Midland Aerospace Ltd

“This has enabled the business to start the lean journey.” Eamon Lyons, Managing Director, Midland Aerospace Ltd

The Manufacturing Challenge

Midland Aerospace Ltd is located near to Nottingham and has been trading since 1999. Operating from a modern facility, it has a highly skilled team with vast experience in 3/5 axis machining, fabrication and assembly. Midland Aerospace Ltd have the skills needed to carry out aircraft component manufacture and repair of aircraft structure details and assemblies. The company also supplies precision complex details into the motorsport and renewable energy markets.

MAS Action

Midland Aerospace decided to take advantage of the free training courses offered by MAS to SME manufacturers. Managing Director Eamon Lyons, who led the involvement of the company, explains: “We wanted to give all employees a basic understanding of lean best practice and the benefits that this would bring to the business by reducing waste and working more effectively.”

MAS Training Practitioner, Keith Burton, explains the range of courses on offer to Midland Aerospace: “ MAS has offered eligible manufacturers the opportunity to send employees on training courses based around Lean principles. MAS runs workshops in Workplace Organisation, QCD, Lean Awareness, Process Mapping, Sales and Vision & Strategy. All of the courses are designed to give real benefit to the company and there is no limit to the amount of employees that can attend.”

The decision was made by Eamon and the team at Midland Aerospace to send 70 employees on Workplace Organisation, 1 employee on Vision & Strategy, 1 employee on Sales and finally 2 employees on Process Mapping. These training events were held around the region and also offered to the company at their own location.

Results

Eamon highlights the benefits of sending staff on the MAS ERDF funded workshops: “All employees have been trained in the basic principles of 5S. This has enabled the business to start the lean journey. In addition, general housekeeping has improved and lean initiatives are now in place.”