Derby business expands its services thanks to iNet support
The company:
Derby based, Sim-Cast provides improvement solutions to foundries, focusing on high value investment castings for the Aerospace, Automotive, Medical and Industrial Gas Turbine industries. As an innovative and forward thinking company, Sim-Cast is always looking for ways to support its growth and expand its service offering.
Support provided:
The SME approached the Transport iNet to help with some initial market research into the transport sector, focusing on Prototyping in the aerospace industry. The report highlighted changes in the supply chain and potential needs and requirements for prototyping solutions that Sim-Cast were previously unaware of, allowing them to identify new opportunities for the business. The next step was to successfully apply for two rounds of funding for innovation, growth and guidance. The first stage allowed an in-depth study into a new vacuum casting process for creating hi-tech investment castings.
The Outcome:
The results are helping Sim-Cast in its plan to manufacture state of the art prototype Single Crystal parts in an efficient and economical way focusing on speed and quality. The second stage of funding, secured at the start of 2011, is now being used to develop and validate these processes before they are rolled out to clients.
Quote:
“A number of existing customers were interested in the casting and prototyping service as soon as we announced that the research and development was underway. We therefore felt the benefit of our work with the Transport iNet in a very short space of time.”
Ben Anderson of Sim-Cast
“Funding would usually take weeks to process which is incredibly costly in terms of time for a small company such as ours. The Transport iNet know our team well so we could work with them to make sure the application was processed first time and there were no delays due to paperwork mistakes.”
Ben Anderson of Sim Cast