Portadown (Northern Ireland)-based machined forgings specialist J W Kane “started as a small supplier to Bombardier,” and now supplies programs such as the F-35, machining parts from forgings using complex six-axis CNC (computer-numerically controlled) machine tools, Damian McArdle, managing director, told AIN.
McArdle believes Northern Ireland has been a “microcosm” of what has happened in places like India where the country has developed its aerospace industry on the back of offsets, with Invest NI the catalyst in Northern Ireland. “It has enabled us to create a footprint and to grow beyond Bombardier to other aerospace companies,” said McArdle.
He said J W Kane’s business processes have benefitted from working with and for Bombardier, maturing and allowing it to grow with help from Invest NI. “It’s given us the opportunity to go out to the world,” while also performing at a level where it can cope with competition. “We’re constantly at risk from low-cost manufacturers, e.g. from Asia. Multinationals need local suppliers that can grow and perform at a world-class level…We have to be ahead of the game to be on new programs—[though] we are focused on supporting the Global 7000 and the C Series.”
“Now we have gone out to try to build relationships into the Airbus and Boeing supply chains. Our greatest success has been with Magellan, and with GE, Spirit, and most recently Safran of France. Bombardier is still our largest customer, but we’ve managed to create some really solid traction in building a relationship with Safran…when companies come here they see the complexity and see our engineering capability…the [low-cost producers] just can’t compete with our knowledge base.”
“Safran saw this and decided to give us a trial run," he said. "They gave us the most complex problem they had”: the front frame for a Rolls-Royce Trent 700 nacelle. Three years since the first meeting with Safran and the relationship is going well, he said, with the company producing more complex parts, such as a thrust reverser slider for the nacelles of GE CF34s that power Embraer airliners.
McArdle admitted excitement at Airbus buying into the Bombardier C Series. “The C Series moving to Airbus presents a new opportunity for us. It’s a different world, on a different scale.
J W Kane was set up by James Kane in 1984 (the founder died in 2014), but the company is now owned by the James Kane Foundation, McArdle explained. “The principal aim of the charity is to develop talent and jobs in Northern Ireland, allowing it to compete on a global scale.”
The company’s turnover is now around $15 million, but McArdle said, “Our objective is to grow it to $25 million over the next three to five years and exploit the technology footprint, especially the complex machining developed on the Safran [nacelle door] hinge and latch.”