1. Manufacturing Success - 14 March 2012
High value manufacturing, an SME Case Study
Ian Warrington, Project Manager
MG Sanders Ltd

2. An overview of our capability Contract Case Study-Future Energy
“SME`s make up a half of all jobs in the UK and account for half of our GDP” (B2B Int.)
An overview of our capability
Contract Case Study-Future Energy

3. Situated in Stone, 30 miles north of Birmingham in Central England.
Established 38 years
Under new ownership since January 2006:
Rubicon Partners Industries LLP.
55 employees, T/O £8.5m (2011)
7000m2 Engineering & Metallurgical facility

4. Activity Tungsten alloy blending, pressing & vacuum sintering
6 April 2017
Activity
Tungsten alloy blending, pressing & vacuum sintering
Multi–axis CNC Milling, Turning, Grinding, EDM: Tungsten (W), Refractory and exotic Ni, Fe, Al based alloys
Pre-production – Prototype Manufacture
Clean room assembly
High Volume Pharmaceutical Valve Stem production
Design & Manufacture of UHV & VHF Military Antennas
‘End of life’ process re-definition and manufacture
Reverse Engineering & Sub-Contract manufacture
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP

5. Quality Approvals
ISO 9001
AS 9100 Rev B

6. 6 April 2017
Some of our customers:
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP

7. Activity Tungsten alloy blending, pressing & vacuum sintering
6 April 2017
Activity
Tungsten alloy blending, pressing & vacuum sintering
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP
Raw Material: Fully integrated Powder Metallurgy manufacture, pressing, sintering and Heat Treatment
with “Total manufacturing traceability”

8. 6 April 2017
Activity
Multi–axis CNC Milling, Turning, Grinding, EDM: Tungsten (W), Refractory and exotic Ni, Fe, Al based alloys
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP

9. Activity High Volume Pharmaceutical Valve Stem production
6 April 2017
High Volume Pharmaceutical Valve Stem production
Circa 1.2m/month
Activity
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP

10. Activity Design & Manufacture of Military Broadband Antennas
6 April 2017
Activity
Design & Manufacture of Military Broadband Antennas
HF, VHF and UHF
Bowman Manpack and Vehicle
Elevated or Ground based units
◄ Tungsten LB-SRP

11. AEROSPACE Control surfaces Flutter weights
Boeing 737/767/777
ATR 76
Airbus Military

12. AEROSPACE Rotor Balance
AW101
AW139
AW149
Lynx Wildcat

13. F1 Aerodynamic Ballast

14. Nuclear Engineering- Radiation Shielding Oil Well Logging Instrumentation Nuclear Waste Encapsulation Shielding - Sellafield

15. LHC Tungsten Cylinder Inserts (for Target Attenuator experimental Areas)
CLIC RF Accelerating Structures –UKTI- OMIS/STFC support
Ultra precise machining, diffusion bonding

16. Business Development-Access New Markets
Identify innovative & technically demanding opportunities, in Tungsten and other exotic materials or processes, that can be commercially exploited to generate incremental high value revenue       
Focus on materials competence, skills and future markets

17. Business Development – Future Energy
The world's largest Fusion tokamak, JET (Joint European Torus), has produced 16 megawatts of fusion power and proved the technical feasibility of fusion using deuterium and tritium, currently considered the most efficient fuels. The challenge now is to prove fusion can work on a power plant scale.
1st wall upgrade to the Joint European Torus (JET) – €48m budget – EFDA funded (EU Commission) to evaluate materials for ITER construction Identify tender opportunities -expression of interest

18. Evaluate Plasma surface interaction for ITER materials: Beryllium
6 April 2017
Evaluate Plasma surface interaction for ITER materials:
Beryllium
W-coated CFC
Inconel + Be
Bulk W-LBSRP
Previously CFC
W Divertor Module - power handling surface.
Bulk W-load bearing septum replacement plates for the divertor
Form part of the Divertor module to evaluate Tungsten for power handling surfaces.

19. 6 April 2017
Competencies & skills
Validation of CATIA V/STEP models and provision of full manufacturing drawings
Fusion related materials understanding
Development of manufacturing processes and techniques
Production of tooling and jig fixtures
Complex 5 axis machining
Accurate, clean assembly of complex geometry items for UHV and demanding environments (JET QUA 500)
Comprehensive inspection to CAD models including CMM, Surface Measurement & SPC.

20. Contract Award Time from expression of interest to tender response deadline = 3 months. Complex tender to interpret: CATIA V model, prototype design & materials/technical specification. Open comments & questions circulated to invited tendering companies. As a potential new supplier an audit visit followed tender submission to assess capability. Contract preparation forms, followed by agreement in principle (without prejudice), fixed price & rigid contractual terms (EU Commission), bank guarantee.

21. Contract Award
Formal contract award (12 months + from Expression of Interest) Value: €5.3m Prototypes (including orders outside of contract) to test and allow final design freeze for manufacture. Deliverables & Milestones mutually acceptable & achievable, including payments.

22. 6 April 2017
Tungsten - LBSRP
Tungsten LBSRP
MGS Tungsten for plasma facing components - independently tested & qualified;

23. 50μm reference tolerances
6 April 2017
50 assemblies / 80Kg each
5 exotic materials
1,600 parts /assembly
80,000 parts total
Clean room assembly
50μm reference tolerances

24. 6 April 2017

26. Installation of a solid tungsten divertor module
between neighbours with dedicated spinal
Remote Handling tool
Courtesy M. Woollard

27. Wall & Divertor completed mid 2011

28. Business Development
The next steps : International fusion research is following a roadmap to achieve power generation within 30 years. It focuses on three main projects: ITER – a multinational project (47%) EU, with a €10bn budget that is being built in the south of France. ITER will be a 500 megawatt tokamak (equivalent to a small power plant) and aims to confirm that fusion power will be possible on a commercial scale; IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) – a device that will test the materials needed in a fusion power station, planned to operate in parallel with ITER;

29. ITER Divertor targets

30. Business Development
DEMO – a demonstration power plant supplying fusion electricity to the grid. This is being designed now and would be constructed during ITER and IFMIF operation. If successful, it will be followed by the first generation of commercial fusion power stations.
We are looking for partners to collaborate in these high value manufacturing opportunities.
Thank you for your attention!