Uxbridge-based Martin Baker is a specialist in aviation ejector seats, making products that have saved more than 7500 lives to date, with 19 pilots saved in 2018 alone.With quality literally a matter of life or death, for the past 25 years the company has been measuring and controlling its seats and critical life-saving components with the help of metrology expert Mitutoyo.

With ejection seats in all areas of aviation from helicopters and light prop aircraft to fighter jets, Martin Baker currently produces more than 40 seats each month plus a complete variety of components for the regulatory maintenance and repair cycle of existing seats in service. Producing everything from spares for seats dating back to 1949 through to more than 700 parts for each Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) seat, Martin Baker has 25,000 live components and beyond 50,000 parts on its inventory list. With components manufactured by 25 CNC machine tools, at the centre of the 800 employee manufacturing site is a four-machine 72 pallet DMG cell that runs 24 hours a day and 364 days a year.

Ensuring that components conform to the exacting standards of Martin Baker, the company has an inspection department with 55 staff that relies heavily on inspection equipment from Mitutoyo. Discussing the relationship with Mitutoyo, inspection manager Darren Smith says: “Martin Baker has had a long association with Mitutoyo, using hand tools like micrometers, calipers and height gauges, as well as CMMs for more than 30 years. As our company has evolved, so has the technology. We now have five Mitutoyo CMMs, three SurfTest machines, a Contracer, two training kits and the Mitutoyo MeasurLink system for SPC.We also have over 300 Mitutoyo handtools and gauges on-site.”
For further information www.mitutoyo.co.uk