Erodex UK Ltd, a supplier of EDM graphite and tooling to the aerospace market, has experienced record levels of growth following a £3.5m investment and expansion into North America. Turnover increased 20% during the last financial year following previous record years for the firm. The growth has been a direct result of the investment, specifically targeted at work within the aerospace and industrial turbine sectors.

“We have experienced significant growth on the tooling side of the business, which in fact is the fastest growing part of the Erodex group,” says director Steve Rolinson. “The decision to invest in our own toolrooms and dedicated tooling inspection facilities has given us real market differentiation.”
As well as picking up a number of new clients in China and Israel, the company has benefitted from its decision to establish a new £2m facility in Virginia, USA, as well as investing £1.5m in a new UK toolroom and machine shop.
Regarding the expansion into the US, co-director John Rolinson says: “Rolls-Royce announced the opening of a new turbine blade facility in Virginia and we were asked to support that as a result of our long-term working relationship.”
To facilitate the growth, Erodex has expanded its workforce by 10% to above 100, taking on three experienced aerospace toolmakers, a tooling manager, two project managers, designers and more CNC operators. A group quality manager and group quality engineer were also recruited as part of a move towards AS9100 Rev D, ISO14001 and NADCAP certifications.
For further information
www.erodex.com

Rotadata, a Derby-based specialist in the provision of instrumentation for turbomachinery, has installed a new Sodick AD55L and a refurbished AQ35L EDM machine. Supplied by Sodi-Tech EDM, the two machines are set to help the company reduce lead-times and gain access to greater turnover without increasing head count.

“A typical machining project might see us take a civil turbine engine and produce all of the component holes and instrumentation required to run test, validation and development programmes,” explains Rotadata’s managing director Simon Taylor. “If we can help achieve just a 1% improvement in efficiency through our installations, it can potentially equate to customer savings worth millions of pounds.
“Clearly, we need to take a measured and precise approach to machining operations,” he continues. “However, we are under tremendous lead-time pressure; almost without exception jobs are needed yesterday, hence our investment in additional EDM capacity. The linear motor technology on the Sodick machines is unrivalled for our applications, and their reliability has never been an issue. Furthermore, Sodi-Tech EDM are a supportive and professional partner.”
The die sink EDMs at Rotadata are typically used to create trenches and holes in preparation for thermocouples, pressure tubes and UCTS, or other instrumentation equipment able to deliver complete validation of predicted customer models. The company can generate blind and through-holes as small as 0.10 mm, and slots as narrow as 0.15 mm.
“I would say our new Sodick AD55L is around 40-45% quicker than some of our existing die sink machines,” concludes Taylor.
For further information
www.sodi-techedm.co.uk