To be the best of the best

In a Q&A session, Pentaxia’s managing director, Stephen Ollier says that to remain the preferred choice for its customers, it will always invest in the latest technology to be the best equipped company in the industry.

 

Pentaxia was formed in 2008, initially as a specialist in 5-axis machining, with one rented machine and four staff. As one of the best equipped companies in the industry, Pentaxia now occupies 22,000ft², employs ninety staff and holds ISO 9001 and AS9100 for many years. Last year’s growth of 60% means that plans for a new site are already underway.

Q) What is the split of your pattern and mould making and tooling making services and solutions?

The mix of work in the company has changed progressively over the years, moving from machining activity towards the growing composites market. At present, our composite workload represents 70% of sales of nearly £7 million. Within that workload approximately 30% represents regular production commitments and the balance is specialist patterns moulds and composite tooling.

Q) Give me a feel for the size, scope and lead-times of the pattern & mould work you perform?

We deliver a diverse range of items, from large aircraft interior tooling up to 3.5m long to a motorsport component that may only be the size of a thimble. Pentaxia’s main markets are currently aerospace and automotive, specifically motorsport and luxury automotive, but we’re also looking to expand our services into the rail and defence sectors. 65% of our work is for aerospace; a mix of on-aircraft components and tooling, particularly related to specialist interiors. We’ve also seen significant growth in the supply of components to front of the grid F1 teams and the leading engine suppliers. We’ve also become established with the luxury automotive sector where we produce visual composite components for a range of models.

Q) What are the types of performance demands placed on your company by today’s customers?

The industry has huge growth and potential, with the National Composites Centre forecasting future workloads growing from £2.29 billion in 2015 to £4.6bn 2020 and up to £12.5bn by 2030. That growth rate generates particular challenges for the industry as the supply chain has to grow to keep up with demand. Price remains an important factor, but in an industry growing rapidly, it cannot be the only differentiator. One of the benefits of predictable performance is that you can spend more time establishing a relationship with customers rather than trying to allocate blame. We’re also keen to work closely with our customers during the development phase of a project. Our manufacturing knowledge can often add real value and we are at our best when we are given the opportunity to completely develop a solution.

Q) Tell me more about your composites-related CNC production equipment?

We’ve invested in two CMS 5-axis machines and operate an Ares and an Antares. They’re fast, lightweight machines, ideally suited to machining epoxy model block and we’ve had machining runs of 16 hours unattended when producing large components. We now have two Italmatic autoclaves that have proved to be both very cost-effective and extremely reliable. Recently, we’ve invested in two Langzauner composite presses. As a rule, we try to ensure we don’t use any of our equipment for more than 50% of the available time to try and protect the resilience of our production processes. Over the next twelve months we anticipate adding at least one more autoclave, a metalcutting 5-axis machine and a larger composite press.

Q) What do you feel are the most important assets of a company?

We’ve set out from the beginning to invest in the very best machines, equipment we can afford and we’re always trying to extend the scope of what we do. We believe our capability is a major differentiator in a market where the technology is continuously changing and developing. We’ve been very fortunate to recruit some highly capable people with a range of experiences. The senior management team is there to provide a safety net for our managers as they push to increase our capability and technology.

Our second principle is to deliver predictability. We never try to oversell our capacity and we deliberately plan to have resilience and redundancy in all our systems. In terms of delivering on the above, a good company needs good people and good systems. We truly value our staff at all levels and we try to invest in all our staff, so that as the company grows, they can grow with it.

Q) What kinds of productivity benefits can your customers enjoy from the use of robotics automation technology?

The advanced composite industry is currently labour-intensive. The small manufacturing volumes almost demand that hand laminating is the only practical way of producing components. However, as composites expand into new fields, volumes will increase and the repeatability of the work lends itself to robotics. This is inevitable and will go a long way towards reducing the reliance of major manufacturers on low labour cost locations. The challenge is to make the use of robots more flexible, such that they can be used for much lower volume production. The ultimate goal has to be a computer-generated design, computerised cutting of the required kits and the robotic manufacture and curing of the final component. Basically, composite materials in at one end and finished products out of the other, with lights-out throughout.

Q) Do you find the current UK composites industry an easy one in which to do business?

The UK composites industry is an exciting place to be right now. There is tremendous growth and tremendous change all happening simultaneously. It’s a major challenge and a threat. The companies that can embrace and adapt to the challenges will grow rapidly and those that cannot will struggle to survive in the longer term.

However, the longer-term concern is not within the UK, but the threat from other countries that are investing heavily in the same technology. Having managed a Joint Venture in China, I’ve seen how skilfully they combine academic work with technological development, ensuring they get the best return from their investment. I believe UK academia and industry need to find more effective ways of working together. Currently, the pace in each sector is completely different and this means our development compared to our international competitors may be at risk.

Q) Finally, what differentiates your company from the competition?

Pentaxia wants to be the best composite company in the UK. To us, that means that we are the preferred choice for the companies that choose to work with us. To achieve that we will always invest in the latest technology, the best equipment and systems and work to develop our staff at all levels to meet the challenges ahead.

www.pentaxia.com