Machining and fabrication specialist Midland Aerospace of Nottinghamshire has been selected for Sharing in Growth, a government-backed programme to help firms compete for increased aerospace business.

The Sutton-in-Ashfield based company, which employs around 120 people, aims to increase its sales, going from £9 million last year to £16 million in 2020. To achieve its ambitions, Midland Aerospace has recently doubled its manufacturing floor space by investing in a new plant on Castlewood Business Park.

The company supplies companies such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GE, Senior, and Meggitt with machined and fabricated engine, wing and chassis components and complex assemblies. Some products and services have the additional challenge of short-lead times so the company maintains its own speed-shop.

The Sharing in Growth (SiG) programme, which attracts £1.2 million from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) for each participating company, will help develop the company to become more competitive so that it can win or retain business from new and existing customers in the expanding global aerospace market.

Said Midland Aerospace managing director Eamon Lyons: "We have an ambitious development strategy and believe the Sharing in Growth programme will take us to a new level. We recognise that significantly higher performance and productivity will be required in the future to win sales in competition with global suppliers."

To achieve its planned trajectory, Midland Aerospace will work with SiG to review its strategy, introduce people management and motivational skills, and to improve communications, financial and operations management.

SiG is already helping 40 companies achieve their aim of an average 50% increase in productivity. SiG's four year transformation programmes are designed to deliver and sustain improvements so that UK firms are better placed to compete for the continuing huge growth in the aerospace sector.

Established in 2013 with £50 million from the RGF and endorsement from Finmeccanica, Airbus, BAE Systems, Bombardier, GE, GKN and Rolls-Royce, SiG has already helped secure contracts worth over £1 billion for the first 24 firms on the programme, equivalent to around 1600 UK jobs. Ultimately the programme's goal is to safeguard 10,000 UK jobs.

Said Sharing in Growth CEO Andy Page: “We are delighted to see Midland Aerospace join the Sharing in Growth programme. They have undergone a robust business diagnostic to determine that they have the capability and have the backing of their major customers to achieve their growth plans.

“There is significant growth opportunity for competitive UK manufacturers as the global aircraft order book currently stands at nine years. Sharing in Growth is helping to ensure the UK remains a world leader in aerospace by improving skills, productivity and competitiveness in the supply chain. Our success to date means we have secured an additional £30 million from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to recruit another 24 companies for the programme.”

SiG's cross-functional experts tackle areas such as lean operations, manufacturing engineering, procurement and cost and value engineering. To ensure a sustainable and fully integrated transformation programme they also work with delivery partners such as Deloitte, Unipart Expert Practices, the National Physical Laboratory, The University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing and Industry Forum to provide world-class training in leadership, strategy, business planning and performance improvement.