subcon scene materials supply
Investment, determination to change and improve, and faith in the ability to grow in a
competitive market place, are regenerating one of the UK’s iconic suppliers of special
alloys for critical applications. By Mike Excell
Special alloy transformation
Sawing and section
cells exemplify the
drive to adopt modern and
efficient working practices
IT’S the type of manufacturing plant you don’t see
very often these days around the UK. Back in the 1970s
(and before) we used to refer to it as ‘Henry Wiggin’s’;
nowadays, as part of the US company PCC Ltd, it’s
called ‘Special Metals Wiggin’ (SMW) and in some
respects you might be forgiven for thinking that
nothing much has changed at its historic Hereford
home. Melting, casting, heat treatment, forging,
extrusion, rod and plate rolling, wire drawing - all these
processes are still carried out on site, producing the
starting stock tube, bar, wire, sheet, section, shapes
which the first tier contractors, SMEs and OEMs
transform into components and assemblies.
The company nowadays has a workforce of around
700 (as opposed to 3,500 in the ‘old days’; and
apprenticeships are a strong and integral part of SMW’s
training and employee development. There are usually
fifty apprentices in training at any one time (the
programme has been recognised by the Learning and
Skills Council as one of the top three in the UK) and
many current staff started their careers via this route
The focus is still on high performance alloys -
production volumes remaining relatively unchanged
over the years despite the decrease in manpower. But an
investment-driven revolution is under way, which has
implications for plant, systems, people, manning levels,
productivity, quality and the ability to respond to
contemporary market pressures.
In 2006, the company was acquired by Precision
Castparts, a global manufacturer of complex metal
components and products embracing around 100
companies. ‘And they are all based on superalloys,’
comments SMW’s engineering director Robert
McGowan. It’s a perfect match, because the heartbeat of
this company remains its expertise in special,
principally nickel-based alloys going back over a
century; the Inconel, Monel and Incoloy families are
well known and widely used across a range of critical
74 MWP january 2008
application sectors including offshore oil and gas
exploration. The Nimonics were developed for Sir Frank
Whittle’s first jet engine, and there’s a direct line of
descent to the high performance nickel alloys which
still play a key role in aeroengine manufacture.
History is never enough of course, and McGowan
acknowledges that market conditions created some
serious problems for the company, which required bold
solutions. ‘After 9/11 we went into Chapter 11’ he recalls.
‘The decision had to be made as to whether we were to
go forward, invest and build.’ What SMW had was very
much a jobbing shop type of environment, typical of
the ‘old’ metalworking industry. ‘It was lacking in
structure, organisation and best practice; the whole
factory had very high levels of work in progress. But the
management could see there was a lot of potential in
the business for growth, for developing and enhancing
some of the products. There have been a lot of changes.’
Ray Stone came in as MD, addressing training issues
among others. Other appointments included McGowan
himself, Chris Sparks as operations director and Phil
Beech as lean manufacturing manager. Between them,
and with input from Precision Castparts they began to
change things, looking for opportunities, growing
certain products and putting together some small lean
cells. PCC, says McGowan, has introduced a lot of new
ideas and competence in terms of working practice: ‘For
example we now use theory of constraints as key
production manufacturing philosophy. They have a lot
of experts we can tap in to who help in strategic areas;
and they have money - and back winners - and have
been very supportive over the last 18 months.
‘The lean cells have evolved over time and they’ve got
better, and have improved our performance and
profitability; last year was the best performance we’ve
had in terms of profit in the history of the company.
We’ve had a major capital programme going on now for
about eighteen months and we’re starting to see
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