A significant step change in philosophy has seen Lightening Aerospace expand rapidly over the last twelve months, culminating in the recent acquisition of a third facility in Coventry.

The company, which employs 35 people, has seen interest in its one-stop service grow significantly after adding sub assembly and electrical harness capabilities to its original fabricating expertise – a move that is expected to see it break the £3m barrier for the first time in its history.

With such ambitious plans underway, the management team decided to embark on the SC21 Programme in a bid to underpin the culture change, build on already impressive quality performance and to make even greater inroads into the aerospace and military sectors.

“We’ve made a really big push to make our business more ‘added value’ and this means that we can offer our customers the complete offer, from designing and developing the product on site to manufacturing it and delivering it on time,” explained Chris Beard, Head of Operations.

“As part of this approach, we identified SC21 as the robust framework that would help us become world class.”

Lightning Aerospace tapped into funding from the Manufacturing Advisory Service to bring in specialist consultants TPT, who worked with the firm on developing its growth strategy and its long-term commitment to securing AS/EN 9100 accreditation.

Having an external expert take a holistic view of the business identified a host of cost savings and advocated the introduction of visual aids and 5Cs across the factory.

This has already resulted in improvements in quality (98ppm) and on time delivery (99%), not to mention putting numerous members of its workforce on NVQ Level 3 courses to boost their development.

“MAS-WM funding was a big help, especially considering the £500,000 we spent kitting out our third factory, which is going to be a dedicated electrical harnesses cell,” continued Chris.

“It accelerated our commitment by about six months and the added support you get from TPT really makes a difference and gives you the necessary structure to go for SC21 without neglecting day to day activities.”

Lightning Aerospace, which supplies a host of products to the Ministry of Defence, Rolls Royce and NP Aerospace, expects to secure AS/EN9100 by July and SC21 Bronze recognition by February 2011.