strategy to expand our aerospace customer base.”
The SiG programme is endorsed by Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Bombardier, GE, GKN, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, Safran and Thales. It is supported by the Regional Growth Fund and more than £150 million in private investment.
Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page said: “We are delighted to welcome Helander Precision Engineering onto our programme. Having suffered from the downturn in oil and gas, they are determined to take the growth opportunities on offer for expansion in aerospace. Since its inception in 2013 Sharing in Growth has delivered more than 1.6 million training hours. We have helped more than 50 companies to secure contracts and sustain growth by transforming their business strategy, improving workforce and leadership skills, and achieving new levels of operational performance in quality, productivity, cost, and delivery. ”
With SiG support, the first 43 companies on the programme have secured around £2 billion in contracts to date – almost 20% of which is for direct export. Consequently, having secured more than 3,000 jobs, SiG is well on target to hit its ultimate objective of safeguarding 10,000 UK jobs by 2022.
Companies interested in joining the SiG programme can complete an expression of interest form which is available at www.sig-uk.org/apply.