Alucast

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Alucast's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Alucast is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.alucast.co.uk

31ALUCAST |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Chairman TonySartorius

Gravity casting;

Paul Withey

Alucast is an award-winning foundry based in the Black

Country in the West Midlands, supplying machined

aluminium castings to a range of industries, including

those related to the automotive sector. The business was formed

over 50 years ago and has all the main casting processes, sand,

gravity, high pressure and low pressure available on a single site.

The company was acquired by the existing shareholders 15years

ago as a small subcontract foundry. Upon this happening,

the company found a new energy that grew it enormously –

something that Tony Sartorius, their Chairman, elaborates upon.

Setting Alucast’s sights higher

Upon beginning our transformation, we quickly set about changing the business to

embrace a number of new technologies and invested heavily in organisation systems

that would allow us to break into the first tier supply market for the automotive

industry. This strategy, together with extensive training programmes, has meant

that the company has grown almost twofold since acquisition. More recently, the

company has expanded its existing machining facility to embrace five-axis technology

and has a new non-destructive testing department alongside its advanced casting

facilities that allows it to manufacture very complex, high-integrity structural parts

for the premier-brand sports car market.

Recent developments have seen the company continuing to invest heavily in

research and development as car companies and other transport manufacturers

seek lightweight components to achieve a lower vehicle weight and lower

emissions required by governments around the world.

FACTS ABOUT

ALUCAST

»Chairman: TonySartorius

»Managing Director: John Swift

»Established in 1967

»Based in Black Country, West

Midlands

»Services: Casting and

machining

»No. of employees: 120

»Alucast is an award-winning

foundry

»www.alucast.co.uk

Alucast

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

32 | ALUCAST

What Alucast offers its clients

Typically, the range of products

produced at Alucast includes structural,

under-body auto parts, hydraulic valves

and vacuum parts, as well as traditional

gearbox housings that require special

strength characteristics.

The company benefitted from a

great deal of publicity following its

involvement in the manufacture of the

Bugatti Veyron brake calipers, which

were used in the fastest production car

in the world at the time. In addition

to this, it became known for its

supply of parts for the Olympic Torch

for the London 2012 Olympics. This

iconic torch was seen by billions of

people around the world and was

manufactured by a Midlands-based

consortium. The project was headed

by Premier Sheet Metal in Coventry,

with castings supplied from the Alucast

foundry in Wednesbury.

Research, development and

promoting education

The company expansion has been

assisted by investment in personnel

training and development of systems

more recently undertaken with the

assistance of the Society of Motor

Manufacturers and Traders. The

company has worked for many years

with local universities, including

the University of Birmingham and

Warwick Manufacturing Group, where

considerable time has been spent on

research and development in a bid

to develop high-strength aluminium

alloys. This is generally perceived by

users to be a cost-effective weight-

saving solution that will benefit the

transport and agricultural markets in

their goal of reducing vehicle emissions.

This is the reason commentators

forecast that aluminium is entering an

unprecedented growth phase.

Alucast has long been an advocate

of promoting engineering as a career

choice. Our practical work in this

regard has involved local schools as

well as a more formalised approach

with institutions, which will see more

engineering apprentices being taken

on to study in this field in the future.

As a business, we believe that this

hands-on approach must be adopted

more widely by SMEs to ensure

continuous growth in manufacturing

in the UK and create an improvement

in manufacturing GDP within the

economy. On top of all this, the

Institute of Cast Metals Engineers has

opened a new college near Dudley in

the West Midlands to further bolster

efforts to promote engineering.

Quaser 5 Axis CNC;

Anna Izdebska

Faro laser scanner;

Sukhwinder Singh

Recent

developments

have seen the

company

continuing to

invest heavily

in research and

development

“

33ALUCAST |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Expansion and development,

now and in the future

The company is now in an expansion

phase which has already seen substantial

business growth. Our recognition as a

secure, value-for-money supplier to our

customers has ensured that we have

secured long-term contracts stretching

out to the mid-2020s. This factor will

see the business grow to £10 million

in turnover and expand its current

workforce of 120 substantially. The

business has built a secure financial

base for expansion and has been

supported in its growth aspirations

by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough

Council and the Black Country LEP. Our

recently being awarded the prestigious

IATF 16949 automotive accreditation

has only added to our supply credibility.

Additionally, Alucast is a member of

the networking group, MAN, which

exemplifies best practice with a number

of Midlands-based companies.

At Alucast, we continue to design,

develop and manufacture a wide range

of structural automotive components.

These high-integrity parts exhibit

enhanced structural characteristics

that have been achieved only by

the continued involvement of the

company’s research and development

team. Our team uses Magmasoft®

casting simulation software

technology, which radically reduces

development time to market and cuts

overall tooling costs to customers.

Frequently within our sandcast

prototype department, digital sand

core printing is also used to reduce lead

times, and component manufacturing

accuracy is measured by sophisticated

digital ‘FARO’ scanning technology.

Often it is also the case that the latest

engineering developments in Formula

One racing are quickly acquired by the

sports car makers into their production

vehicles, and it is our engineering

expertise that assists this process.

All future cars will need to satisfy

stringent emission standards, and

the best way to do this is by reducing

weight. At Alucast, we expect that the

electric vehicle revolution will increase

demand for lightweight aluminium

components. This combined with

continued research and development

will allow us, as a company, to carry on

expanding and thereby provide a secure

base for further growth in our second

half-century, moving – as we typically

do – from strength to strength.

At Alucast, we

continue to

design, develop

and

manufacture a

wide range of

structural

automotive

components

“

Magmasoft software;

left to right, Tom Bruce,

John Swift (MD), Neal

Unitt

www.alucast.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Alucast. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister