News
Kaman to mark grand opening of U.K. facility
May 22, 2014 By Carey Fredericks
May 22, 2014, Bloomfield, Conn. - A recent visit by Rt. Hon. Vince Cable, the U.K. Secretary of State for Business, is the first in a series of high-profile events at Kaman’s new $4.2 million U.K.-based tooling and manufacturing facility.
“Kaman’s expansion and continued success is one of the encouraging signs of growth in Burnley,” said Business Secretary Cable after touring the facility. “We are now seeing businesses having the confidence to invest and create highly skilled jobs from the local workforce. We'll continue to work in partnership with business as part of the government’s industrial strategy.”
Next up – a Grand Opening event at the 34,000 square-foot (3,160 square meters) Tooling Center of Excellence in Burnley, Lancashire, U.K. on Thursday, May 29. This purpose-built facility was designed and equipped to meet the increased size requirements of modern aircraft structures assembly tooling, including a new 20 meter 5 axis CNC milling machine capable of machining the largest aerospace tools, and a 6 meter coordinate measuring machine used for advanced and complex high-precision digital inspection.
The Tooling Center of Excellence will also be one of the few in the U.K. equipped with a state-of-the-art design suite for enhanced design and manufacturing. The new facility will considerably increase the capacity of Kaman Tooling, already a world-leading supplier of mold and assembly tooling, along with ground support and handling equipment. The opening of the new facility will create a number of new jobs in the next two years as Kaman continues its relocation from its former U.K. location at Darwen to Burnley’s Innovation Park.
“The site will continue to expand, and will increase to 64,000 square feet (5,950 square meters) in 2015, creating up to 50 new jobs,” said Mark Podmore, managing director of Kaman Tooling Ltd., part of the Aerosystems Division of Kaman Aerospace.
With the technologically advanced facility, Kaman Tooling’s customers will benefit from quick turnaround time, efficient operations, from large size machining and inspection equipment, and an overall significantly improved process.
