Prodrive doubles composites capability
Prodrive has invested further in its capabilities to make parts such as this composite diffuser for a supercar
Prodrive has doubled the size of its composites manufacturing facility – investing £500,000 in a five-axis machining centre and £800,000 in two additional autoclaves.
With this investment the technology consultancy and precision-manufacturing specialist has increased capacity from motorsport-sized manufacturing batches to runs of several thousand.
The expansion is driven by the company’s recent contracts from three premium sports car manufacturers which take its composites order book to over £40m.
Meeting the challenge of rapidly growing volumes required a combination of capital investment, recruitment and process improvement.
“It would have been easy to simply expand the factory, but that would not have addressed the fundamental challenge,” explained Prodrive’s composites manager Ian Handscombe. “Clearly we did need more space, but the key to making this a sustainable business geared-up for the growing industry-wide use of composites is to take this opportunity to work on improving our processes and finding new ways of helping our skilled people to work more efficiently.”
The biggest investment has been in two additional high-spec autoclaves, together worth around £800,000. The larger unit accepts parts up to 2m diameter by 4.3m long; the other 1.5m by 2.3m long. As well as allowing substantial panels to be manufactured in one piece, they open up new possibilities that could further improve high-volume production efficiency: with 350 degree C and 200 psi now available, the use of thermoplastic composites becomes possible, with much faster cycle times and easier recycling.
£500,000 has been invested in a new, five-axis milling machine, complete with vacuum clamping and dust extraction. It now takes only 20 minutes to trim a large post-mould component that previously took four hours by hand. “Supplementing the manual processes with appropriate automation has increased throughput, allowed us to ensure consistently high first-time quality, and we have reduced waste by around a third,” says Mr Handscombe.
Prodrive’s recent expansion makes it one of the largest UK suppliers of high-quality carbon composite components. Growth has been driven by the automotive industry, but Mr Handscombe sees opportunities in other industries too. “Because we are linked to Prodrive’s design and development teams, we can take a fresh look at how to take time and cost out of meeting our clients’ technical goals,” he says. “For example, we can use carbon to produce early stage prototype tooling that is cheaper than the traditional methods and which can be modified as the design evolves.”
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