Winbro Group Technologies (Coalville, Leicestershire, England) has received the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation for the development of their HSA5 laser ablation system, which has uses in the aerospace and industrial gas turbine industries.
This second Queen's Award received by the company recognizes its HSA5 five-axis, high-speed laser ablation system, integrating post-processing, ablation, and inspection technologies for manufacturing complex shapes in turbine components.
The continuous drive by aero-engine manufacturers to increase operating temperatures, which in turn increases the fuel efficiency while decreasing emissions from the engine, means that effective cooling of components located in the hottest part of the engine is essential to guarantee the required life cycle for these parts. Winbro's HSA5 system can machine cooling hole features in high-performance alloys, with both metallic and ceramic coatings, enhancing manufacturing flexibility, increasing capability, and reducing the cost of ownership for component manufacturers.
The Queen's Award follows a period of sustained growth for the company, both in the UK and also their North American facility in Rock Hill, SC. The company now operates from a total of five separate factory units in Coalville, and also recently relocated their Winbro Advanced Machining (WAM) business to a new 28,000 sq-ft. facility in Shepshed, Leicestershire, England to meet increasing customer demand—which will open officially on May 9, 2016. The US business has also recently relocated to a larger 34,500 sq-ft. facility to meet significant increases in US customer orders and also allow for anticipated future growth.
For more information, please visit www.winbrogroup.com.