Category
Innovation and Investment
Introduction
Phoenix Tooling and Development are a well-established Midlands based precision tooling making business with a current turnover of £750,000 and realistic ambitions for substantial future growth.
A major turning point in the drive to expand the business and capitalise on the company’s specialist skills base, is the company’s innovative approach to new projects, which is fully illustrated by the detailed design and development work conducted in conjunction with new client Gestamp, an internationally based, tier one, automotive components manufacturer.
Project
Based on PTD’s reputation in the design and development of hinge and closure assembly tooling, Gestamp initially contacted PTD to assist in a problem solving capacity relating to their existing fuel filler manufacturing for Nissan. The success of this initial project subsequently led to PTD being awarded the tooling contract worth £230k.
The actual tooling project was approached from a completely new and innovative prospective by Phoenix, which involved the company undertaking complete ownership of the final assembly, rather than taking a typical toolmaker approach of only focusing on individual pressings within the assembly.
As part of the company’s commitment to this project was the major £45k investment in a new Romer Laser Scanning Arm & associated equipment, designed to inspect the form and shape of the ‘A’ surface filler lid. The new equipment proved to be an essential investment in the success of this project by dramatically reducing development times for each tool and ensuring that the client received efficient and accurate reporting at each stage. As a result, pre-production audits and physical parts testing conducted by Nissan engineers concluded that as a result of PTD’s knowledge, skills and attention to detail in producing the final product more than surpassed the client’s expectations.
As a result of this successful project Phoenix have now secured the next fuel filler cap order from Gestamp for Renault with a net value of £220k, with the exciting prospect of a further order in the pipeline for a similar product from Gestamp’s sister plant in Turkey.
Future Prospects
On completion of the above projects, in addition to other further major ongoing enquiries, the company realistically expects its turnover to increase to £1.5 million by 2016 and more than double again by 2018.
Nissan Fuel Filler tooling, weighing 4.75 tonne and 2.4metres in length
Fuel Filler assembly mounted on the body panel